The Best Brewery I Visited in 2021

2021 was a wild year. At the turn of the year, we were on the brink of vaccines becoming available, a change in the Oval Office and people spending more time than ever at home with their families. With many breweries and bars keeping their doors closed, people saved money, reinvested in their homes and reimagined what the new normal would be.

Flights were extremely inexpensive as people were still skeptical of flying, so with extremely limited travel in 2020, we did several beer trips to do our part in stimulating the economy and trying to get back to enjoying our time with friends exploring new breweries.

People often ask me what is the best brewery. Though it’s a loaded question, like what is the best restaurant or what is the best bear, I dug into the archives to put my stamp on the best breweries that I visited in 2021.

Best Beer: Arkane Aleworks Largo, FL. As written about in my Tampa article, this was the first stop on our trip to Tampa and was the best brewery, pound for pound, across all styles. This trip was dotted with stout stops at Angry Chair and Cycle, pilsners at Green Bench and fruited sours at Hidden Springs, but Arkane had some of the best IPAs, stouts and fruited berliners that we tried all year. Nestled in a shopping center next to a gym, this is a must stop to anyone making the pilgrimage to the Tampa area.

Best Experience: Eagle Park Brewing Company Milwaukee, WI. The final stop on our trip to the Chicago, Green Bay, Milwaukee triad, this place had a great venue in the Lower East Side of Milwaukee, nestled next to Schlitz Park and across the river from the tourist choice, Lakefront Brewery. In arguably the most historic beer city in the United States, Eagle Park was in a great walkable neighborhood with IPAs, heavily fruited adjunct berliners and some tasty stouts that had me wishing I had more time to spend at this venue. They also had a good looking food menu, making me regret having that second brat at The Milwaukee Brat House beforehand. This is a must visit if stopping for beer in Milwaukee.

Best Overall: Fourscore Beer Co. Gettysburg, PA. This was one of the last breweries that I visited in 2021, so it could’ve been that the trip was fresh on my mind or that I was visiting my dad in a historic city for his birthday, but this place knocked it out in the three biggest aspects that I consider when determining best breweries: beer quality across styles, venue and food. I ordered a fried chicken sandwich that was easily the best meal I had at a brewery all year. Hand breaded chicken thighs on a homemade buttermilk biscuit with buffalo sauce and blue cheese. I would go back for the food alone.

Gettysburg is a rather quaint little college town. Fourscore is tucked into a family neighborhood in the downtown area with ample parking and right across the street from battlefield named streets and signage. Certainly a great location to stop and visit if you’re around central Pennsylvania.

The beer was also top notch. I started with a flight of sours, which are on par with the likes of The Answer’s Joose. Very colorful and sour, these beers were all heavily fruited with a list of adjuncts, certainly not what your grandfather would’ve reached for after a shift down at the mill. I got some large IPAs and stouts in my second flight, each of which were stellar. Fourscore also has proper pilsner tap handles, and will be a must visit the next time I’m in the area.

We appreciate you reading along and continuing to follow us on this beer journey. Cheers to a happy and prosperous 2022.