I have learned alot of interesting things about this country having a job where I travel all over for 30 weeks a year. One thing I've learned about the craft beer scene everywhere I've been is that every town has a craft beer scene. And everyone thinks their town's scene is the best. I make a point to try the local brews everywhere I go. In general, it all tastes the same, and more often than not isn't all that good. Even saying that, I love how every town has their own unique beer scene. It took almost 100 years for this country to get back to the number of breweries that existed before prohibition (and we have a long way still to go on a per capita basis). It is just great that you can get different beers in every place you go.

What makes a good scene, imo, is a variety of breweries serving interesting options. I havbe only had beer in two of the places on this list - and I'd say Boone is the better of the two.