I believe I was not a part of this thread until wanderingjew brought up my name about chef driven restaurants in a snide way and then started slamming micro brews of which he knows little, evidently. Then he got upset when I responded. He brings it upon himself.

Anyway, if you want to knock HopDoddy then you’re not being current with trends. I have no idea if I would like it or not.

I do know hops are an ingredient in every beer and ale. Yes, IPAs are the most popular but the good microbrews attempt to brew porters, lagers, pilsners, red ales, stouts, Koelsh, saisons, wit, Belgian and everything else. The only thing I don’t like are the fruit infused beers except I once home brewed a damn good cherry stout. Stouts are like dessert. They get brewed with coffee, chocolate and other infusions. They are robust enough they can handle it. My local microbrewery, Excelsior Brewing Co., once brewed a milfoil, zebra mussel ale to highlight invasive species taking over Lake Minnetonka. That was an extreme and one pint was enough.

Good independent micro beers and ales can be found primarily in northern California, Oregon, Colorado and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. Other places are fast catching up. The Twin Cities metro area now has over 50 microbreweries with tap rooms that sell by the pint and fill 64 oz. growlers. Most don’t serve food but make arrangements with food trucks and local restaurants to deliver or you pickup. Most have limited open hours because they primarily make beer. Every small town wants one. In our Minneapolis suburban Lake Minnetonka area we now have six. Vineyards and distilleries are also growing. That’s not the older generation creating all this. There are a lot of young people willing to be entrepreneurs.