Draught Diversions: 5 Breweries I Want to Visit

Draught Diversions is the catchall label for mini-rants, think-pieces, and posts that don’t just focus on one beer here at The Tap Takeover. We hope you don’t grow too weary of the alcohol alliterative names we use…

There are thousands of breweries across the country and visiting them all would be challenge for anybody save the late great Michael Jackson or somebody like Jeff Allworth or John Holl whose jobs are all about beer. I’ve featured breweries I’ve visited from New Jersey so with today’s post, I’ll focus on 5 Non-New Jersey breweries I would love to visit and tour some day in the future. This may be a rotating, ongoing feature because there are definitely more than 5 breweries I would love to tour and visit.

Choosing which I’d like to visit first isn’t an easy decision, so I’ll use the arbitrary ranking of “From Which Brewery Does Rob Have the Most Unique Check ins”

Sierra Nevada Company in Chico, California (1979)
Total Sierra Nevada beers checked in on untappd: 35

Arguably, the most important American Craft Brewery, full stop. Although their iconic green label Pale Ale is not one of my favorites, it is considered by many to be the most important American craft beer produced. I think I may need to try it once again. I do; however, enjoy many of the beers from their portfolio, like Narwhal, the delicious Imperial Stout, the Summerfest Pilsner, the wonderful Porter that doesn’t seem to make it out to New Jersey any more and perhaps the best American Hefeweizen, Kellerweis. The annual Beer Camp collaboration is a highlight, as is what has now become an annual Oktoberfest collaboration brew. Their Barleywine, Bigfoot is iconic and so many people I know countdown the days until Sierra’s ultra-hopped Christmas brew, Celebration Ale is available.

Visiting the brewery that was at the forefront of the Craft Beer Revolution is a no-brainer for any craft-beer fan.

Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1997)
Total Founders’ beers checked in on untappd: 23

Walk into any store selling craft beer and chances are you’ll see at least one beer from the 20-year American Craft Beer institution. Seeing the brewery on television, for example when the dudes from Brew Dogs visited Michigan, makes it more appealing, as does a recent episode of Steal this Beer where Founders’ head Brewery Jeremy Kosmicki was a guest.

I’ve had nearly 2 dozen different beers from Founders and have enjoyed all of them. Just look at their portfolio of beloved brews: Breakfast Stout, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Backwoods Bastard, All Day IPA, Rübæus, PC Pils, Sumatra Mountain Brown, and the list goes on. Plus, like many breweries, there are quite a few brews that are brewery only releases, like one of the rarest of brews, an Eisbock.

This is high atop the must visit list for me.

Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cleveland Ohio (1988)
Total Great Lakes beers checked in on untappd: 16

I’ve had about a dozen beers from Great Lakes impressive portfolio and haven’t been disappointed by any of them. My wife and I have a life goal of visiting every Major League Baseball stadium and when we eventually get to Cleveland, we are going to have to visit this great Mid-Western brewery. That may not be for a couple/few years, but it will happen.

Great Lakes Brewing’s porter, Edmund Fitzgerald, is possibly the best American porter I’ve had. I’ll probably be reviewing that beer in the nearish future so I’ll hold off on any more descriptive praise. Last week I proclaimed their Oktoberfest my favorite American Oktoberfest and every year, a six pack of Great Lakes Christmas Ale is always in my refrigerator. Cleveland is such a great city, from what I’ve heard, so between this fantastic brewery, the Cleveland Indians, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I’m looking forward to eventually making our way out there.

Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY (1997)
Total Ommegang beers checked in on untappd: 15

I’ve talked about their Game of Thrones beers here at the Tap Takeover, but they brew so much more than that. Ommegang brews traditional Belgian ales, in keeping with the ingredients and brewing methods to produce some of the finest, most well-regarded beers in America. The Abbey Dubbel is a world class, delicious beer. The Cherry Lambic they coproduce (Rosetta) is everything a fruit beer should be. About the only beer of theirs that didn’t work for me was their Nirvana IPA, which is a style outside their Belgian wheelhouse.

Also in keeping with a Baseball theme, it has been a few years (almost 20!) since I last visited the Baseball Hall of Fame so this trip would be at least a two-for with two fantastic spots in the same area.

A good friend whose son plays Little League baseball made the trip to Cooperstown and kept sending me pictures of the brewery and talked about how great the smaller batch beers were. Needless to say, I was a little jealous.

Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Bavaria, Germany (1040)
Total Weihenstephan beers checked in on untappd: 7*
*They don’t have quite as many styles in their portfolio, which is part of their success because all are superb

Is there any more classic German brewery? I don’t think so. Brewers of the world’s greatest Hefeweizen, a Weizenbock with nearly as good a reputation (Vitus), a great Dopplebock (Korbininan) to name just 3. If there’s a German style of beer, they brew it and it is a classic. Plus, with my German roots, I really want to visit this brewery and if I do, I’ll probably tour other German breweries. Just look up any of the beers from the picture below on Beer Advocate to check the ratings. Most if not all are World Class or Outstanding from the Alström Bros.

With Mom being born in Germany, there’s an added desire for me to visit Germany and why not start with the oldest and one of the most respected breweries in the world?