Thrillist Panel: Great Raft > Parish

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The Louisiana beer scene has more than doubled in size over the past five years, with no less than 20 breweries & brewpubs opening throughout the state. Thankfully, a handful of selfless residents have taken it upon themselves to try literally all of them, allowing us to properly sort the good from the almost-as-good.

To compile this ranking, we reached out to 18 beer retailers, writers, bloggers, homebrewers, and enthusiasts in Louisiana, and had them all rank their top five breweries. Each placement had a numerical value attached, and after adding all the data up, this is what we found:

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1. Great Raft Brewing, 104 Points.
Shreveport

Founded: 2013
The majority of the panel identified this two-year-old brewery in the Northwest corner of the state as having the best, most consistent beers -- both their flagship lineup as well as their seasonals and special releases -- in the state. One panelist states, “Great Raft is without a doubt, the most impressive Louisiana brewery. Everything they do is right: the beers, the branding, the design of their taproom, the way they handle their business.” Another proclaims, “The focus on quality is readily apparent. Even this self-proclaimed ale lover really enjoys their bottom fermenting beers, from the dark and roasty, yet easy drinking Reasonably Corrupt to the Southern Drawl pale lager. Their At Arm's Length IPL would be the best single IPA in the state, if it was actually an ale. All My Tomorrows is a hoppy saison, that rivals the best in the country.” A bottle shop retailer says, “Clean, balanced, and stylistically spot-on, I can always put a six-pack of Great Raft in a customer’s hands and know they will be happy.”
Key beer: Hard to choose, but Commotion pale ale

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