Beer and Travel

Untappd.

 

This is an interesting question as beer and food are very important components of my travel experience. I always do some research in advance of the trip, particularly the beer end of things. This research revolves around quality, obviously, but also around geography. Can I feasibly get to the place I want and does it fit in logistically with other things I want to do and see. I would take a lower quality bar if it was closely located to other attractions/events I have planned. Time is precious while travelling. I also somewhat rely on local expertise and fellow traveler experience. For example, when in Portugal In February my wife and I met a guy from the Netherlands at a bar in Lisbon. During our discussion he mentioned another bar we had not heard off called Outro Lado. We went the next night and it was phenomenal. Turns out the guy from the Netherlands was also there. Small world syndrome.

 

Yup. Thread has it covered here:
-Go regional in the forums on BA - ask away, even some good useful city guides put together by BAs often.
-GoogleMaps in the U.S. does a pretty good job of giving you the 'quality impression' of places nearby.
-In Europe, I look at TripAdvisor, which is FAR more in use over there (surprisingly) than it is here.

And while I can't wait to travel and enjoy beer again, I have to wait... cheers!

 

The Untappd Map feature is about as useful as it gets. I prefer the list mode, so I can easily see what's a brewery, bottle shop, bar, restaurant, what's verified, etc. Even if a shop/bar/restaurant isn't verified and may not be a craft spot, you can still see what people are checking in to there to find out.

Obviously Untappd ratings aren't gospel, but it's the easiest way to see what's close and what they have.

 

It helps to have a contact if traveling to another country. I'm on Flickr for my photography and chatted with another user from Scotland who told me all about the craft breweries there. A lot of them are making American style beer even hazy IPA's.

 

Wife and I went on a NE USA tour a few years ago, she wanted me to see what beaches looked like up there, I wanted some good beers so it turned out a meandering coastal trip to Portland, ME. Visited a bunch of others on the way...I had Allagash and MBC on "the list"...everything else was "if it's here, let's check it out".

Shutting off the phone and wandering can was a wonderful experience in places like Portland, ME. So many good places to visit in a fairly walk-able downtown.

But, there's no denying that the internet and this site in particular are a really good way to find things if wandering turns fruitless, as pointed out by others.

On the way back down the NE coast, we randomly happened upon NEBCO at exactly the right moment...around the exact right time, on a growler pour day where they had Locust Reign available. Pure magic and random, but it was definitely Internet powered. If it wasn't for the wife powering up the phone sitting in a parking lot figuring out "what's around here?", I'd have missed that gem.

 

I've had great luck finding places by simply asking random people around me. Generally I find that places will by mentioned by multiple people, and when I go to those places, I like to ask them where they would go. It works exceptionally well in walkable cities.

 

I actually love going to the first gas station I find. You'd be shocked at how often they have craft beer selections. I'll usually pick a few things up and drink them at the hotel to see if there's anything I like.

If I'm flying in, I'll hit a bar at the airport before driving into to town and do a flight of local stuff. You can read reviews and get opinions until the cows come home but you don't really know until you that beer his your own taste buds.

In any case, whether I fly or drive, my suitcase is loaded with beer and whiskey on the way home!

 

I had a great Midwest (IN, IL, WI, MN and IA) and over the past few years multiple California / Nevada / Arizona beer centric trips. I planned on hitting MI, VT, ME and Quebec breweries this summer, but that is likely on hold until next year, or when sitting at a bar and having a few beers is allowed. I may do a quick Michigan trip by the Fall in the interim.

I use google maps or hotels.com to find a hotel nearby my destination brewery, so I can walk to / from after a nice evening without worrying about driving (I'm not an uber / cab person). I try to hit one or two additional places for to go and maybe a taster round / one or two pours. I like eating at nice local places (non chain - In-n-Out rare exception) as well, either through word of mouth or pre-trip planning. The regional forums here are great, would also go to RateBeer for international suggestions.

While I prefer to hit breweries, I also like the option a great craft bar provides in terms of sampling great pours from around the region. San Diego Tap Room (Pacific Beach), Khourey's / Beer Zombies / Atomic Liquors / Tenaya Creek (Las Vegas), Hopleaf / Maproom / Fountainhead (Chicago) and Churchkey (Washington D.C.) are my favorite places to try a variety of local and regional pours in one spot. These were discovered either via friend / family recommendations or via threads / q & a responses in regional threads here.

May we all be able to travel and experience great beers, food and live conversations very soon!

 

For more than a decade, I've traveled back and forth to Lexington VA for a week in summer at least, sometimes for long weekends. From this spot I've done "brewery tours" radiating out from Lexington, hitting at least 2-4 breweries in the process. I've done Roanoke/Salem twice, Staunton, Harrisonburg, Waynesboro, and Crozet. This year I plan to hit Charlottesville (my old UVA stomping grounds) to hit the breweries there I haven't been to yet (Random Row, Reason, Decipher, Rockfish). Provided we're all open by then, of course.

 

We travel quite a bit for my kids sports teams. I always do a good amount of research beforehand.
Hit up regional forums here for suggestions, then Yelp once we hit the area.
We often do big team dinners and I’ll be damned if I going to a Applebee’s/Chill’s type place if I can help it. My wife usually organizes these dinners, so I get to give her input.
I find that a local place, especially a brew pub type place is always going to be better than a chain.

And yes I take off alone if there is a “special” place that I need to visit.

 

Ahh the planning for craft beer on a trip. Possibly the activity I look forward to the most. How to maximize the most out of the time. This has evolved heavily over the years and especially changed after having kids. With two young ones my move now is:

First use Untappd to filter down the options. Yes I know many BA’s don’t like Untappd but the search feature for breweries and taprooms is really good. So I first find what are the top spots in the city, where are they in relation to our hotel (or wherever staying) and I start breaking down into clusters to hopefully hit multiple places in one excursion. Although I’ve realized I prefer to hang at one spot for a while sampling many beers so I will typically do 2 spots max.

Second I take down the hours these top places I’ve identified are open. Often on these trips because my kids nap from like noon to 2 with my wife watching them this is my window to get out to sample beers. So I have to find the places that are open early. Other times I’ll go out after the kiddos go to bed at night so sometimes seeing who is open later.

Third I follow the places on Instagram and on Untappd. See what’s being released, what’s on tap and how long ago was it tapped. Who is selling cans or no cans, crowlers or no, etc. sometimes this drives the decision of where to go. If you find out the day before the trip one brewery is releasing a DIPA you are really into then that makes the decision for you.

Fourth, when I have a tough decision after narrowing things down I ask the BA’s on the regional forums. My recommendation there is give as much specific info as possible. It doesn’t come across as being picky or difficult, it helps tell people what you want and thus give a better recommendation. Say you like XXX beer style but not YYY style, you have a car or don’t, you have kids or don’t, you are trying to decide between this place or that place, etc.

 

I travel a lot for work with about 150-200 nights a year on the road, primarily in the US but occasionally to the UK or Australia. A lot of the useful tips have been mentioned, so I’ll second the regional forums here, especially for US travel. Place reviews are helpful as well, but the discussion in the forums are better for getting an idea of what’s trending around there. Other times, I’ll just see what I can find on the ol’ Google.

That said, with the focus being on the job I’m there for, I often don’t have time to do in-depth research of the local scene. Plus, if I’m grabbing a meal with my co-workers, I’m usually the only one ordering beer as the guys I usually work with mostly drink mixers. As a result, I’ve come to rely on a few favorite regional breweries that I know I can find on tap whenever I’m in that part of the country. This helps too when I get to a place with a huge tap list with a bunch of local breweries that I’ve never heard of and haven’t had time to research.

Specific to work travel, I generally avoid bottle shops, at least until the end of my trip. I found having beer on hand back in my hotel room to be too much after already eating and drinking out every night. Plus, I don’t travel with glassware. If there’s something specific I might want to bring home, I’ll try to grab it right before I leave

 

When we travel I usually look up what breweries are nearby and try to at least hit the tasting room or find their beer in a store. I had a blast one afternoon in Wynwood (Miami) during Super Bowl weekend this year. There were 3 breweries within walking distance of each other, all pretty good too. Wynwood Brewing,Concrete Beach and J.Wakefield. So far though for my money you can't beat Tampa, to me it's craft beer nirvana.

 

This is the best advice right here. I usually start with a detailed post in the regional forum and then do my.research off of those suggestions. For the most part, if you give detailed request you will get great responses from the local.BA's. Also, if I'm going to somewhere I'm a little familiar with or travel to regularly then checking in with the local forum to see if.there's any new developments can yield some nice surprises

 

I usually start with Google (and occasionally Yelp when looking for restaurants with beer), followed by the BA regional forums. Depending on the location, there could also be books or online guides as well. For instance, there are a LOT of beer-centric resources for cities like Portland and Brussels. Not so much for say...Witchita or Tallahassee, though.

Whatever you do, don't be that person who joins the local FB beer group and asks "What are the best breweries in [CITY]???" for the 500th time that day.

 

Eater.com is my go to for food and then BA regional threads for Beer/Food. If I can find some overlap between the two, it makes for a great meal with a solid local tap list. Plus it's an easier sell on my wife.

 

First I usually check Google maps around the hotel I'm staying at to see what's within walking/ hotel shuttle distance, since I usually don't have my car on work trips. Then I visit the BA regional pages. I'll usually also visit the websites of potential places. One evening of planning before a trip gets me a couple breweries, restaurants, and places of interest to keep me busy. For family trips, I usually make sure pubs are family friendly and expand the search area. I used to use seek a brew to judge what places I can't get at home but now.....

 

I had some heart palpitations when my new Ventra card came in the mail.
I'll wear that mask anywhere on CTA as long as I can get me some Half Acre and Dovetail !
Cheers to my peeps up there, my semi-adopted city.