{"id":19917,"date":"2016-02-01T11:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=19917"},"modified":"2018-02-06T14:11:10","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:11:10","slug":"ratebeer-best-awards-midwestern-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/ratebeer-best-awards-midwestern-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"RateBeer Best Awards: Midwestern Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, how’d the breweries around the Midwest fare at this year’s RateBeer Best Awards?<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BBMGFICMZxM\/?<\/p>\nT<\/span>he best new brewery in Illinois doesn’t actually have<\/em>\u00a0its own brewery. Not yet, at least.\u00a0The one-man-show behind Mikerphone Brewing<\/strong>, Michael Pallen, was just named the Best New Brewery in Illinois\u00a0this weekend\u00a0by RateBeer at their first-ever RateBeer Best Awards Show in Santa Rosa, California.<\/p>\n

Pallen officially started Mikerphone as he took\u00a0over as head brewer at SlapShot, and brewed his beers out of their facility until just a few months ago.\u00a0When SlapShot decided recently to close the Little Village brewery and move into the Atlas Brewing production facility on the far South Side, Pallen took their gear and moved it to its new home in Elk Grove Village. Until that brewing facility is up and running, Mikerphone is brewing out of the Une Annee space.<\/p>\n

And really, none of that matters as long as the beer is well-received, and per this weekend’s big win, that’s obviously not a concern.<\/p>\n

Ratebeer’s annual “Best Of” awards have been growing in stature every year, and this year they took it into the big leagues with their “RateBeer Best Awards Show<\/a>” over the weekend. Featuring a weekend full of brewer events, an awards ceremony and (naturally) a beer festival featuring breweries from around the U.S. and beyond. The festival includes breweries like Pipeworks, who received worldwide acclaim when they were named “Best New Brewery in the World<\/a>” a couple years back. The whole shindig is quite a jump from RateBeer’s\u00a0previous gameplan of “posting them on the website”.<\/p>\n

Every year, we help out by breaking down the winners into the Midwest\/Great Lakes region.\u00a0You can find last year’s\u00a0coverage here<\/a>, and congrats to all of this year’s victors.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the awards won by brewers from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. We even through Missouri and Iowa in just for shigs (though Iowa is basically nothing but Toppling Goliath anyways).<\/p>\n

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The Top Brewers in the World:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last year, we trumpeted<\/a> that three of the ten best brewers in the world are within a quick drive from Chicago. That’s still the case, though this year we swap Toppling Goliath (last year’s #3) for Side Project.\u00a0The Top 10 Brewers in the World<\/a> include:<\/p>\n

#4: Three Floyds
\n#8: Side Project
\n#9: Bells Brewery<\/p>\n

Aside from these three, you’ve got to haul ass to the East or West coasts (California and Oregon have five entries, Vermont has the #1 Hill Farmstead) or Europe (Browerij 3 in Belgium).<\/p>\n

After the Top 10, the rest are listed in alphabetical order. The Midwest can lay claim to 22\u00a0of the top 100:<\/p>\n