It cracks me up when yet another two-bit town is named America's “best beer city” in some pathetic poll. Why? Because all five bars on Main Street have craft beer on tap? In Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, you're essentially getting three great beer cities wrapped into one behemoth. And here, you can drink your face off without having to deal with cars. Read the full story »

In San Diego, we don't do beer for the faint of heart. Today, the “San Diego–style IPA” is recognized, emulated, and consumed in vast quantities all over the globe. But why drink beer under a black cloud when you could grab a gold medal winner and lie out for the afternoon on the soft white sand? Read the full story »

In the craft beer world, Denver is the king of the mountain. This is a city that boasts a depth and breadth of breweries that's tough to fathom—and hosts the grande dame of all beer festivals. Do 60,000 people come to your town to celebrate beer? Read the full story »

In Asheville, we don't drink to wash off the grime of urban grit or to swallow the stress of the rat race. Drinking is a way to support our neighbors and toast our good fortune for living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Here, drinking local beer isn't a fad. It's a lifestyle, an extension of the city's close-knit community—and it has deep roots. Read the full story »

Back in the 1980s, a few brewers built some of the first small breweries in the country in Portland, Oregon. They called themselves “microbrewers,” and created a beer culture that still exists here and nowhere else. Their pioneering spirit inspired other brewers to take risks, not only by opening breweries but by making bold, experimental beers. Read the full story »

What Tampa lacks in publicity, name recognition, and number of breweries, it makes up for in concentrated quality and unexplored coolness. And I'm letting you in on the secret: The greater Tampa Bay region—including the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, as well as surrounding counties—is the best destination for beer in the US that hardly anyone knows about. Read the full story »