You decide!

Over at the examiner, Charlie Papazian accurately states:

I say rather confidently, there’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in the United States.  Wave after glorious wave of beer festivals and beer-centric events are sudsing over the American landscape.   You might say the “tide’s in!”  Are you a happy beer enthusiast or what?   With beer enthusiasm on the rise, especially for small, local and craft brewed beer there’s a lot of pent up pride building.  I’ve heard many boast of their favorite beer city.

With microbreweries popping up all over the US and older Microbreweries graduating into craft breweries, there is a lot of state-wide competition and talk over which US city can rightly claim the title of “beer city USA.”

You can read the article, view voting rules, and actually vote on the city of your choice by clicking THIS HYPERLINK. I myself have already voted, although I’ll admit, I have traveled little, so my choice was made after considering some of my favorite crafte beers and the locale of their origin.

I am encouraged at the growth of the craft industry in the US, the opportuinities it is informing, the pride it is instilling in our nation at a critical point in history, and the innate statement that is made to conglomorate brewing and business practice.  Case in point:  When the hop shortage hit recently, the large conglomorate breweries with larger cash reserves bought up more than was necessary quantities of hops.  While this may have been done in the name of self preservation, it put microbreweries in a pinch…an expensive pinch.  Sam Adams, on the other hand, made a generous and brotherly hop donation to microbreweries. Thus said, I can tell you I did not vote for St. Louis.

If you get a chance, after participating in beer democracy, let us know who you voted for and why.  I hope in the future to found my own city, reign as mayor, and name it “Beer City” to avoid confusion in the future.  Just kidding.