Beer-cations

My wife and I did a nice New England road trip awhile back. Hit about 25 breweries, brew pubs, and beer bars. Also, about 25 covered bridges. Had a great time on the back roads and in Portland, Bar Harbor and Boston.

 

I took a road trip to the west coast from Michigan last summer with my girlfriend that turned out to be more beer centric than anything else. Hit up a brewpub or bottle shop in almost every city we stopped in. Currently stands as the single best road trip/vacation I have ever taken.

The tally -

Olde Peninsula - Kalamazoo, MI
Rock Bottom and Argonaut's in Denver, CO
The Trappist, Beer Revolution, and City Beer in San Francisco, CA
Dunsmuir Brew Works - Dunsmuir, CA
The Bier Stein - Eugene, OR
Deschutes - Bend, OR
Rooster's - Ogden, UT
BJ's Brewhouse - Aurora, CO

 

Speaking of beer-cations, we're headed out to Denver/Breckenridge in a couple weeks to do some snowboarding. Obviously planning to hit up a lot of breweries in the Denver/Boulder/Breck area and kill two birds with one stone . Are there any that you particularly recommend we check out, or any other awesome beer-related locations in these cities? We for sure plan to visit Great Divide, Avery, and Breckenridge Brewery but there are a lot of smaller breweries we're looking at as well. Since our time is relatively limited, which are the best of these to visit? I also really enjoy brewery tours, so places with awesome tours or tastings are a plus. We'll be there from a Saturday-Wednesday. Thanks!

 

I always try to incorporate beer into trips I make. Here are a few observations/suggestions.

Southern Cali: Many others have already posted the great attributes of SD and I agree. In addition to all the breweries (I'd add Alpine to that mix too), there are some fantastic bars. The SD Toranado location is one of the best beer bars I've ever been to in my life. I've always hit up SD on day trips from the LA/OC area where my family lives. It is very easy to hit up a few places (most of the Pizza Ports are along the way) in one day and head back. The only downside is limiting intake for driving reasons. If you do hit up the LA/OC area, be sure to hit up Beachwood BBQ or Beachwood Brewing, also on my Top 10 favorite bars/brewpub list.

Western Michigan/Northern Ill/Northern Ind.: This is very easy to do in a short period of time. I drive home to WI from Boston every year and hang a right up into Michigan to hit up Kalamazoo (Bell's) and Grand Rapids (Hop Cat, Founders, lots of others mentioned already) and then dip back down past Three Floyd's and Chicago. If you did a four a five day trip, you could easily take your time taking in some of the best beer in the country (IMO), plus soak in some beach time and hit up Chicago.

New England/Northeast: Maybe it is because I live here, but if you were really trying to do a beer-only focus on a vacation, New England may be a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, we have some phenomenal brewers (more of them are sprouting up by the month), but a lot of them, especially in Mass do not have tours or facilities of their own yet. Great bars and bottle shops due to our availability though. Just my two, Boston-centric cents. However, if you want to incorporate history, mountains, ocean, camping, hiking, etc., NE is a great place to go. I love Portland, ME, but summer is when prices sky rocket in this part of the world.

I'm going to be headed to NC for the first time next month and can't wait to partake in that region's beer culture. Foothills, Duck Rabbit, etc. I'd love to do the Bay Area to Vancouver trek someday.

 

Hmm, I was first to mention it, but you ignored it! I cry foul here people, this is supposed to be a civilization! Mention a topic once and let it go, bring it up multiple times and we might as well be a roving barbarian horde - seeking to conquer the internets with our brazen disregard to the norms of society.

Shit man....

 

From Kansas, eh? My old stomping grounds....
anywho, yes, there are a lot of smaller breweries around here. For fairly easy access from I-70, I'd say for beer only: Golden City (Golden), Denver Beer Co. (Denver), GD. Dry Dock is a great place southeast of Denver.

BrewPubs: Backcountry Pizza (Frisco), Vine Street Pub (Denver), Wynkoop (Denver--close to GD and Denver Beer)

there are many others, but these--I think--are easiest to get to. Don't forget Coors! (for contrast in sizes)

 

I have a few ideas that might be helpful

1. Go rafting on the Kern River with me this summer!!! There is also some great mountain biking and its a short drive to see the Giant Sequoia trees. Then when you get off the river or done with your other adventures you can hit up Kern River Brewing Company for some fresh Just Outstanding IPA (named after a mountain biking descent trail). yummy!!

2. San Diego. 'Nuff said.

3. The Bay Area! Book your spot now for Anchor brewing. Take the quick drive up to Lagunitas and RR and a quick stop over to Napa Valley or hop over to Chico for Sierra Nevada. You can alternatively head south along the 1 through Big Sur to Paso Robles and check out the wine scene there along with Firestone Walker.

4. Portland area. Of course you have the Portland breweries but you also have the great stuff just a short drive in Hood River, Oregon. You can also head south to Eugene for a few more breweries.

 

My wife and I recently spent a weekend in Boston/Worcester. It was awesome were able to go to 5 of the top 100 beer bars in America. http://draftmag.com/features/americas-100-best-beer-bars-2012/ We used public transportation the whole time we were there. Would recommend going to anyone. The food and beer were awesome. I did not like the weekend night time crowds though. I would suggest going mid week to get the best of it. Our next trip is going to be Portland, Maine. If you were going for say a week, you could easily do Boston,Portland,and Portsmouth.

 

Personally, I've done both Seattle/Portland and Denver. I would go back to Portland in a heartbeat. So many great breweries in a small proximity. I have a trip to San Diego in April... looking forward to seeing how it stacks up!

 

I can't quite afford a Beer-cation quite yet (gotta get that full-time money [and vacation time] first, screw working part-time), but when I can, Asheville, NC is my destination for my week-long vacation. I'll go by car, driving up to Gainesville the first night (stopping by Swamp Head for libations), driving through Georgia via I-95 to South Carolina, where night 2 will be spent in Charleston enjoying some COAST libations, then taking I-26 right into Asheville for a multi-day beer-cation. A man's gotta have something to dream about after graduating from college.

 

I'm heading to Munich in a couple months and am looking for places to stay. A brewery/hotel sounds amazing! Any recommendations?

 

For SD there are two corridors for beer with a 3rd being developed quickly. The beery scene here is blowing up with 11 new breweries opening in 2012.

The Northern 78 "Highway of Beer", East to West: Stone, Lost Abbey, Aztec, Latitude, Prohibition (i think) and finally Pizza Port Carlsbad on the coast.

Mid County: Miramar, East to West: Ballast Point, Alesmith, Hess, Green Flash and maybe 1 or 2 others.

Main County: The 8: East to West: Alpine (be here right when they open), SD Beer Co, Origional Ballast Point, Pizza Port Ocean beach, Monkey Paw, Coronado Brew Co. More on 30th St for bars: Toronado, Hammilton's, Small Bar, Linkery etc...

There are new joints opening up and I'm not even sure where they are yet! Stumblefoot, Wet'n'Reckless, Rough Draft ...

Alaska is 1.5x bigger than tiny Texas.

Sierra Nevada to Firestone isn't feasible, SF is even a stretch. CA is a big long state and even if it's in Nor Cal doesn't mean they're anywhere close to one another.

 

Most of my beer-cations involve hiking and beer..Hitting national parks and breweries. My favorite has been Colorado with the abundance of great breweries and parks.

 

Unfortunately living in the Midwest and strapped down with a family (that part is not unfortunate) it is difficult to go on beer-cations. That said I usually go for a weekend to the Twin Cities, St. Louis, Chicago and the Madison,WI area. There are tons of great brewpubs/breweries/beer bars/liquor stores in the Twin Cities. In St. Louis they have around 10 or so brewpubs/breweries and a few distilleries. Chicago and the surrounding area has some great stops and FFF is just a half hour away. Madison and the surrounding area has some nice brewpubs and New Glarus and Grumpy Troll aren't too far out of the way as well as Capital and there are also some nice beer bars.

If I was planning a beer-cation for an extended period of time (at least a week) I would go to Michigan, Vermont, Southern California or Colorado starting in Denver.

Have a great trip and report back!

 

May I recommend Milwaukee? Cuz I just did.

 

I went out to CA last fall and it was a very successful adventure.

We flew into SF and spent three nights there. Went up to Lagunitas and Russian River for an afternoon, both were very awesome spots. Got lucky that it was Sunday and Russian River had Happy Hour the whole day. The other main beer thing we did while here was Toronado early in the afternoon. There were basically 5 people in the bar and we spent 4 hours there drinking $4-6 pints of very good beer. Also got a bottle of 50/50 Eclipse for $20, which I saw at another bar for $55 (LOL). Didn't really hit up any bottle shops because we were flying out to San Diego after 3 days and I just didn't have time to FedEx/UPS it or pack extra luggage. Tons of other stuff to do all around San Francisco as well, could spend weeks there and just skim the surface of food/beer/things to see.

San Diego was pretty much beer heaven. We ended up visiting Pizza Port, Alpine, Stone, Ballast Point and AleSmith. There were more but we just didn't have the time to see them all. I would have to say that Alpine is a must visit, awesome people and relaxed atmosphere, just a bit out of the city although I thought the drive was nice. Stone had a nice tour and restaurant. I did go to a few bottle shops, my favorite was Olive Tree Marketplace. We didn't get to many beer bars but Pizza Port had a ton of their own beers and some pretty awesome guest drafts, the pizza was also awesome.

I loved both San Francisco and San Diego. If I were to go back for beer purposes I would probably spend a week in San Diego. San Francisco had "more to do" in some ways and a million other food spots I wanted to visit but it was also way more expensive and had a busy city feel like NYC. San Diego was more relaxing and way more reasonably priced overall. Not as busy and hectic feeling as SF. Also enough beer bars/stores/breweries to keep one occupied forever.


At first I didn't really think of it as a "beer-cation" but I always head up to Vermont for longer weekends. In the summer there is extremely nice weather and there is an endless amount of hiking/camping/outdoor things to do. The 18+ breweries in a tiny state also help. Burlington is a nice little city with fun things to do, and brewpubs/beer bars! I pretty much hit up Hill Farmstead and Alchemist everytime. The winter is also do-able because of the great ski resorts.

 

my in-laws like in the san luis valley, that train goes through some beautiful country. i'm not a fan of the slv brewery, but ska and durango are on it as well. i'm looking forward to getting on one of their summer trains.

 

There is your answer! I love living in this area....don't need to go far for great brews!

 

There is a "chain" of brewery hotels throughout Germany but I can't find the website. We've stayed at 6 or 7 of them and loved them. I know that Ayingers has rooms but they are a little more expensive than average, but hey, I'd spend a little more to sleep above fresh Ayingers. And there are also un-affiliated brewery hotels all over.

 

Beautiful Bayshore, N.Y. . You are within 30 miles of Blue Point, Fire Island, Great South Bay, Long Ireland. Port Jeff Brewery, Black Forest Brewhaus and about 30 craft serving bars, esp. T.J. Finley's.