The Most Popular Craft Breweries In America

The regional craft beer, a family-owned enterprise founded in 2021, was purchased by New Orleans-based Faubourg Brewing Company in September 2022. The plan is for Faubourg to take advantage of Made by the Water’s extensive distribution network to make New Orleans the Southeast’s hub for craft beers.

Pizza Port Brewing Company got its start in March 1987 when siblings Gina and Vince Marsaglia bought a pizza joint in the coastal town of Solana Beach, just north of San Diego. Vince used the free space in the restaurant’s storage area to try his hand at home brewing. Their friends liked the product and soon they got into the brewpub business. Pizza Port first offered its beers to patrons in 1992 and the brew became a part of San Diego’s burgeoning craft beer scene. There are now five locations.

The North Coast Brewing Company’s slogan is “Making the World a Better Place One Pint at a Time,” and the Northern California craft brewer has aspired to do so since it opened in 1988. It produces seasonal, year-round, and barrel-aged beers under the supervision of brewmaster Mark Ruedrich, and has won 110 awards from national and international competitions. Among its brews are Red Seal Ale, Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, and Brother Thelonious Abbey Ale.

Steller IPA

Jack’s Abby Brewing was founded in 2011 by the Hendler brothers – Jack, Eric, and Sam, and has since become one of the more significant craft breweries in New England. Their focus is on Bavarian-style lagers. The brewing team goes to Germany every year to get German hops and malt from family-run operations in Bavaria in order to be able to recreate historical lagers. For now, Jack’s Abby is best-known for its flagship India Pale Lager, Hoponius Union.

You’d expect a brewing company based in Maine to pay homage to its New England roots and Shipyard Brewing Co. doesn’t disappoint. Among its beers are Smashed Pumpkin and Apple Crisp. There’s also a Summer Ale and an Island Time IPA.

IndieBrew is a growing consortium of craft brewers seeking to improve scale by working together. The members thus far are Nashville-based Bearded Iris Brewing Co. and Scofflaw Brewing of Atlanta. IndieBrew is currently in active conversations with other small breweries, hoping to add them to the platform.

Billed as Texas’s oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing Co. has been making beer since 1994. Among its year-round offerings are Lawnmower, a German-style beer; Harmony, a pale ale; and H-Town Pils, a lager. Want some bites with the beer? The brewery also cooks up a full menu of pizzas.

In the mid-2000s, drinking buddies Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge decided to start a brewery. Nikos had the finance background and Jamie the brewing knowledge, so they launched Ninkasi Brewing Co. with its first batch – Total Domination IPA – in 2006.

Surly Brewing Co. got its name when founder Omar Ansari and founding brewer Todd Haug were frustrated they couldn’t find any good beer in Minnesota. So they convinced Omar’s father to allocate a portion of his factory to the brewery. Unfortunately, state law prohibited breweries from selling their product onsite. So Omar got the law changed in 2011, and the business boomed from then on.

Brewing mostly lagers and ales, Rogue Ales Brewery distributes across the country. But you can sip its brews at one of six pubs in Newport, Portland, and Astoria, Oregon. The company also offers a line of canned cocktails and whiskeys if you like a drink without the foam.

When it launched, Lost Coast Brewery brewed up its craft beers in a 100-year-old building in downtown Eureka. Now, it’s headquartered in a custom-built brewery where it still stirs up its original brand, the Great White.

Revolution Brewing’s variety of beers span everything from IPAs and pilsners to pale ales and barrel-aged offerings. Its brands include Hero and League of Heroes IPAs, and a City Series, brewed with Lake Michigan water and only available in the Windy City.

Among BrewDog Brewing Co.’s on-tap libations are Dude Where’s My Tank, a dark IPA, and Bon Bons, a sour, fruity beer. Available in a can is Elvis Juice, described as a bitter IPA with a citrus flair. And if you’re hungry on a Wednesday night, BrewDog’s Wings Wednesday offers all the wings you can eat for $20.

Creature Comforts Brewing Co.’s mission is to not only help people understand the nuances of craft beer, but to help the community as well through its charitable endeavors. It supports Athens through the Get Comfortable initiative, which directs donations toward those agencies most in need.

Fiddlehead Brewing Company was born on New Year’s Eve 2011 when Matt Cohen, with 15 years of industry knowledge behind him, broke ground on a 15-barrel brewery near Lake Champlain in Shelburne. Fiddlehead IPA has become one of the best-selling craft beers in Vermont. Fiddlehead brews such as Second Fiddle and Mastermind (which raises money for children’s charities) are available throughout most of New England and the Northeast.

Located 30 miles north of New Orleans, Abita Brewing Co. names its beers in honor of Louisiana nicknames or features. Alpha Gator IPA, Andygator, and Big Easy IPA are just a few of its offerings. Its pub’s menu has a Cajun flair with such dishes as jambalaya Ryan and catfish étouffée.

Offering a series of seasonal, limited release, and year-round beers, Flying Dog Beers feature a Double Dog Double IPA and a Blood Orange Ale for 12-month sipping. Seasonal offerings include a Pool Hopping Summer Ale, The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale, and Freezing Season Winter Ale.

Kona Brewing Company, on Hawaii’s Big Island, was founded by father and son Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa in 1994, and a brewpub was opened four years later. Formerly owned by Craft Brew Alliance, it has belonged to PV Brewing Partners since September 2020. Among its selections available all year are Big Wave Golden Ale, Longboard Island Lager, Hanalei Island IPA, Island Hopper, and Kona Light Blonde Ale.

Marcy and Geoff Larson opened the Alaskan Brewing Company in 1986. Its website claims it was the first brewery in Juneau since Prohibition. Marcy researched brewing history in Alaska and discovered shipping records from a defunct brewer that provided ingredients for its beers. The two entrepreneurs reignited the state’s local beer tradition with brews such as the Alaskan Amber, Freeride Pale Ale, Husky IPA, and Juneau Juice Hazy IPA. Alaskan Brewing beers are distributed in 25 states.

Opened in 1861, Pittsburgh Brewing Company is one of the oldest operating breweries in the United States. Iron City Beer, its flagship beverage, is advertised as “lightly hopped, lightly carbonated and easy to drink.” Besides brews such as Old German Lager, there are light versions of the flagship beer as well as flavored iterations like one with mango.

Large spirit conglomerates stand poised to snap up smaller, independent breweries. But in 2019, Kings & Convicts Brewing took the opposite tact. In a deal that stunned the craft beer world,it bought Ballast Point from Constellation Brands, owner of global brands like Corona and Modelo, which had itself purchased Ballast Point four years earlier for $1 billion. No purchase price was revealed for the deal.

August Schell Brewing Co.’s roots go back to the 1860s, when it was founded by Schell himself. The company survived Prohibition, and in the 1980s turned to craft beers with a line of German craft lagers.

Craft ‘Ohana is a new craft-beer entity resulting from the August 2022 merger of Maui Brewing Company and Modern Times Beer. Founded in 2005, Maui Brewing Company is the island state’s largest craft brewery. Modern Times, named after a utopian community on Long Island founded in the 19th century, was created in San Diego in 2013. Craft ‘Ohana brews are distributed throughout California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, and Texas.

Founded in Rhode Island in 1888, the brewery debuted its first beer, called simply Narragansett, two years later. The company survived Prohibition by selling non-alcoholic beverages such as ginger ale and root beer, plus beer for medicinal purposes. Today, Narragansett is one of the oldest beers in America, and is widely available throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states. A nearly hour-long video on its website details the brewery’s story.

Founded in 1986 by Mark Studtrud, Summit Brewing Co. has gone on to win awards for its craft beers. At the 2018 World Beer Cup, the brewery’s German-style Pils took the bronze medal for Kellerbiers (non-pasteurized, unclarified lagers). The same year, Summit Keller Pils won the gold medal for Kellerbiers at the Great American Beer Fest.

Looking for a brew to sip at your holiday parties? Try Troegs Brewing Co.’s Mad Elf Ale sweetened with cherries and honey or Blizzard of Hops Winter IPA. For year-round drinking, Troegs offers its Perpetual IPA.

Launched in 1996, Three Floyds Brewing Co. conjures up European-themed brews with the Bavarian Haze IPA and Aggromaster, a Scottish style ale. Among its limited releases is Crushing Mass, a barrel-aged coffee stout.

Former San Francisco-based consultants Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding hatched a plan to open a brewery in Cincinnati, and in 2013 they did just that. Rhinegeist Brewery features a year-round lineup of IPAs, ales, and a lager, along with seasonal offerings like a Slangria fruited ale and a Sunspun shandy.

Odell Brewing Co. started as a family business. In 1989, Doug Odell, his wife, Wynne, and his sister Corkie founded the brewery, making a range of ales and lagers. But in 2015, the family sold a majority stake in the company to its workers in a combined management buyout and employee stock ownership program.

Georgetown Brewing Co. got its start when its owners, Manny and Roger, grabbed a 15-barrel system from a defunct brewery in North Carolina in 2002. It’s now the largest independent brewery in Washington State, selling its line of Bodhizafa IPA, Lucille IPA, Johnny Utah Pale Ale, and Roger’s Pilsner.

Allagash Brewing Co. brews its Belgian-inspired beers with only locally sourced grains. With those grains, the brewery creates a series of beers ranging from Allagash White, a Belgian-style wheat beer and ales brewed with fruit flavors, like the Blackcurrant sparkling session ale.

Founded in 1857, Stevens Point Brewery served beer to the troops during the Civil War. Since then, the brewery has grown steadily, and in 1992 it was purchased by Barton Beers of Chicago. Stevens Point’s lineup of brews features year-round favorites like Classic Amber Lager, and such seasonal offerings as Snow Pilot and Lake Side

Brothers Pat and Dan Conway started Great Lakes Brewing Co., renovating older buildings in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood in the 1980s. In a delicious irony, the building that now houses the Great Lakes brewpub was once a tavern visited by prohibition champion Eliot Ness. One of its beers is named in his honor – the Eliot Ness Amber lager.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. was born in 1988 after Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch teamed up to launch a brewery/restaurant. Dan learned his trade at the top brewing school in the world, the Technical University of Munich. Today, the brewery serves only German-style beer fermented with yeast imported from Germany.

In 1986, Harpoon Brewery grabbed Brewing Permit #001 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a year later, its original Harpoon Ale hit the marketplace. Today, its lineup of brews features numerous IPAs and stouts.

Minhas Craft Brewery is truly an international player in the craft beer space. In addition to its Monroe, Wisconsin base, it has two locations in Calgary, Canada, where patrons can sample its beers and malt liquors.

Matt Brewing Co. launched in 1878 when Francis Xavier Matt immigrated from Germany. His son and grandson carried on the tradition. Today Matt’s descendants work in the business, producing seasonal favorites like Winter Lager and Caramel Porter.

For something a little different, there is the Athletic Brewing Company, a Stratford, Connecticut, maker of non-alcoholic craft beers. Its brews contain less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. Among its offerings are Suped Up, Trailblazer Hoppy Helles, Personal Record, and Wit’s Peak. The company was founded in 2017 by Wall Street refugee Bill Shufelt and brewmaster John Walker. Its slogan is “One-of-a-kind brews for a better tomorrow.”

One of New Glarus Brewing Co.’s signature offerings is Two Women Lager, a collaboration between New Glarus and Weyermann Malting, both women-owned breweries. Among its seasonal favorites are Staghorn Octoberfest and Totally Naked.

Named after the waterway flowing through Bend, the Deschutes River, Deschutes Brewery sold its first beers in 1988. It offers 11 IPAs along with other ales, as well as porters, stouts, sours, and pilsners.

Brooklyn Brewery continues the tradition of beer making that began in the borough in the 1880s. In 1984, founders Steve Hindy and Tom Potter first fermented the brewery’s signature Brooklyn Lager. Today, their beers can be quaffed in 30 countries and on five continents, placing it 23rd on the list of 50 overall top brewing companies.

Tilray Brands is the largest cannabis company in the world by total assets, and is growing its footprint by snapping up craft-beer brands to provide a consistent revenue stream before cannabis is federally legalized. Tilray added Montauk Brewing to its portfolio in November 2022, giving it the New York metropolitan area’s largest craft brewer. Tilray has also picked up SweetWater Brewing, with facilities in Atlanta and Fort Collins, Colorado, plus Alpine Beer and Green Flash Brewing Company from California.

Billing itself as a “disruptive collective of like-minded brewers,” CANarchy’s portfolio include Oskar Blues Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, Squatters Craft Beers, Wasatch Brewery, Deep Ellum Brewing Company, Perrin Brewing Company, Three Weavers Brewing Company, and Revitalyte. Its members’ craft beverages are sold throughout the United States and 21 countries and U.S. territories.

If IPAs are your brew of choice, Stone Brewing stirs up a full lineup of your favorite beer. From Delicious to Tangerine Express Hazy, Stone Brewing has you covered. The brewery has also teamed up with Modern Times for a Wizards & Gargoyles Hazy Coffee IPA.

Artisanal Brewing Ventures growth shows just how far craft brewing has come from the days of small local shops. It’s now a top 10 regional craft brewer in the U.S. and oversees three successful craft breweries: Victory Brewing in Downingtown, Pennsylvania; Southern Tier Brewing in Lakewood, New York; and Sixpoint Brewing in Brooklyn – but its headquarters are in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Gambrinus’s roots go back to 1909 when the Spoetzl Brewery started brewing in Shiner, Texas, making it the oldest independent brewery in the state. Today, the family owned company stills sells the beer brewed at Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner Beer, along with beers from the Trumer Brewery in Berkeley, California.

Jan-Léonard Moortgat founded the Moortgat farm brewery in 1871 in Belgium. Fast-forward to today when the fourth generation of the family operates 11 Duvel Moortgat breweries around the globe, with four in Belgium, three in the U.S., and one each in the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K., proving that craft beer is truly an international business.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. launched in 1980, but it started much earlier than that when founder Ken Grossman bought his first home brewing kit as a teenager in 1969. Today, the business he built offers Pale Ale, Torpedo, an extra IPA, and Dankful, a hoppy IPA. Seasonal favorites include Oktoberfest and Summer Break IPA.

Boston Beer Co. is a multi-branded beverage conglomerate. Its well-known brands include the iconic Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Dogfish Head, Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea, Angry Orchard Hard Cider, Coney Island Brewing Co., and L.A.’s Angel City Brewery.

Billed as America’s oldest brewery, D.G. Yuengling and Son, Inc. has been crafting beers since 1829. Last year, it partnered with Molson Coors Beverage Co. to expand its sales deeper into the western U.S. It’s lineup of beers features Yuengling Traditional Lager, Light Lager 99, Golden Pilsner, Black & Tan, Golden Pilsner, Lord Chesterfield Ale, Oktoberfest, and Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Port.