Hop Lot Brewing Co in Michigan Ranked in Top 10 US Beer Gardens

Michigan is known for its incredible craft beer scene. The Mitten State is home to approximately 400 breweries, making it sixth in the nation in breweries, microbreweries, and brewpub. Heck, Grand Rapids is also known as "Beer City, U.S.A"

Keeping that in mind, it should serve as no surprise that Michigan is home to the second best beer garden in the entire country.

What is a Beer Garden?

A beer garden, derived from the German word Biergarten, is a nice outdoor area where beer and food are served. Typically the outdoor area is very well manicured. There are nice, big tables; trees and flowers; umbrellas; maybe some cute hanging lights; and some nice shady spots along the way.

The general social atmosphere of a beer garden lends itself to a fun time. Plus, the variety of beers and yummy food helps too.

Best Beer Gardens in the US

USA Today did one of the things they do best; they ranked the 10 best beer gardens in the US.

Not only did Michigan land a spot on the list, it came in at number two! Behind only a spot in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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The second best beer garden in the US is Hop Lot Brewing Co in Suttons Bay, Michigan (located near Lake Michigan). Here's a view of their gorgeous beer garden in warmer times...

Of course, the variety of beer is front and center. The fact that it offers up about 12 different ales is one of the aspects that ranks it so high.

What's especially cool about this location is that it has the chance for you to hang outdoors year round, which is something not every place in Michigan can boast. In the warmer months, you can sit under an umbrella or around one of the campfires. In the winter, they have igloos you can reserve.

Don't forget, beer gardens are known for their yummy food too. Check out this delicious sandwich.

If you're planning a craft beer road trip this summer, be sure to make Suttons Bay a stop on your list.

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Gallery Credit: Leon Faraday via YouTube

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LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood