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NoCo Breweries Rank Among Best In Country

Stephanie Daniel
/
KUNC
Odell Brewing's Rupture and IPA beers ranked in the top 50 in the American Homebrewers Association annual top beer poll.

Coloradans love locally brewed craft beer and it appears the rest of the country does, too.

Five northern Colorado breweries have been named among the best in the country. New Belgium Brewing and Odell Brewing in Fort Collins tied for 12th in the American Homebrewers Association annual poll. Also making the top 25 are Oskar Blues Brewery of Longmont, WeldWerks Brewing Company in Greeley and Boulder's Avery Brewing Company.

The beer business is booming in Colorado. There are 348 craft breweries in the state, a number that has grown 176 percent since 2011. The industry's economic impact clocks in at over $3 billion and its impact per capita is first in the country.

Credit Brewers Association

Northern Colorado breweries also received top 50 honors for their beers. WeldWerk's IPA "Juicy Bits" was the top finisher, placing 10th on the best beers list.

New Belgium's 24-beer list tied for third in the top brewery portfolio list, while Odell's 19 beers tied for ninth.

Bell's Brewery in Comstock, Michigan was named the top brewery and produced the top beer, Two Hearted Ale.

For the curious beer lover, here's the full list:

1. Bell's Two Hearted Ale

2. Russian River Pliny the Elder

3. The Alchemist Heady Topper

4. Bell's Hopslam

5. TIE: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Founders CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout), Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout)

8. Three Floyds Zombie Dust

9. Founders Breakfast Stout

10. TIE: WeldWerks Juicy Bits, Founders All Day IPA

12. TIE: Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, Tree House Julius, Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA

15. Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

16. The Alchemist Focal Banger

17. Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue

18. TIE: Lawson's Finest Liquids Sip of Sunshine, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Russian River Blind Pig I.P.A.

21. Melvin 2×4 DIPA

22. Deschutes Black Butte Porter

23. TIE: Surly Todd The Axe Man, Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout, Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, Odell IPA

27. TIE: Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro, Old Nation M-43 N.E. IPA*

29. North Coast Old Rasputin

30. TIE: Russian River Pliny the Younger, Suly Furious, New Holland Dragon's Milk, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

34. TIE: Arrogant Bastard Ale, Ommegang Three Philosophers,

36. TIE: Firestone Walker Parabola, Allagash White, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Fat Head's Hop JuJu Imperial IPA, Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb!

43. TIE: Summit Extra Pale Ale, Founders Dirty Bastard, Bell's Oberon Ale, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin

49. TIE: Odd13 Codename: Superfan, Tree House Green, Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin, Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red, Odell Rupture, Creature Comforts Tropicália, Orval

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