Steve Koenemann

Destination Beer

I have talked before about the planning work being done for my May vacation this year. Work has been super busy for the last 9 months or so and I am really looking forward to the break; though it is still about 6 weeks away. As we discussed what might be on the travel itinerary this year, all sorts of thoughts spun through my head about where we might go for this vacation. It should probably come as no surprise that “beer” was, at least initially, part of the discussion. In the end, we chose relaxation over excitement and have decided to make a driving trek to Myrtle Beach; a place we have never been. I have heard Myrtle Beach described as a beer “graveyard”, apparently due to the lack of places there to find and/or drink quality craft beer, but I fancy that we will enjoy ourselves none the less because of that; we will be on vacation after all.

The process that we went through to arrive at this decision was an interesting one and it really got me thinking about the idea of taking a beer vacation by traveling to a destination in order to experience the beer of the region. I am very fortunate to have a traveling partner, my wife of 28 years, who endlessly indulges my obsession with all things beer and would willingly participate in such an adventure. After all, making one of these pilgrimages by yourself just would not be the same. There are a number of companies on the Internet and many local travel agencies that have “packages” available for just such a thing and for many that might be the easiest, though more touristy, route to take. Personally, I like the idea of planning such an adventure by myself. Aside from the the actual travel arrangements (flight, car, hotel, etc.), the rest of it should focus on the whole reason for the trip in the first place; its all about the beer, naturally.

As I thought about these beer vacations, for me they fell into 3 very broad categories; beer treks, beer destinations and beer events. Obviously there could be hybrids of these that you could consider, like using an event to get to a destination and then exploring the region, but I will look at these three separately just to get us thinking along the same lines.

Beer Trek

Beer treks would involve planning a trip that would include several destinations of interest over a period of time in a single trip. I am sure that in certain parts of the country, where adequate public transportation is available, you could even do this via bus or cab. For most of us and certainly here in Vermont, this would be done in a car over a couple to several days. Earlier this year I wrote a book review ( The Great Beer Trek ) about a couple and their dog, Guinness, that set off on a 100-day, 20,000 mile coast-to-coast adventure that took them to many of the beer “capitols” of the US. I don’t know about the rest of you, but a 100-day vacation would not be possible and most of us would have to consider something much less ambitious (though it does sound like a lot of fun). My fellow Hop Press writer, Josh Christie, wrote a two part series earlier this year called “The Beer of Maine” (Part 1 / Part 2) hat focused on a trek that he made to visit some of the beer destinations in the great state of Maine. My wife and I have vacationed in Maine nearly every year of our relationship, so something like Josh’s trek would be both doable within a few leisurely days and truly exciting for me.

Josh Christie's Maine Beer Trek

Beer Destinations

While visiting a more local beer destination might be possible, from my perspective this type of beer vacation would potentially involve more travel. Within the States, there are a number of places that I would include on my list of potential destinations. My fellow Hop Press writer Jon Abernathy wrote a 5-part series of articles on the “The Bend (Oregon) Beer Scene”. Like many, particularly those of us on the East Coast, I consider the Northwestern US sort of a “beer mecca”. I have had two relatively short opportunities in the last 10 years to experience the Oregon beer culture and a return trip to “gather more data” will definitely be in order soon.

Internationally, there are many places that I would like to visit. Since Belgian beer is one of absolute favorites, a trip to Belgium will definitely be on the wish list. There are many travel companies that can make arrangements for such a trip with varying degrees of “tourist” factored in. Oktoberfest in Germany, an Irish pub crawl and perhaps a trip to China (where my friends tell me that the local beers are excellent) would all be to my liking.

Beer Events

There are many great beer-related events which also represent prime beer vacation opportunities. Some of these that would be on my future list of vacation destinations would be the Great American Beer Festival which is held in September in Denver each year (16^th -18^th in 2010), the Oregon Brewers Festival to be held July 22^nd – 25^th this year and (for obvious reasons) I would love to attend the annual Kona Brewers Festival on the Big Island and which happened on March 13^th this year.

Whatever your travel preferences, I am certain that the old adage of “where there is a will there is a way” definitely applies to planning a beer vacation. It’s a big craft beer world out there and the opportunities to pair excellent beer with fun and exciting travel are there for the taking. Break out of your shell and use a vacation as an excuse to explore the beer at the destination of your choice.

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