Creating ‘best of’ brewery lists is not an easy task. Since ranking one brewery better than another requires subjectivity, there are always going to be sharp disagreements from one person to the next. Should a brewery be judged based solely on consumer reviews of its beers? Should only expert reviews be considered? And what about other factors, like brewery tours, facilities, etc.?
One business that makes ‘best of’ rankings its full time gig is Rave Reviews and just recently, this company tasked itself to rank the best breweries in the American Midwest for 2017. Taylor Barnes, editor for Rave Reviews, says the Midwest is a haven for all things beer and that is why it was selected for a ‘best of’ analysis.
“Midwesterners know beer. And they love it,” said Barnes. “With hops and wheat and other brew resources being grown literally in their backyards, the close knit relationship to brewing and crafting is intense. There is something about Midwestern culture and the celebratory nature of beer drinking that naturally fits and complement each other.”
Rave Reviews used a radically different methodology to select the best breweries. First, they examined metadata from such well- known web sites as The Daily Meal, GearPatrol.com, First We Feast, Timeout.com, Craftbeer.com, Thrillist, and Rental Blog. Next, they added qualitative details from homesites and Wikipedia. Then, using a 20 point Likert scale, they looked specifically for five important brewery appeal factors: Nostalgia, Popularity, Scarcity, Cult status, and Destination. Summing the points from each of the five categories (max points = 100), they were then able to arrive at an overall Rave Meter Score.
Here are the Top 30 Midwest Breweries, listed in order of Rave Meter Score, with the highest shown first:
- 3 Floyds Brewing Company, Munster, IN
- Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI
- Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, MI
- Surly Brewing Co., Minneapolis, MN
- Dark Horse Brewing Company, Marshall, MI
- Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cleveland, OH
- New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, WI
- Toppling Goliath Brewing Co., Decorah, IA
- Moody Tongue Brewing Company, Chicago, IL
- August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, MN
- Summit Brewing, St Paul, MN
- Revolution Brewing, Chicago, IL
- Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN
- New Holland Brewing, Holland, MI
- Fat Head’s Brewery, Middleburg Heights, OH
- Side Project Brewing, Maplewood, MI
- Sun King Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
- Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, WI
- Pipeworks Brewing, Chicago, IL
- Central Waters Brewing Co., Amherst, WI
- Perennial Artisan Ales, St. Louis, MO
- Kuhnhenn Brewing Company, Warren, MI
- Nebraska Brewing Company, Papillion, NE
- Lost Cabin Beer Company, Rapid City, SD
- Firehouse Brewing Company, Rapid City, SD
- Big Rip Brewing Company, North Kansas City, MO
- Fulton Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN
- Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, WI
- Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, Akron, OH
- Thirsty Dog Brewing, Akron, OH
Wow, nothing from Missouri except Perennial? I’ve been to many of these places, and had most of the beers. New Glarus would be way down the list for me. The Top 6 are great choices, of course!
I hear ya! It’s always tough to create any type of ranking list, as there will always be disagreements. I have only visited a handful of these Top 30 and I would have to agree that Founders and Surly deserve their high rankings. But I cannot speak for Missouri- the only brewery I visited there was Springfield Brewing.
I would put TG ahead of Surly, no doubt!
I’ve heard many great things about Toppling Goliath! I would love to check them out someday.
Woof. What a terrible way to conduct a ranking. I’ve been to 90% of these breweries, they all are great in their own way. One of the biggest and best breweries in the Midwest must have completely missed the metadata mark – Short’s Brewing in Bellaire, MI. I’ve been to their anniversary party, 6,000 people packed on a downtown street, talk about a cult following. Might wanna double check your data!
90%- that’ a LOT! You should create your own ranking. With your direct experience, you would certainly know what is good and what isn’t. I haven’t been to Short’s but I have heard nothing but great things about it and the fact that it’s even on my radar- considering I live far away in Texas- says something about their cult following.