Brew Trips!

Driving from Atlanta to Michigan for KBS week. Going to leave monday and go my parents in Indiana and go to Three Floyds. Going to meet my sister at 18th Street Tuesday afternoon and then drive to Founders a bit later and pick up my KBS. Drive back all day Wednesday, back to work Thursday. Did the same thing last year and had a blast stopping at random beer stores on the way and pick up what we can't get down here.

 

Hill Farmstead in May!

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but you won't be getting any Citra, they only release it a 2-3 times a year and 2 of the releases are lottery winners only get bottles, and when they have the releases they run out of it quick on tap. I still encourage you to make the trip though, it's beautiful up there right now and they have a lot of great beers on tap as well.

 

As in the British Park in Cumbria. Many small breweries, hiking, and country inns/pubs.

 

On my list for this year: Hamburg, maybe Berlin and FFM, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Antwerp and Sheffield.

 

Excellent information! My wife stumbled upon a winery taste room in the area to visit, and apparently it's in the same building, as well as a restaurant (pizza place I think). We'll definitely have to grab some food or order in since they allow that. And I'm sure we'll have to be back in the summer as well given how close they are to the beach. (I also haven't had their pineapple IPA yet!!)

 

Haven't done the wine tasting room there. If the italian place you found is Porto Bello, it's alright but not great. Trying to be upscale, but the food was just ho hum and pricey. Wish I could give a food recommendation, I have yet to really find a place I love to eat there. We all meet there every summer for my dad's birthday. Most of the restaurants are on the pricier side for what they are. Well besides Prono Pup, but they aren't fooling anyone, its a tiny little corndog stand in the summer.

 

Bend, OR definitely beats Portland

 

If anyone hasn't made their "Beercation" plans yet, I'll suggest you visit Western Cascadia. Start in either Vancouver BC or PDX, and finish in the other. Except for a couple of stretches in southern Washington, you don't have to drive more than a 1/2 hour between breweries. Lots of interesting things to do for the non-beer hours (although, us locals seem to find a way to work into those as well) too.

 

San Diego probably will … both are excellent places, though

 

Best beer trips in my experience:
1. San Diego County
2. Asheville
3. Portland (OR)
4. Denver/Ft. Collins/Boulder
5. Vermont
6. Santa Rosa/Petaluma/Healdsburg

 

Gotta agree, Odd Side is awesome! My third favorite brewery in Michigan!

 

Went to Bends Brewfest last summer, unreal. Bend gets beer! Even without a brewfest it would have been craft beer heaven. The town literary revolves around craft beer. A hard to believe amount of breweries in a very small geographical area. We make frequent day trips to beautiful Jackson Hole Wyoming and easily fill up a few coolers with beers I can't get in Idaho.

 

Moving from West Virginia to Arizona this summer. Plan on hitting as many breweries in between as possible.

 

Heading to Charleston next month and have a upstate NY/Vermont trip planned for late June.

 

I've been big on the day trips recently. Spent a day in Philly a few months ago checking out an old favorite (Monk's Cafe) and two new places which quickly became favorites (Memphis Taproom & Tired Hands). So many more places in/around Philly I want to go to. Planning to do an NYC day soon to hit up some bars I've never been to (The Jeffrey, Rattle n Hum, One Mile House).

 

I'm visiting the Bell's Comstock facility today for their tour. I really enjoyed it on a previous visit and I'm taking some friends with me today. We will go to Arcadia in Kalamazoo afterward for dinner (their bbq is excellent!) and a beer. Then wrap up the evening with a visit to Bell's.

Next week is a visit to Grand Rapids on Saturday to partake in the conclusion of KBS week at Founders and pick up 12 bottles.

I'm visiting my brother in Syracuse in a month when my kids are on spring break. That's right - while other folks are going to Florida to get away from the last of winter's cold weather, I'm taking my kids to Syracuse. While there, we will take a day trip to Cooperstown to visit the Hall of Fame and a stop at Ommegang. I'm pretty excited about this visit. Coming back home, I'm interested in stopping at Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland. We'll see if the family lets me do this one.

Last but not least, I have visited Bardstown area during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival the last two years and I expect to go there again this year. I usually just visit distilleries while visiting but I do want to visit some breweries on my next visit. Any suggestions?

 

I will echo what a couple others have said and say that if you are making a trip out to Portland, do yourself a favor and spend at least a day in Bend. It's about 4 hours from PDX, so not necessarily close, but you won't regret it. Especially if you go to Boneyard.

 

Plus, Hood River. One could either make a Triangle out of Bend-HR-PDX, or do an out-and-back PDX-HR.