I'm taking my family to Italy and Switzerland later this year. We have the option of a few days in either Geneva or Zurich. I read through the threads on Switzerland (Geneva and Zurich), but I didn't really find much to make a decision on. Does anyone have an opinion about whether I should go to Zurich or Geneva beer-wise? Thanks.
This may not be of much help... but if you're in Zurich head over to Winterthur (short 20 min train ride) and go to this place http://punkt.erzbierschof.ch/ Cool atmosphere and the owner was a great guy who enjoyed sharing lots of good stuff. Nice selection on draft that changes often and a great bottle menu.
Haven't been to Geneva, but I really enjoyed Zurich. It's a beautiful city to walk around. Take a boat ride of Lake of Zurich when you're there. You can bring beers onto the boat, IIRC, or buy beer right on the boat. The place to buy beer from is Drinks of the World in the main train station: http://beerworld.ch/startseite/ . Everything European is really well-priced there. A decent place to visit for local beers is Zeughauskeller http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g188113-d697919-r120715512-Zeughauskeller-Zurich.html . You can drink on the streets, too. Local beers are sold for rather cheap at supermarkets and small groceries. Another place we loved was Cakefriends (http://www.cakefriends.ch/). Great place for dessert. Eating out is Switzerland is REALLY expensive. 2 bowls of beef noodles (pho), a Heineken, and an ice tea totaled nearly $50 at a small noodle shop. That was a huge shock for us. Many groceries stores have deli's where you can grab freshly made sandwiches, etc. for 6EUR or so and they are really good. Have a great time!
I haven't spent much time in Switzerland, but I haven't many good things about the beer there. Where in Italy will you be?
Rome has quite a few really nice craft bars. Ma che siete venuti a fa' bir and fud brasserie 420 Open Baladin Roma And naturally Tuscany has many many more places for good wine than beer but microbirrifici.org gives a list of 61 breweries in Tuscany http://www.microbirrifici.org/Toscana_birrifici_regione.aspx
