Anybody taking a beer vacation this summer?

[corkybstewart]

So who's dedicating a major part of their summer vacation to the pursuit of beer?

[wortchillergoal]

Does the RealBeer canoe trip count?

[S.F.B.]

Though not really a trip dedicated solely to beer hunting or pub crawls, I will be looking for places wile in Denver this July. I know of a few and I am sure there are more than when there two years ago.

Last time there I got to Great Divide, Breckenridge and Flying Dog. There was also one in Boulder that had a very good ESB. Can't remember the name however.

[surfadelic23]

EVERY day should be a beer vacation ;-)
I'm heading to England in the fall for a beer/footie vacation. Will end in York and hopefully tour Sam Smith's and York brewing... And as many pubs/matches as is humanly possible...
We did the Fullers tour a few yrs ago. Well worth it...

[hooky]

We aren't going anywhere specifically for the beer, but we'll seek out something local once we're there.

[roadkizzle]

Well, I am not exactly on a beer vacation, but I am on an internship in Dortmund, Germany. Therefore, I've been trying as many german beers as possible, and am going to try to go about an hour and get across the border to Belgium to try some of their beers too.

So far, I have been really enjoying my explorations of the Exports. Personally, I think they taste much better than pilsners.

That said, in the middle of July I am going to try to take a train down to Bamberg to try out their Rauchbiers. I am also going to go visit Köln, and while I'm there try out a few Kölsch's. I guess I should also get to Munchen sometime, but I guess that's less of a priority to me, because of the amount of Munchen beers I can get in Texas, as opposed to the other less well known beers.

[beerking]

Well, it is not "Summer," but my wife and I have made our vacation this year a trip to the GABF. She has never been, although I have been there as a judge several times. As of yesterday, I learned that I have been invited to judge again this year, so I will fly out Tuesday, judge beer Tuesday evening, Weds all day, and Thursday all day. My wife will arrive Thursday afternoon, and we will go to the GABF session Thurs evening. We will do other things (Celestial Seasons tour) Friday, and will attend the medal session Saturday.
Sunday we drive up to Estes Park, whee we will be staying for a week.

[corkybstewart]

That sounds like a blast. One year i need to ,make it to the GABF, with or without my wife. And the canoe trip sounds even better. I've had my kayak out on the river several times lately but just for an hour or so of paddling around.
We're going to spend a month with my inlaws in France this summer but we don't have any real beer related road trips planned. Brigitte's talking about maybe going to the Alsace region of France and Germany, or maybe Portugal, but that's pretty nebulous right now. I'm not pushing for anything, last trip she took us to Belgium for a week so it's her turn to decide where we go.
Her parents are in really bad health so this will probably be the last time she sees them so we may just hang around the house.

[beerking]

That sounds like a blast. One year i need to ,make it to the GABF, with or without my wife. And the canoe trip sounds even better. I've had my kayak out on the river several times lately but just for an hour or so of paddling around.
We're going to spend a month with my inlaws in France this summer but we don't have any real beer related road trips planned. Brigitte's talking about maybe going to the Alsace region of France and Germany, or maybe Portugal, but that's pretty nebulous right now. I'm not pushing for anything, last trip she took us to Belgium for a week so it's her turn to decide where we go.
Her parents are in really bad health so this will probably be the last time she sees them so we may just hang around the house.

When (not if) you go to the GABF, I strongly recommend going Thursday night, or Saturday afternoon. Friday night is a frat-boy style drunk-ex, and Saturday night all the award winning beers are gone. Saturday is the best, it is sort of the connouseurs session. You need to be an AHA member, or have some sort of connection, to get tickets to that one.

Belgium is great. The beer trip my wife enjoyed the most was Prague.

If I went to Portugal, I would HAVE to stop in Porto to tour the port makers.

[Beaver-Brew]

Will be heading up the West side of Michigan. The question is how many bombers can I fit in my saddle bags without breaking them? Looking forward to Shorts as it is one of the few MI beers that I can't get in my neck of the woods.

[Insidious Rex]

I do at least one every year. Usually involving Wisconsin, Illinois/Chicago and Northern Indiana. No MD to WI back to MD marathon beer road trips this year (Im still exhasuted...) but probabaly a Chicago to Osh Kosh and everything in between trip. And next year Im doing San Diego finally.

[MadDog88]

Nothing this summer. Last summer I did go to the Portland, OR Bewersfest. Well worth the trip. It was ment to be a beer/futbol trip with a couple of friends, but they couldn't make it at the very last minuite. I was actually already in Portland when I found out they would not be joining me. So the next day I went to first the beerfest by myself and then the Timbers vs. Silverbacks game with some new friends I made at the beerfest. The game was good and I had a lot of great beers that I would never see on the east coast. Portland is a wonderful city with a bunch of great beer loving soccer fans.