HBG Reader's Choice Awards of 2012

This year saw our greatest increase in survey submissions yet.  Nearly a thousand people turned out to vote for their favorite beer institutions, thanks mostly to the breweries and bars for spreading the word on their twitter accounts, facebook pages and blogs.  Now without further ado, here are your top 5 choices in each category.

Top 5 Breweries
1. 3 Floyds - Munster
2. Sun King - Indianapolis
3. Bier - Indianapolis
4. Iechyd Da - Elkhart
5. Flat 12 - Indianapolis


Top 5 Beer Stores
1. Kahn's Fine Wine and Spirits - Various Locations
2. Crown Liquors - Various Locations
3. Chalet Party Shoppe - Various Locations
4. Payless Liquors - Various Locations
5. 21st Amendment - Various Locations


Top 5 Beer Bars
1. Twenty Tap - Indianapolis
2. Ale Emporium - Indianapolis
3. Beer Geeks Pub - Highland
4. Fiddler's Hearth - South Bend
5. MacNiven's - Indianapolis


Top 5 Brewpubs
1. 3 Floyds - Munster
2. Iechyd Da - Elkhart
3 (tie). Broad Ripple Brewpub - Indianapolis
3 (tie). Brugge Brasserie - Indianapolis
5. Thr3e Wise Men - Indianapolis


Top 5 Events and Festivals
1. 3 Floyds Dark Lord Day
2. Brewers of Indiana Guild Microbrewers Festival
3. Brewers of Indiana Guild Winterfest
4. Upland Sour + Wild + Funk Fest
5. Bloomington Craft Beer Fest


Top 5 Upcoming Breweries
1. Union Brewing - Carmel
2. Indiana City Brewing - Indianapolis
3. Ted Miller's Mass Ave Thing Outliers - Indianapolis
4. Back Alley Brewing - Goshen
5. Daredevil Brewing - Shelbyville


Top 5 Sister State Breweries
1. Founders - Grand Rapids, MI
2. Bell's - Kalamazoo, MI
3. Goose Island - Chicago, IL
4. Two Brothers - Warren, IL
5. Jolly Pumpkin - Dexter, MI


Congratulations to all of our winners!  Although Indianapolis has the highest population in the state, we saw a good variety of winners.  This should help you start some winter road trip plans, or perhaps create key destinations on your Winterfest plan of action.

We're not perfect, and we did accidentally leave some key players off of the beer bar and liquor store categories, but each year we learn.  Your write-in votes will result in more options for next year.  Believe it or not, we do read those things!  We also read the areas of improvement, and since they're targeted at the community and not only our blog, we'd like to share some of them with you.  That's the glory of an entirely anonymous poll!  Since there are a lot of them, we'll spread them out through a couple of upcoming posts.  Stay tuned!