Output aside, the U.S. covers a far greater amount of styles and substyles. I'd pick the U.S. In a heartbeat. I'd take CA over Belgium, and maybe a few other states, too. That's no disrespect. I love Rocheforts and Rodenbach and several others. But there are just too many awesome American beers in too many styles to even make this a competition. Lucky for me, I don't have to pick just one!

quote: : Originally posted by slowrunner77 Output aside, the U.S. covers a far greater amount of styles and substyles. I'd pick the U.S. In a heartbeat. I'd take CA over Belgium, and maybe a few other states, too. That's no disrespect. I love Rocheforts and Rodenbach and several others. But there are just too many awesome American beers in too many styles to even make this a competition. Lucky for me, I don't have to pick just one!

Agreed! Wisconsin as well... although I DO love the beers of Belgium. When I joined BeerPal, I embarked on a systematic drinking and reviewing survey of ONLY Wisconsin breweries and brewpubs and the great variety of beer styles they produced. For my first fourteen months on this site I drank 220 different beers from 42 different Wisconsin brewers, representing 59 different styles (using BeerPal's classifications). It proved to be a great learning experience and I gained an empiric appreciation for the local varieties available right here in my home state!

If I had access, I'd probably take CA, OR, MI, CO & WI as individual states over Belgium as a whole. But we don't have to, so more power to us :) John, getting ready to crack the R & D Wild Bitter tomorrow - will let you know how it goes!

quote: Originally posted by pfoxyjohn quote: quote: : Originally posted by slowrunner77 Output aside, the U.S. covers a far greater amount of styles and substyles. I'd pick the U.S. In a heartbeat. I'd take CA over Belgium, and maybe a few other states, too. That's no disrespect. I love Rocheforts and Rodenbach and several others. But there are just too many awesome American beers in too many styles to even make this a competition. Lucky for me, I don't have to pick just one! Agreed! Wisconsin as well... although I DO love the beers of Belgium. When I joined BeerPal, I embarked on a systematic drinking and reviewing survey of ONLY Wisconsin breweries and brewpubs and the great variety of beer styles they produced. For my first fourteen months on this site I drank 220 different beers from 42 different Wisconsin brewers, representing 59 different styles (using BeerPal's classifications). It proved to be a great learning experience and I gained an empiric appreciation for the local varieties available right here in my home state!

There are always a few exceptions from the "original" areas or regions, but overall the U.S. is making the best beer in the world and the broadest spectrum by far. In terms of innovation it isn't topped either.