Like farm-to-table dining, easy as it is to poke fun, craft beer has transitioned from trendy curiosity to enduring national phenomenon. In almost any U.S. city today, you can step into bars, restaurants, breweries, and brewpubs that go to great lengths in order to make and serve the very best beers they can. Still, some locales do it better than others. Here are seven of the top beer towns in the United States, along with some tips and points of reference to help you find some particularly exceptional sud. Should you be lucky enough to live in or visit one of these havens, please, drink up, and be happy knowing that this is a very good time for beer.

Evan S. Benn is the beer columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His Hip Hops column, blog, and just-launched beer app can be found at stltoday.com/hiphops. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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