Below is the list, please feel free to add  any we’ve left off in our comments section…

Great American Beer Festival, Denver, CO

Augustinerkeller, Munich, Germany

Abbaye de Notre-Dame d’Orval, Orval, Belgium

Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia, PA

Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court, London, England

Schlenkerla Heller-Bräu Trum, Bamberg, Germany

Horse Brass Pub, Portland, OR

Kulminator, Antwerp, Belgium

Hopleaf Bar, Chicago, IL

Toronado, San Francisco, CA

Zum Uerige, Dusseldorf, Germany

The Market Porter, Stoney Street, London, England

Oregon Brewers Festival, Portland, OR

U Fleku, Prague, Czech Republic

Andechs Monastery, Andechs, Germany

Falling Rock Tap House, Denver, CO

Früh au Dom, Cologne, Germany

The Bull & Castle, Dublin, Ireland

Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany

Brouwer’s Cafe, Seattle, WA

Spuyten Duyvil, Brooklyn, NY

Brick Store Pub, Decatur, GA

Cantillon Brewery and Gueuze Museum, Brussels, Belgium

Brauhaus Sion, Cologne, Germany

Henry’s 12th Street Tavern, Portland, OR

The Ginger Man, Austin, TX

t’Bruges Biertja, Bruges, Belgium

The Brickskeller, Washington, DC

Bruxellensis Festival of Characterful Beers, Brussels, Belgium

The Flying Saucer, NC, SC, TN, MO, AR and TX

d.b.a., New York, NY

Kaffe de Hopduvel, Ghent, Belgium

The Great Lost Bear, Portland, ME

Spatenhaus an der Oper, Munich, Germany

Über Tavern, Seattle, WA

The Blue Tusk, Syracuse, NY

Brauhaus Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO

Cadieux Cafe, Detroit, MI

Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY

The Porterhouse Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland

Mondial de la Bière, Montreal, Quebec

Krčma, Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Le Bier Circus, Brussels, Belgium

Library Alehouse, Santa Monica, CA

Pizza Port Brewing Co., Solana Beach, CA

Akkurat, Stockholm, Sweden

Rogue Brewery, Newport, OR

Great Canadian Beer Festival, Vancouver, BC

The Marine Hotel, Stonehaven, Scotland

Clark Street Ale House, Chicago, IL

Baumgartner’s Cheese Store & Tavern, Monroe, WI

Czech Beer Festival, Prague, Czech Republic

Buckeye Beer Engine, Lakewood, OH

Au General Lafayette, Paris, France

Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH

Hofbräuhaus, Munich, Germany

SandLot Brewery, Coors Field, Denver, CO

Beerpub Popeye, Tokyo, Japan

Bar Volo, Toronto, ON

Weihenstephan Brewery, Freising, Germany

Selin’s Grove Brewing Co., Selinsgrove, PA

Clark’s Ale House, Syracuse, NY

Piece Brewery & Pizzeria, Chicago, IL

Willimantic Brewing Co., Willimantic, CT

Great Taste of the Midwest, Madison, WI

Brasserie Federal (Hauptbahnhof, Zürich, Switzerland

Gritty McDuff’s Brew Pub, Portland, ME

De Halve Maan, Bruges, Belgium

Sapporo Beer Garden, Higashi-ku, Japan

Blind Tiger Ale House, New York, NY

The Brewer’s Art, Baltimore, MD

Birreria l’Orso Elettrico, Rome, Italy

Pivovarský Klub, Prague, Czech Republic

Stumbling Monk, Seattle, WA

Belgo Central, London, England

Anchor Brewing Co. Tasting Room, San Francisco, CA

Eulogy Belgian Tavern, Philadelphia, PA

‘t Arendsnest, Amsterdam, Holland

The Gravity Bar, Guinness St. James’s Gate Brewery, Dublin, Ireland

The Australian Hotel, Sydney, Australia

Zlý Časy, Prague, Czech Republic

Cooter Brown’s, New Orleans, LA

Delirium Café, Brussels, Belgium

Ye Olde Mitre Tavern, Ely Court, London, England

Delilah’s, Chicago, IL

Deschutes Brewery & Public House, Bend, OR

Mahar’s, Albany, NY

Nederlands Biercafe ‘t Arendsnest, Amsterdam, Holland

Dogfish Head Ale House, Rehoboth Beach, DE

Sail and Anchor, Fremantle, Australia

Mecklenburg Gardens, Cincinnati, OH

The Map Room, Chicago, IL

The Publick House, Brookline, MA

Gosenschenke Ohne Bedenken, Leipzig, Germany

Holiday Ale Festival, Portland, OR

Olympen Mat & Vinhus, Oslo, Norway

O’Brien’s Pub, San Diego, CA

Antares Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bierproeflokaal In de Wildeman, Amsterdam, Holland

Beerbistro, Toronto, Canada

Charlie’s Bar, Copenhagen, Denmark

McSorley’s Old Ale House, New York, NY

Die Weisse, Salzburg, Austria

Irseer Klosterbräu, Irsee, Germany

McMenamins Kennedy School Hotel, Portland, OR

Chez Moeder Lambic, Brussels, Belgium

Sunset Grill & Tap, Boston, MA

James E. McNellie’s Public House, Tulsa, OK

PINT Bokbierfestival, Amsterdam, Holland

Redbones, Somerville, MA

Sleeping Lady Brewing Co./Snow Goose Restaurant, Anchorage, AK

Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA

The Happy Gnome, St. Paul, MN

Milltown, Carrboro, NC

Zythos Bier Festival, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

Thirsty Monk, Asheville, NC

Goose Island Brewpub, Chicago, IL

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Moan and Dove, Amherst, MA

Neuzeller Kloster Bräu, Neuzelle, Germany

Kelham Island Tavern, Sheffield, England

Taco Mac, GA and TN

American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, Burlington, VT

The White Horse, Parsons Green, London, England

Tinkoff, Moscow, Russia

5 Seasons Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA

The Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh, PA

Alibi Room, Vancouver, BC

Gösser Bierklinik, Vienna, Austria

Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival, Stockholm, Sweden

The Bell, Aldworth, Berkshire, England

Brouwerij ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, Holland

T.Y. Harbor Brewery, Tokyo, Japan

The Hart & Thistle, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, London, England

Sugar Maple, Milwaukee, WI

Mitchell’s Waterfront Brewery & Scottish Ale House, Cape Town, South Africa

Kelly’s Caribbean Bar, Grill & Brewery, Key West, FL

Cole’s Restaurant, Buffalo, NY

Heineken Brewery, Amsterdam, Holland

The Dubliner, Washington, DC

Matt Brewing Co. Tasting Room, Utica, NY

Shakespeare Brewery & Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand

Boxing Cat Brewery, Shanghai, China

Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, DC

Bar 35, Honolulu, Hawaii

Mr. Sancho’s Beach, Cozumel, Mexico

St. Louis, Missouri

While St. Louis has arguably slipped in its influence, both beerwise and otherwise, the history of Anheuser-Busch still makes it a destination for beer lovers. A century ago, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country, which is when it acquired its nickname as the “Gateway to the West,” but today it is not even in the top fifty.

History alone makes a trip to visit the original Anheuser-Busch brewery de rigueur. But you’ll also want to visit one of Schlafly Brewery’s two locations, and not because they bill themselves as St. Louis’ second-largest brewery. Other breweries include The Stable, Square One Brewery and Mattingly Brewing. Outside the city limits, check out the O’Fallon Brewery.

For beer bars in the city, there’s the 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar, Iron Barley and Bailey’s Chocolate Bar. In the area, there’s also the International Tap House in Chesterfield and the Wine and Cheese Place if you’re shopping for bottles.

At the end of April is the best time to visit, at least for beer, because that’s when the city puts on its own St. Louis Beer Week.

Beyond beer, for art visit the St. Louis Art Museum and Forest Park, which was built for the 1904 World’s Fair. The Gateway Arch is hard to miss, but there’s also the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and the St. Louis Union Station. While not strictly a non-beer destination, the Lemp Mansion is open to tourists, and several ghosts are reputed to haunt the home. The mansion was owned by the family that ran the Lemp Brewery, which in 1870, was the largest brewery in St. Louis.

Montreal, Quebec

Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and also the second largest city of French speakers. Only Paris has more people who speak French. It is also home to nearly twenty breweries within the city limits and several more just outside.

Some of the best include Dieu du Ciel, Le Chaval Blanc and Le Saint-Bock Brasserie. A few others worth your time are Brutopia, any of the four Les 3 Brasseurs or the Benelux Brewpub. If you can get out of town, Unibroue on the Chambly River has a fun tour.

If you’re hungry or looking for a good beer bar, try Fourquet Fourchette, Vices et Versa or Broue Pub Brouhaha. If you want to bring some beer home with you, your best best bet is Depanneur Peluso.

In some ways, Montreal is two cities. There’s an underground city there with tunnels spanning 20 miles connecting 80 percent of the city’s downtown office space and 35 percent of all commercial space. It also connects 60 residential complexes, meaning you could conceivably never go outside, especially during a harsh winter, for weeks at a time, yet still eat and rink beer at some of the finest places in town. Each day, about half a million people use one of the 120 entrances and exits to the underground.

When the weather is nice, Mount Royal is a great place to go. Created by Frederick Law Olmstead, who is most famous for creating NYC’s Central Park, it offers the most amazing views of the city. Nearby is St. Joseph’s Oratory, the largest church in Canada and boasting the biggest dome of any kind after the one in the Vatican.

For other non-beer things to do, there’s the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Olympics Stadium – the site of the 1976 summer games.

If you can choose when to visit Quebec, June is a good time because that’s when Montreal’s best beer festival is held. The Mondial de la Biere lasts five days and includes many special events in addition to the festival itself.

Austin, Texas

“Keep Austin Weird” is Austin’s unofficial motto, and it fits with the Texas capitol’s status as an oasis for artists, musicians, liberals and even brewers. In and around town, there are seven breweries, and while Austin is the fourth largest city in Texas, it still feels small. And geographically, it is relatively small, meaning you can visit them all. There’s the Draught House, Independence Brewing, Live Oak Brewing, Lovejoy’s North by Northwest, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que and the new (512) Brewing, a nod to the town’s telephone area code. There is a rumor of a forthcoming beer week being planned, but a time and date has not been announced yet.

Music is a big part of Austin, which bills itself as the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” due to having more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. A stroll down 6th Street reveals music of all kinds wafting out of endless clubs and bars. Some of the best beer bars to check out are the Ginger Man, Billy’s on Burnet, the Elephant Room, Opal’s Divine and Zax Pints and Plates. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to pick up something for the road, the Grapevine Market or Spec’s will have what you’re looking for with great selections.

If you’re hungry, there are plenty of barbeque joints to fill you up. Stubb’s Bar-B-Q or Iron Works on River Street downtown popular destinations.

Beyond beer, there’s a lot of do in Austin, from ambling around the quirky shopping district to watching the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge, which boasts the largest urban population of Mexican Free-Tailed Bats. Every night around sunset, 1.5 million bats fly out in search of food; there vast numbers even show up on the local radar. For indoor activities try the Blanton Museum of Art, the O. Henry Museum or the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture.

Anchorage

Though Alaska is a very large state, its population is concentrated around the edges due to the inhospitable weather. Forty percent of its residents live in Anchorage, which is the state’s largest city with around 280,000 people. For such a small town, there are plenty of beer choices.

There are four breweries in Anchorage: Glacier Brewhouse, Midnight Sun Brewing Co., Moose’s Tooth and Sleeping Lady (which also goes by the name Snow Goose Restaurant). There are also several bars that stock good beer, including Bear’s Tooth, Cafe Amsterdam, Cahir 5 Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse and Tap Root Cafe. If you can visit only one, Humpy’s is your best bet.

For buying beer, try either Brown Jug WareHouse or La Bodega, which used to be called Yukon Spirits. The local Brewers Guild of Alaska has of late tried to promote Alaska Beer week in early January around the same time as Anchorage’s premiere beer festival: The Great Alaska Beer & Barleywine Festival. Beerwise, the whole town comes alive that week and it has become a popular best fest destination.

Despite it being cold outside, there are plenty of outdoor activities, especially if you love snow which the town gets around 70 inches of a year. Even In July, the high rarely hits 65 degrees. There are dozens of parks, many with hiking trials and several ski resorts. The area is also home to around 250 black bears and 60 grizzly bears. Moose have a summer population of about 250 but swell to 1,000 in the winter. Both are common sights in town.

If you prefer to stay indoors, there are numerous museums, such as the Alaska Museum of Natural History, the Anchorage Museum, the Imaginarium (or Science Discovery Center) and the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

We’re talking about craftbrewing’s Generation Y: those breweries that came on-line in the mid-1990s or later, long after the pioneers had blazed a trail. They entered a market where competition was keener, bad beer no longer tolerated, and outlets to retailers fewer as a result of distributor consolidation. The great shake-out of the late ’90s was just around the corner. They had to be leaner, meaner and smarter to survive.

Mac and Jack’s Brewery is like a sapling growing up in the shadow of two redwoods. The brewery stands in Redmond, WA, about 15 miles east of Seattle, where industry giants Redhook and Pyramid hold sway. Even in one of the country’s most mature markets, newcomer Mac and Jack’s grew about 120 percent between 1998 and 2000, topping the 20,000-barrel mark.

Asked how he managed such growth, partner Malcolm Maclean Rankin answers, “I wish I knew the answer. I’d bottle it and sell it.” Of course, he can’t bottle anything because Mac and Jack’s is a draft only brewery—probably the largest such operation in the country. That lends the products a certain mystique, allows Rankin. “You have to go to a bar to try our beer.” But he and partner Jack Schrapp have also invested a lot of sweat equity in the business since they started in 1994 with a 7-barrel brew house in Jack’s garage.

Mac and Jack’s sticks to basics, making only three beers: a wheat, an amber and a porter. “We don’t work in styles too much,” admits Rankin. “Our porter is edging into a sweet stout.” You can find the brews on tap only in Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho.

When questioned how much further he can grow the business, Rankin replies, “I wish I had a crystal ball. I don’t know. We don’t set goals that we have to be at such an amount at such a time.” But he and Schrapp will have to make some decisions soon. Their current facility will max out at 24,000 barrels, and they’re about to bump their heads on that ceiling.

D.G. Yuengling & Son in Pottsville, PA is a source of inspiration to its fellow regionals. The country’s oldest brewery was founded in 1829, when Andrew Jackson was the newly inaugurated president of the United States. During the 1990s Yuengling became a trend-setter: its Black and Tan (a mix of porter and premium lager) inspired dozens of copycat products, and its Traditional Lager (an amber beer) has added a new cachet to the word “lager.” Last year Yuengling produced 920,000 barrels, making it the eighth largest brewer in the U.S.

Yuengling has long inspired an almost fanatical following among residents of Pennsylvania’s coal regions. In 1893, a Pottsville resident named Charles Guetling—perhaps to win some barroom bet—pushed a wheelbarrow laden with a keg of Yuengling all the way to the Chicago World’s Fair. One hundred years later, Yuengling was forced to pull out of several neighboring states when local distributors hollered loud and long about beer rationing. Yuengling has since reclaimed its lost territory after purchasing the former Stroh brewery in Tampa, FL in 1999. The company was set to cut the ribbon on a modern, million-barrel-a-year plant just outside Pottsville.

After 172 years, Yuengling is still family-owned, and should remain way: the two oldest daughters of the current brewery president, Richard Yuengling, Jr., have earned their brewing diplomas from the Siebel Institute in Chicago and taken jobs at the brewery,

Survival Through Diversification

“Life was a lot easier in the 1970s,” sighs Ted Marti, president of the August Schell Brewing Co. in New Ulm, MN. “We were only doing 2-3 beers back then.” Now Schell turns out 16 different brands, including a line of all-malt specialty beers that ranges from Schmaltz’s Alt to Zommerfest (a kölsch) to Snowstorm (an ever-changing winter seasonal that most recently was an ale/mead hybrid).

The brewery was founded in 1860 and managed to survive a Sioux uprising in 1862 that razed the rest of the settlement. Asked how Schell has managed to last 140 years, Marti answers, “We’ve always had great local support. It’s something we never lost. We were adaptable. When the times changed, we changed. We also had a family that wanted to operate a brewery. I’m the fifth generation.”

Meanwhile, the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA—currently celebrating its 100th birthday—has survived by being a jack-of-all-trades. In 2000, the brewery operated at capacity, pumping out 400,000 barrels, according to sales manager Michael Luksic. But that figures incorporates dozens of brands of many types of liquid, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The Lion’s latest venture is Long Island Iced Tea, a “malt-ernative beverage” flavored with black tea and measuring 5.5% abv.

The Lion has de-emphasized its traditional Stegmaier and Gibbons brands, the latter relegated to the gulag of 16-oz returnable bottles. The Brewery Hill line of craft beer gets the bulk of attention nowadays. Goya Malta, brewed for a Puerto Rican company, also helps puts bread on the table. Malta is essentially non-fermented wort, a sweet, non-alcoholic drink popular in Hispanic communities as a health tonic. The Lion also produces designer soft drinks and hard lemonades like Hooper’s Hooch.