12 US Cities Every Beer Lover Should Visit

There's no doubt that we love beer here in the United States. As of 2023, there were almost 10,000 craft breweries in the country, brewing everything from stouts to pilsners to West Coast IPAs. These days, you can probably find a good brewery in every major U.S. city you go to, but some are better beer cities than others. In a good beer city, craft breweries are thriving and provide a breadth of options for beer lovers in different neighborhoods. While some cities may be known for a particular style of beer, there should be breweries that produce different styles of beers; those that perfect the classic styles and those that never stop innovating. 

I asked beer experts, including beer writers and beer professionals, for their favorite cities around the country to drink beer. To make sure we cover most of the United States, we asked experts from different parts of the country, from the West to the East Coasts. I have visited many breweries during my travels around the world, and included my personal favorites in the country. Here is what we found.

San Diego's beer scene is so well known that multiple experts recommended this city. San Diego is mainly known for popularizing the intensely hoppy Double IPA (DIPA). One of San Diego's most popular brewery is the famous Stone Brewing, which became known for its IPA beers in the late 1990s. The city has much more to offer than hoppy beers, though. Allo Gillinsky, a certified cicerone who runs Craft Beer Concierge, says that even though "IPAs reign supreme, there are breweries cranking out experimental styles and lagers to fit everyone's palates." One of the most interesting ones is Pure Project's Methode Traditonnelle beers, which are beers made outside of Belgium using the traditional methods for producing lambic.

As of last count, there are 228 breweries in San Diego County. There's a good concentration of breweries downtown and in East Village. However, the northern part of San Diego — including Oceanside and Vista — also has a number of breweries worth seeking out, according to Sean Inman, beer writer behind the Beer Search Party blog. For example, The Lost Abbey's Belgian beers are perennial favorites. While the brewery has multiple tasting rooms spread across San Diego, the beers are currently being produced in Vista.

In 2018, Chicago had the highest number of breweries compared to any other city in the U.S. While the ranking may have changed in 2024, there is certainly no shortage of breweries to visit, with over 160 breweries in the city and over 200 if you count the neighboring suburbs. 

According to Sean Inman, "You get a lot of good beer in Chicago that other places probably don't get to see because it's a major hub." One of the most famous names of Chicago brewing is Goose Island Brewery. It was later sold to Anheuser-Busch for $38.8 million, but its opening in 1988 helped kickstart Chicago's craft beer scene. These days, you can find experimental beers like fruited gose at Off Color Brewing and lactose hazy IPA at Marz Community Brewing, and then explore classic European styles at Dovetail Brewery. Another important spot for Chicago's brewing community is Pilot Project Brewing. It is a brewery incubator designed to help up-and-coming local brewers start up their breweries, not just by providing a space to test beers, but by also helping them learn the operational aspects along the way. 

No time to head to multiple breweries? Check out Hopleaf, one of the best beer bars around with 68 beers on tap and hundreds of bottled beers.

Oregon's largest city is another one that received multiple recommendations from our experts, including from Christian DeBenedetti, author of "The Great American Ale Trail." DeBenedetti opened his own brewery, Wolves and People, in Newberg, Oregon. While the small city of Portland may not have as many breweries as Chicago, its breweries are renowned across the country. One such brewery is Great Notion Brewing, which has won numerous awards over the years. 

Sean Inman highly recommends Portland, Oregon, because "there's just a width and breadth of breweries up there that just don't find pretty much anywhere than say, like Denver." Inman recommends Threshold Brewing, which produces Polish beers. The husband-and-wife-run Duality Brewing, which Inman says does "weird, weird stuff," is only open three days a week but worth a visit. For a brewery visit that's extra fun on the decor side, there's the Goth-inflected Brujos Brewing that does a lot of hazy IPAs, but also frequently produces fun collaboration beers with other craft brewers from around the country.

As a bonus, Portland has a great food scene that always helps soak up all the brews you're drinking before the next stop. 

Beer writer Courtney Iseman says that New York City's beer scene is "super diverse so there's something for everyone." DeBenedetti also recommends New York City, and in particular, Brooklyn. The story of modern brewing in New York City is rather recent, since the older breweries had shuttered due to high rental cost. However, Brooklyn has a long history of brewing, thanks to German immigrants who settled there in the mid 19th century. Brooklyn Brewery started brewing in the 1980s and finally opened its Williamsburg brewery to the public in 1996, helping spur the craft beer movement in the borough. 

The New York City Brewer's Guild now has over 40 members and counting. Some of the breweries Iseman recommends trying include Belgian-style ales at Transmitter, Grimm, and Endless Life; English styles at Strong Rope; Czech beers at Wild East; hazy IPAs at Other Half, Finback, and KCBC (unsurprisingly, many of these breweries are located in Brooklyn). 

New Orleans is known for many things, from ghost tours to cocktails, but beer should really be one of them. New Orleans is one of Courtney Iseman's favorite beer cities in the country. "Everyone flocks to New Orleans for cocktails — which, fair play — but no one should be sleeping on the small, tight-knit, incredibly creative craft beer scene, which absolutely keeps in step with the city's world class food and cocktail scene," says Iseman. NOLA Brewing opened in 2008, for instance, and it's credited for spurring the city's interest in craft beers. However, the real growth didn't start until 2015 — before that year, Louisiana laws did not allow taprooms.

After the legislation was changed, breweries and taprooms started to pop up in various neighborhoods in New Orleans. Iseman recommends the lagers at Brieux Carré, cask ale at Brewery Saint X, saisons at Parleaux Beer Lab, and IPAs at Port Orleans Brewing Company. For fruity sours and innovative brews like braggot or hibiscus gose, head to Miel Brewery over in Irish Channel. Because New Orleans can get absurdly hot, Miel also serves up fun beer slushees. 

As one of the country's major hubs, Los Angeles has its fair share of craft breweries. Even with the loss of one of the city's original craft brewers, Eagle Rock Brewery, the city is still thriving. "L.A. still has a good brewery in pretty much every little neighborhood, which is hard to do considering how big this place is," said Sean Inman. For example, Boomtown Brewery draws crowds on weekends to the industrial area of Arts District while Benny Boy combines brewery and cidery in Lincoln Heights. Down in Inglewood you'll find Three Weavers Brewing Company, one of the few woman-owned breweries out there.

Be sure to explore the greater L.A. area rather than just staying in the city center for some of L.A.'s best beers. Some of the city's heavy hitters include Monkish Brewing, a Belgian specialist in Torrance which is located just a block away from Smog City, another great brewery that always has a little something for everyone. The Bruery over in Orange County is known for their barrel aged beers and experimental beers, especially their pastry stouts. For example, the S'moreo is a barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with (vegan) marshmallow, graham crackers and vanilla. 

Maine is not just about its lobster rolls. Its most populous city, Portland (which has less than 70,000 residents), also has a rather impressive beer scene that does not lose against the other Portland. 

Courtney Iseman says that Portland, Maine, is "deserving of the recognition with its sheer number of excellent breweries doing things both classic and innovative." In addition, Allo Gillinsky loves Portland because "the walkability factor is top notch" — an important factor for out-of-town travelers or whoever wants to do a beer crawl. Gillinsky notes that "you can scoot from a brewery known for hazy IPAs, over to a farmhouse ale focused brewery, and a taproom for lager lovers within 15 minutes."

There's Allagash Brewing, the nationally renowned, award-winning Belgian specialist that also happens to host one of the Bite Into Maine outposts for some great lobster rolls. Iseman  recommends trying the amaro-inspired ales at Oxbow and the hazy IPAs at Bissell Brothers. The woman-owned Belleflower makes some wonderful IPAs but also excels at other styles. 

All four of our experts recommend Asheville, North Carolina, as one of their favorite beer cities. Courtney Iseman says that Asheville is "a beautiful, welcoming city with some of the best breweries in the country — truly, from the water there to the creative brewers, there's just so much good beer." There are more than 50 breweries in the city, making it one of the highest breweries per capita in the country. Highland Brewing Company, which opened in 1994, was the first of Asheville's craft breweries. The scene has now grown to many great breweries that are also community spaces.

One of the city's best breweries, Burial Beer Co. is back up and running following the impact of Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Cellarest Beer Project, known for its wood fermentations and wild beers, handed out free water and operated as a community pantry at the time. Others, like Zillicoah Beer Co, sustained more damage and began fundraising in the hopes that it could reopen. 

Denver hosts The Great American Beer Festival (GABF), which is one of the biggest and best beer festivals in the U.S. It's no surprise that the city is home to some outstanding breweries that make Denver worth visiting outside of the festival. "There's a lot of innovative stuff that comes from [Denver]," says Sean Inman. This includes the slow pour pilsner that started in Denver (specifically at Bierstadt Lagerhaus) and has since spread across the nation.

There's the rather legendary Great Divide Brewing Company, which won its first award at the GABF a mere three months after brewing its first beer — it has gone on to win quite a few more awards since. A local favorite is Cerebral Brewing, which takes a more scientific approach to its process, yet continuously produces creative beers. Crooked Stave is one of the Denver's early pioneers of sour beers, while Cohesion focuses on Czech-style lagers. Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company is known for its innovative and boundary-pushing beers using local ingredients, and the approach has won it multiple awards. 

A data-driven analysis ranked Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the best beer city in the U.S. in 2023. This was based on the number of breweries per capita and the affordability of beers, among other metrics. Pennsylvania is also surprisingly is the second highest beer-producing state in the country (the first being California). Indeed, with over 60 breweries in the city, there's one for almost every neighborhood in Pittsburgh.

We love Trace Brewing, which makes fun beers and is one of the only breweries in the city with a coolship. It also helps train up-and-coming talents with a paid vocational program aimed at diversifying the beer industry. Some of the vocational program's alumni have gone on to work at other breweries. Head to Dancing Gnome if you like hop-forward beers like IPAs and DIPAs, or to Hitchhiker Brewing Co. for some dessert beers (and some beer-infused soft serve ice creams). Pittsburgh Brewers Guild has created a handy online guide of its member breweries. 

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery is famous for its gingerbread stout and has become the largest independent brewery in Richmond, Virginia. When Hardywood opened in 2011, however, there were only two craft breweries in Richmond. Now, the city is home to more than 30 breweries. San Diego's Stone Brewing chose Richmond to be the home of its East Coast outpost, a sign of the brewing scene's growing reputation. Triple Crossing is a local favorite for its diverse and always-rotating (and always excellent) beer selection. Väsen Brewing Company is known for its sours and farmhouse ales. 

It's not just the breweries, though. Mekong, an unassuming Vietnamese restaurant in a strip mall, has managed to be named the "Best Beer Bar" in the country for several years by multiple publications. That is all thanks to owner An Bui's passion for beers. Bui later opened his own brewery, The Answer Brewpub.

Visit Richmond conveniently has a printable map of the city's beer trail or you can sign up for the mobile passport to earn free merch while visiting breweries. 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has an interesting reputation in the beer scene. It is the home of large breweries like Miller and Pabst, which isn't exactly synonymous with craft beers. Miller is the oldest large-scale brewery in the country, but Milwaukee's beer scene goes far beyond Miller Light. Milwaukee's modern beer scene is all about the smaller craft breweries.

Check out the barrel-aged Imperial stouts at Central Waters Brewing Company, which has also been recognized for its commitment for sustainability. MobCraft Beer is a unique brewery, crowdsourcing ideas from the community who then vote on the next beer to be brewed. While other people hit up outlets and retail stores on Black Friday, some Milwaukeeans line up outside of breweries like Lakefront Brewery — it's one of the early craft brewers in the area, known for special Black Friday releases. Lakefront also made the first beer to be granted a gluten-free label approval by the U.S. government with its New Grist Pilsner back in 2005. 

Visit Milwaukee offers a Beer City Beer Pass, giving people buy-one-get-one-free deals at over 30 local breweries.  

For this list of best beer cities, we spoke to four experts — a drinks writer, a veteran beer blogger, a beer writer who now runs his own brewery, and a certified cicerone who hosts beer tasting events. The experts are located in different parts of the country, which added geographical diversity to the selection (but it helped that drinks writers frequently travel around the country). The list also includes the writer's own observations after traveling to and drinking beers in many cities across the United States. The experts highlighted not only cities that are famous for their beers like San Diego and Asheville, but also cities that have great under-the-radar beer scenes like New Orleans.