NEW: Travel + Leisure Names Providence #4 Beer City in America

NEW: Travel + Leisure Names Providence #4 Beer City in America

Cheers, dudes.

None other than Travel + Leisure has named Providence the fourth best Beer City in America.

In the latest of the magazine's enormously popular reader polls, T+L put the Capital City in the Top 5, and the top city east of the Rocky Mountains to be named (the top 3 this year are Portland, Denver, and Seattle, in that order).

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Craft beers drive the win

Providence has continued to run the T+L gauntlet in polls honoring eating and drinking - we took first overall for local specialties (such as pizza and burgers), and near the top of the pile for neighborhood joints.
In beerworld, T+L gave a shout-out to Trinity Brewhouse, which sells "growlers" to go.

Growlers - half-gallon jugs that allow visitors to buy microbrews to go -  are part of the microbrewery craze that has grown amidst a general beer sales slump nationwide (down one percent in 2010) - craft beer sales were up by 11 percent last year.

Portland, ME trailed Providence by one spot in the rankings, and that city to the north that is the home of Cheers came in at 7th.

For the entire story, go here.