Beer Travel – Beer Trips – Beer Adventures
San Diego has emerged as one of the country’s best beer destinations, but beer touring there can be a little complicated. Do you base your trip near Downtown San Diego, where there are fewer breweries but more beer bars? Or do you stay farther north, away from everything Downtown, but closer to Stone, Lost Abbey and other beery destinations? Either choice usually requires driving as public transportation to the breweries can be difficult to navigate.
It’s almost spring, which means it’s time to start making this summer’s travel plans. For beer lovers, California offers seemingly endless opportunities for new beer discoveries. California has more breweries than any other state in America, including some of the best breweries in the nation. Problem is, it’s a very large state. Lots of driving from brewery to brewery. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one event where you could try beer from a large number of the state’s 500+ breweries in one place?
In Vancouver BC the beer scene is growing and changing in the blink of an eye. We made a recent trip up to see what’s new, and while we focused our attention on the burgeoning East Vancouver area, we also made a few other enjoyable beer touring (and other) stops in the greater Vancouver area:
In early 2013, British Columbia changed their liquor license laws for craft breweries. In the short time since, Vancouver’s craft beer scene has been booming. As in other cities, breweries are concentrating in industrial parts of the city, close in for neighbors to call it their local, but where the leases are cheap and landlords are amenable to the production industry that breweries are.
Canada’s largest food and drink festival, Dine Out Vancouver, runs from January 16 through February 1. Not surprisingly, Dine Out Vancouver includes a beer component. (Photo above courtesy Vancouver Brewery Tours.)
Like similar events in other cities across North America, during Dine Out Vancouver restaurants offer affordable, prix fixe dinners, creating opportunities for patrons to experience restaurants that might otherwise seem too spendy. Unlike most restaurant weeks, Dine Out Vancouver also includes a number of special events and special offerings, which is where beer comes into play. I encourage you to learn more about all of the events at the official website: www.dineoutvancouver.com.
Sailing the San Juans with beer, of course.
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago of islands in the northwest corner of Washington State. Reachable by Washington State Ferry (from Anacortes, WA), by small plane or private boat, the San Juans are a breathtaking place, with fir-covered islands lifting out of blue saltwater, teaming with seabirds and home to resident pods of orca whales. Small harbors are laced together by two-lane roads where locals always wave a greeting. Island hopping between harbors by boat allows you to be even more connected to nature, sunsets and wildlife.
It is said that over the years countless millions of people have kissed or touched the Blarney Stone when visiting Ireland. Each year the visitor center at the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare welcomes more than 800,000 people who come to behold the breathtaking natural beauty. But the number one international tourist attraction in all of Ireland is the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, aka the Guinness Storehouse.
Most people think of Whistler, British Columbia as a ski destination. No doubt, it is a very fine location for that kind of winter activity, but there’s a lot more happening than skiing and snowboarding on that mountain. For example, Whistler is also one of North America’s premier destinations for mountain biking. And that’s not all: hiking, golfing, rock climbing, and all sorts of non-winter activities await you. The entire area is brimming with opportunities for outdoor fun.
Back when Goose Island was the only local brewery in town, Chicago already had some better beer bars, like the classic 20-year-old Hopleaf. Today there are over 50 breweries (most of them without tap rooms as of yet), and a slew of newer beer bars that locals and visitors are quick to recommend, like the Map Room and Local Option.
We recently dedicated five full days and nights to finding out what’s new on the Chicago beer scene, so everywhere we went we asked for advice from local bar patrons and beertenders. With their advice, we found some great places for craft beer in Chicago that you may not have heard of – yet.
This post is provided as a supplement to our previous post about Orcas Island. Note that some of these events are not on Orcas Island. You can hop an inter-island ferry, free of charge, if you walk on or ride your bike.
