KALAMAZOO, MI — Bell's Brewery Inc.'s Two Hearted Ale has been ranked as the No. 2 best beer in the country by readers of a leading homebrewers magazine.



Zymurgy Magazine, the publication of the American Homebrewers Association, on Thursday released the results of its readers' poll, where they asked people to name their 20 favorite commercially available beers in the U.S. Bell's Two Hearted ranked second for the fifth straight year, behind Russian River's Pliny the Elder.



Another Bell's beer also made the list: Bell's Hopslam came in at No. 4.



Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewing Co. has four beers on the list. Founders' Breakfast Stout was ranked No. 9, Kentucky Breakfast Stout was ranked No. 11, All Day IPA was tied at No. 34 and Backwoods Bastard was tied at No. 49.



Based on the total votes for each of the brewery's beers, Zymurgy also ranked the best breweries. Bell's was ranked at No. 2 and Founders finished at No. 6.



Zymurgy's poll isn't the only to give Two Hearted a nod. In February, RateBeer.com named Two Hearted the best IPA in the world.

Emily Monacelli covers local government and beer for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact her at emonacel@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.