13 best beer countries

Reads 8426 • Replies 95 • Started Monday, March 16, 2015 2:14:20 PM CT

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bitbucket
beers 2166 º places 63 º 17:15 Mon 3/16/2015

Free advice is probably worth what you pay for it.

Top 10: Beer Producing Nations
http://ca.askmen.com/top_10/travel/top-10-beer-producing-nations_1.html
England?

Countries that Make the Best Beer
http://www.thetoptens.com/countries-make-best-beer/
Germany?

12 Beer-Producing Countries to Watch Right Now
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/best-beer-scenes-wordwide-italy-denmark-scotland.html
Italy, etc.

 
Leighton
beers 32342 º places 1170 º 17:16 Mon 3/16/2015

Originally posted by t0rin0
Originally posted by Leighton
Originally posted by t0rin0
Originally posted by Theydon_Bois
Just about to say ... Belgium at #1!

Move along ...


What I’ll say in defense of Belgium (and Germany for that matter) is that while they don’t have as many new breweries and styles as some of the other countries, at least the majority of what they make is pretty solid. The US may have 4000 breweries but 3800 of them are mediocre at best.


Eh, I’d say the good:bad ratio is probably similar in Belgium versus the US. Belgium is just so much smaller that in absolute terms, yeah, it’s much less, but in relative terms it’s more comparable.




Since I was only in Belgium for a week we focused on the better places naturally, but I’m having a hard time believing that Belgium has the equivalents of

Area 51
Full Circle
Kat Daddy
On The Tracks
Pratt Street
Sons Of Liberty
Stockholm’s (Geneva IL)
Thompson

etc



Oh, there’s some uninspiring stuff!

These breweries make a range of brands, some of which are extremely shabby:

Brouwerij Huyghe (Mongozo!)
Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Belle-Vue (ex. the retired stuff)
Brouwerij De Troch (Chapeau!)

 
bitbucket
beers 2166 º places 63 º 17:16 Mon 3/16/2015

And finally, some actual, quantifiable ratings.


Top 20 Beer Drinking Countries
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26789471/page/21

#1 Czech Republic - Na zdravi!

156.9 liters per person.
The Czech Republic has consumed a total of 1,171,326,293 litres of beer so far this year.
The Czech Republic was the first country to have a beer museum, as well as the first beer brewing textbook, the first Pilsener and the first Budweiser.

 
Fux
beers 4 º 17:23 Mon 3/16/2015

Hard to give a list without well defined criteria, but when it comes to the craft beer scene, the countries I’ve mostly in mind are:
1. the US (it’s where the craft beer movement was born and where the scene is the bigger)
2. Belgium (because of lambics, de Dolle and de Struise!)
3. Denmark (however irritating the Danish sometimes can be, they are among the most imaginative guys in the beer world)
4. Canada (they have so great broupubs with such a cool atmosphere!)
5. UK (for itsold styles, its brewpubs but above all its exploding beer scene)
6. Italy (some of the best brewers in Europe are located there and they are rarely disappointing)
7. Sweden (for some of the best beer bars in the world. I find their state owned system really annoying but even at systembolaget, you can easily find great brews)
8. Netherlands (it was really a step before some years ago, even though it’s not developping as fast as other european countries)
Other countries worth mentionning: Germany (for the local products), Spain (for the growing scene), Czech Republic (for the drinkability of their beers), New-Zealand (for their exclusive hops varieties), or Japan, Switzerland, etc.
My two cents...

 
HaStuMiteZen99
beers 1111 º places 27 º 17:54 Mon 3/16/2015

1) Belgium
2) UK
3) Germany
4) US
5) Czech Republic

I can see why people with different tastes would put the US higher, but I think Belgium wins by a fair way. The UK comes second more for cask ale than for all the ’craft innovation’ that goes on (plenty of which is, admittedly, very good).

Belgian beer just has more distinctive, idiosyncratic character than beer made anywhere else. There’s only so much you can do with US-05 and the same 10 fruity, piney hop varieties.

 
t0rin0
beers 102 º places 1528 º 17:58 Mon 3/16/2015

Originally posted by Leighton
Originally posted by t0rin0
Since I was only in Belgium for a week we focused on the better places naturally, but I’m having a hard time believing that Belgium has the equivalents of

Area 51
Full Circle
Kat Daddy
On The Tracks
Pratt Street
Sons Of Liberty
Stockholm’s (Geneva IL)
Thompson

etc



Oh, there’s some uninspiring stuff!

These breweries make a range of brands, some of which are extremely shabby:

Brouwerij Huyghe (Mongozo!)
Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Belle-Vue (ex. the retired stuff)
Brouwerij De Troch (Chapeau!)



Interesting. I’d consider those bad like I consider Bud Light bad, in that it’s not really what I want to drink, not that it’s actually disgusting. All those you mentioned (in my opinion) are just overly sweet, as opposed to horribly infected or otherwise riddled with brewing off flavors.

 
TimE
beers 8459 º places 409 º 17:58 Mon 3/16/2015

Originally posted by JK
Czech Republic is top five, so surely in the top 13. No way Ireland should be on that list and Norway is very questionable.


This.

 
SarkyNorthener
beers 5200 º places 142 º 18:24 Mon 3/16/2015

Belgium
UK
US
Germany
Denmark

The country I want to try more beers from:-

New Zealand

 
madmitch76
beers 35298 º places 238 º 19:30 Mon 3/16/2015

Canada? Really? Solid stuff but give me beers from NZ, Aus, Italy and many more first.

 
GT
beers 10001 º places 672 º 23:19 Mon 3/16/2015

Belgium doesn’t really experiment that much so isn’t as exciting. But their portfolio in general is strong and easily top 3 along with UK, but I just don’t see how someone can say Belgium>US in terms of craft beer. It’s just a numbers game. Plenty of crappy US breweries, but too many good ones for others to compete. Per capita, no doubt Belgium is #1 by a mile.