For Beer City, USA, Vote Portland ... Maine
For the past couple or so, Charlie Papazian has run an online poll to determine "Beer City, USA." The last couple years, it has been a battle between Portland and Asheville, NC--and pretty much no one else. Obviously, this isn't a hugely important laurel most cities seek. The battle of the past two years hasn't reflected especially well on Portland, and I join Brady Walen and Bill Night in hoping that we sit this one out. Since Asheville has won the last two years, it might be valuable for a different city to have bragging rights, and so I nominate the other Portland, in Maine. It's a great beer town that gets way less press than it should given all its great pubs and breweries. They got my vote.