While beer conglomerates like Anheuser-Busch InBev grow bigger every day, microbreweries are shrinking.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing: Nowadays, many home brewers who turn pro want to keep their beer intimate and personalized. Hence, the nanobrewery: a small-batch operation typically run by one or two people.
Don't expect to find nanobrewed beer at every alehouse; these lagers and IPAs are hyperlocal and regionalized, which ensures that each pint is impeccably fresh. Here are our favorites across the nation. When it comes to great beer, size doesn't matter.
Blind Bat Long Island's Paul Dlugokencky crafts and distributes fiercely flavorful artisanal ales, like the campfire-evoking Hellsmoke Porter (pictured) and the banana-hinted Harborfields Hefe Weizen (blindbatbrewery.com).
Breaker Brewing Company Longtime pals Chris Miller and Mark Lehman's teensy Pennsylvania operation honors the area's mining past with a malty, bitter Anthracite Ale and the coffee-tinged Olde King Coal Stout (breakerbrewingcompany.com).
Heater/Allen Brewing After more than 20 years of home brewing, Rick Allen founded his Oregon brewery in 2007, focusing on German-style beers like the sparkling Pils and smoky Shwarz (heaterallen.com).
Worth Brewing In the farmlands of Iowa, Peter Ausenhus and his wife, Margaret Bishop, craft proudly local beers, including the hoppy Dillon Clock Stopper--named after an area jeweler--in tiny (10 gallon) batches (worthbrewing.com).
