The Session: Will Travel For Beer (Roundup #29)

This time around The Session was all about charting uncharted territory.

We gave a very general call, asking for either travel stories, practical tips, or dream beer vacations… plus a beer description if it fits in anyplace, and we got a lot of delicious variety. Beer reviews were sprinkled thoughout. Quite a few bloggers did a little of each option, but here’s a rough attempt at classifying the tasty posts that emerged:

Tales of beer expeditions. What really happened on the road:

Rob writes about a Montana brewery visit – but his post is more on the craft of blogging and on reviewing a place based on only one visit, a pretty important insight.

Ray talks about going to the source for the brewpub-only offerings from Dogfish Head in Delaware.

Beer Odyssey Brian gives an example from Sun Valley, Idaho, of when travel plans go awry

The gun-totin’ New Mexico history is the star in this brew pub visit story by Derrick.

Beer Sagas gives general travel tips, specifics on Prague as a destination, and a lovely bit of international beer vocabulary – a Czech tradition, the dzban. Something like the American “growler” for take-home beer.

Touring the Texas Hill Country with its German beer heritage gives plenty for Don the Beer Brotha to work with.

Jay Brooks gives a quick overview of a life with a lot of beer travel, and singles out one special destination, in Scotland.

Peter of Better Beer Blog recaps a trip to San Diego, California he and Sam took last year.

Hey, wait a minute: We wrote about San Diego travels too, along with fleeting remembrances of the beers of the English countryside and Bavaria years before.

Ted remembers his hurricane evacuation beercation that ends with sumptuous notes on a bottle of Lost Abbey’s Judgement Day. Yes, San Diego again.

The Beer Nut posted, appropriately, from a pub in a foreign country, with tales of a mouthwatering tale of a trip to Copenhagen complete with notes on “Brewers United Belgian Stout” a Mikkeller-Xbeeriment collaboration.

Tips on how (and a little bit of where and why) to go:

Stan Hieronymus, founder of The Session (Beer Blogging Fridays), lists five specific great beer destinations you may not have thought about, and also encourages you to travel happily by seeking out national parks and always braking for good pie.

Jimmy of Hop Wild lays out some solid tips on preparation and beer hunting strategy.

Mario tells about a trip to Mt. Shasta and the seeking out of a small town brewpub as an act of familiarity and comfort.

Andreea gives practical, useful tips on making your beer trip to Belgium glorious.

Alan gives tips on the practicalities and challenges, including getting your beers over the US/Canada border.

Jon from the Brew Site suggests San Diego (imagine that!) and Portland as destinations and lists breweries to support his claim

Matt, the GISBrewmaster, adds some tips and endorses Portland as a worthy destination.

Stephen includes travel tips, a description of entering an establishment in Belgium, and then throws in an evocative beer enjoyed in a Toronto pub.

Knut Albert gives useful tips for European beer holidays from a Norwegian point of view.

Dreaming of the perfect beercation:

Steph Weber was the only blogger to write in this mode, with a carefully planned trip to North Carolina with both beer and childhood-memory destinations, and she closes with a beach sunset photo, the classic vacation keepsake.

—————————————————————-

This was a lot of fun. The most mentioned destinations are San Diego, Belgium and Portland. The most mentioned tip was to do your homework – get going on that research ahead of time. (Of course, some advocated the pleasures of serendipity or leaving time to take suggestions on the fly from locals.)

The Session is a “blog carnival” group writing event originated by Stan Hieronymus. For an index of the Sessions see Jay Brooks’ handy guide. You can contact him to volunteer to anchor a future month. On twitter look for posts marked with the #thesession hashtag.

Next up will be “Beer Desserts” for the first Friday of August, hosted by David Jensen at Beer47.com . Sweet!