All Blog Posts (225)

Our Portland Road Trip Report

When we first began beer traveling 18 years ago, it was mostly by car. From the San Francisco Bay Area, many great beer destinations were reachable in a few hours. For the trip to our ninth Oregon Brewers Festival, we thought it would be fun to hark back to those earlier times. We would drive to Portland, visiting breweries along I-5 on the way up and back. The only difference from those early days was the drive wouldn't be a few hours, but thirteen.

We added 10 new breweries on the tri… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on August 7, 2010 at 9:20am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - Die WM in Deutschland

“Die WM in Deutschland” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

For two years, we’d been dreaming of watching the world's
greatest sporting event while in Germany. Arriving the last day of group
play for both the United States and Germany, we stayed through the
quarterfinal stage of the World Cup.

This trip will always hold a special place for us.
Watching Germany demolish b… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on July 20, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Our Germany & Czech Republic Trip Report

We returned to Germany for the tenth time to watch the World Cup. It had been a dream of ours for two years to watch the world's greatest sporting event in Germany. Arriving on the last day of group play for both the United States and Germany, we embraced the German's passion for the 'beautiful game.'

On our 12 day trip, we visited two new cities, Leipzig and Dresden, and revisited Berlin and Prague, two cities that we first experienced in 2001. Our Irish friends joined us in Berlin t… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on July 13, 2010 at 8:06am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - A World Beyond ORD

“A World Beyond ORD” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

We knew Chicago was a good beer town. We just hadn’t made it there yet. Lucky for us, opportunity knocked when our friends and fellow beer travelers Matt and Michelle asked us to meet them in the Windy City for a
long weekend.

Two and half days gave us just enough time to get a taste of the Greater Chicago beer scene. We visited a… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on June 1, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

Our Chicago Trip Report

We keep a mental list of U.S. beer destinations that we'd like to experience. Sitting on top of that list for many years was Chicago. We knew it was a great beer town with a number of good breweries and beer bars, but we'd never been there besides layovers at ORD.

Thankfully, earlier this year Matt Venzke suggested that Merideth and I meet him and his wife Michelle for a long weekend in the Windy City. Meeting friends was just the excuse we needed

… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on May 17, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - SoCal Megalopolis Brew Tour

“SoCal Megalopolis Brew Tour” is the latest episode of One Pint at a
Time.

As Northern Californians, we view any trip to the Southland with a certain amount of dread. But an emerging craft beer scene encouraged us to make the journey on Chris' s birthday weekend to see for ourselves.

The visit was an eye opening experience and we actually look forward to our next trip to the Southland.

… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on May 1, 2010 at 9:30am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - 2010 SF Beer Week

“2010 SF Beer Week” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

This year’s celebration of Bay Area beer culture comprised over 240 events, from Santa Cruz to Sebastopol. Last year, we only attended events on the weekends. This year, we went all out; only taking two days off of the ten.

We drank lots of beer, attended our first Pliny the Younger release, first Doub

… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on March 28, 2010 at 8:53am — No Comments

Win 2 Tickets to Hop-a-Tui!

MidwestMicroBrews is giving away 2 tickets to The Ultimate Beer Social: Hop-a-Tui!

Hop-a-Tui will be held on May 15th, 2010 at DeKoven's Hall in Racine, Wisconsin. This great event is being put on by the same folks behind the awesome Great Lakes Brew Fest every September.

Visit the Hop-a-Tui website HERE, then go to MidwestMicroBrews to enter to win! Continue

Added by Michael from MidwestMicroBrews on March 16, 2010 at 5:00am — No Comments

Worth it or not?

We have a store near us that sells equipment to make homemade beer and wine. It seems to be a pretty big job to do at home. We stopped after leaving the office to pick up our health insurance quotes next door for a lesson on what all to purchase and how to actually make beer in these machines. We felt like we had money to burn that day. The taste is different than store bought beer or bar bought beer. Has anyo… Continue

Added by lee w on March 13, 2010 at 7:47am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - Craft Beer Down Under, The Journey to Sydney

“Craft Beer Down Under, The Journey to Sydney” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

Merideth turned 40 in December and she didn't really embrace the
milestone. Instead of making our normal holiday pilgrimage to Europe, we
decided a trip to Australia was what Merideth needed to cure the
turning 40 blues. This trip marked our first beer adventure outside of
North America or Europe.

… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on March 3, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Our SF Beer Week Report

The second SF Beer Week is in the books. This year's celebration of Bay Area beer culture comprised over 240 events, from Santa Cruz to Sebastopol, in the ten day period.

Last year, we only attended events on the weekends. This year, we went all out; only taking two days off of the ten. While, we didn't host our own event this year, we volunteered at two.

We drank lots of beer, attended our first Pliny the Younger release, first Double IPA Festival, Toronado Barleywine Festival… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on February 23, 2010 at 8:27am — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - Craft Beer Down Under, The Journey to Melbourne

“Craft Beer Down Under, The Journey to Melbourne” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time. Merideth turned 40 in December and she didn't really embrace the milestone. Instead of making our normal holiday pilgrimage to Europe, we decided a trip to Australia was what Merideth needed to cure the turning 40 blues. This trip marked our first beer adventure outside of North America or Europe. In two weeks of beer travel, we journ… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on February 4, 2010 at 7:42am — No Comments

Our Southern California Trip Report

The last couple of years, we have been adding breweries to the List at a fairly quick pace. During the Year in Beer, we reached 400 and in 2009, the 500 brewery milestone was ours. When we started thinking about 2010 goals, the 600 brewery milestone seemed like something realistic to shoot for. We took the opportunity of the three-day MLK weekend to get started on our 600 brewery quest. Our destination was Southern California, an area we have neglected for years. During our long weekend in Sout… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on January 24, 2010 at 2:21pm — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - 500!

“500!” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time. Our trip to Maine in October was the last of three successive quickie beer trips. Focusing on Portland, Maine’s largest city and brewing center, our goal was try a bunch of local beer, eat a lot of lobster and to reach the 500 brewery milestone. In our two day trip, we visited Maine’s craft beer pioneers as well as some of the newcomers. So e… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on January 15, 2010 at 7:15am — No Comments

Our Australia Trip Report

We finally made it to Australia. After years of talking about it, we made the journey Down Under for Merideth's 40th birthday. We didn't really know what to expect. We knew there was a budding craft beer industry. We had a list of breweries to visit and a few contacts. But that was it. We spent two weeks in Australia. During that time, we drove from Sydney to Melbourne and back, adding 2,000 miles to our Ford Falcon XR6's odometer. Most important, we added 22 new breweries to "the List". A big… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on December 31, 2009 at 8:29am — No Comments

300 Beers to try Before you Die! Photo

My photo of St. Sylvestre, 3 Monts, France, is included in the new CAMRA (campaign for real ale) Book, - 300 Beers to try Before you Die! - by Roger Protz. Continue

Added by Ralph Gant on December 22, 2009 at 3:53pm — No Comments

Silver Medal

I just got a 2nd place finish for my california common at the St. Louis Brews Happy Holiday Homebrew Competition. I'm so excited - it's my first time placing in a comp! http://karlisbeer.blogspot.com/2009/12/gold-rush-common-takes-silver-medal.html Continue

Added by Karlis on December 15, 2009 at 9:45pm — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - One Ounce at a Time

“One Ounce at a Time” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time. Despite our whining about the one ounce pours, the Great American Beer Festival member’s session is now a highlight of our beer year. Beyond the vast beer choices, GABF is the one time of year where most of our beer friends from around the country gather in one place. Good beer, good friends… that’s what it’s all about.… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on November 18, 2009 at 8:50am — No Comments

Our Maine Travel Report

Our trip to Maine was the last of three successive quickie beer trips. Centered on Portland, Maine's largest city and brewing center, we also managed visits to breweries in small town Maine during our short visit. In our two day visit, we experienced Maine's craft beer pioneers such as Geary's and the Great Lost Bear plus the newcomers Novare Res Bier Café and Maine Beer Company. And we ate a lot of lobster too. We both reached the 500 brewery mark on the trip. Chris added eight breweries (503… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on October 26, 2009 at 12:17pm — No Comments

New beergeek.TV Episode - Three Days in the Big Apple

“Three Days in the Big Apple” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time. This was our first trip to New York City. We always try to maximize the experiences in our beer travels but, even for us, the list for this trip was ambitious. We had 32 beer places to visit and only three days to do it. Turns out, the number wasn’t our biggest obstacle to reaching our goal. So enjoy our f… Continue

Added by Chris of thebeergeek.com on October 12, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments