Bean to Barstool Podcast | Flights Across America with Joel Geier

Joel Geier loves beer flights.

One of the things that makes craft beer so much fun is its sheer variety of styles, interpretations of those styles, and ways of using those styles for flavor experimentation. A flight of beers is an opportunity to explore. A flight board might have an Abbey Dubbel, a Munich Dunkel, an ESB, and a Biere de Garde, taking you on a sensory trip to Belgium, Germany, England, and France a few ounces of beer at a time. Flights aren’t without their critics—and valid criticisms—but at their best they represent curiosity, excitement, and joy, all qualities craft beer needs right now as it weathers its current market challenges. In this episode of Bean to Barstool, host David Nilsen talks with the king of beer flights, Joel Geier.

Read More

A Year in Michigan Beer | 52 Brews for All Seasons

Michigan is known as the “Great Beer State” for good reason. With over 400 breweries spread through two peninsulae, there’s no shortage of Michigan beer to try. You could spend an entire year drinking your way through the state and still not see all there is to offer. 

Read More

Five Tips for Continuing Your Craft Brewery Adventures With a Baby in Tow

Prior to welcoming our beautiful baby girl into the world in May, my husband and I spent many weekends exploring Michigan’s amazing craft beer scene together. When we were dating, many conversations took place over our favorite IPA at the local brewery or while trying somewhere new that neither of us had ever been to. Craft beer is our passion and hobby, but this came to a screeching halt when our little one arrived. Suddenly, beers were replaced with bottles, and sleep became our most precious commodity. After a few weeks, though, we had a strong desire to find a way to incorporate our pre-baby interests into this new adventure we were on, and we set out to bring our daughter to her first brewery. Since then, we have learned a lot about what makes or breaks a night out on the town with a newborn in tow, and we felt a desire to share our wisdom with our fellow craft beer lovers to let you know that IT IS POSSIBLE to enjoy spending time with your little one AND to indulge in a night out with a good craft brew.
Read More

Top 10 Vegetarian Friendly Breweries and Brewpubs Across America

My wife and I recently reached our milestone of traveling to all 50 states, ensuring we visit the local brewery in each of the places that we visit. While I am an avid meat eater, my wife is vegetarian. So, the places we choose to eat during our travels had to be well researched in advance to ensure they have a vegetarian menu that met the expectations of my wife, who can be quite a picky eater. Luckily, nowadays, that isn’t hard. Many breweries and brewpubs offer at least one vegetarian option on their menu, to various degrees of success and creativity.

Read More

Will Travel For Beer | One Man’s Quest to Visit 100 Breweries Every Year

Do you plan your travel around beer? I do. In fact, I visited 100 breweries last year, and I plan on doing that every year.

In the past, when possible, I’ve always tried to include at least a few local brewery stops while on vacation. Four years ago I made a list of all the breweries I visited that year. Without knowing or even planning, I visited 99 different spots. The following years, I started to track more diligently, with the arbitrary goal of hitting 100 each year–that’s a lot of local beer. To be a little more precise, that’s 8.33 different spots each month, which may sound very do-able until you have a few hectic months and you hit zero new breweries.

Read More

Dispelling the Myths Behind Utah’s Emerging Beer Scene

Let’s face it, when you are planning a vacation around beer, Utah isn’t usually at the top of the list. The liquor laws that dictate ABV and where you can consume may deter serious beer drinkers before even firing up an Airbnb search. However, Utah beer has a character of its own, a character that is both quiet and formidable all at once: A sleeping bear that is slow to wake but indomitable when angered. As such, let’s dispel some of the myths surrounding Utah’s beer culture. Read More

2 Days, 2 Nights | San Diego’s Craft Beer Scene

Anyone that’s familiar with the craft beer scene knows that San Diego is one of the best places in the country to go for a beercation. The official number of breweries constantly fluctuates, but there are approximately more than 150 operational breweries in San Diego County. That number doesn’t count the numerous satellite taprooms that many breweries have around town.

One thing that’s great about the San Diego area is that with the seemingly endless amount of breweries there isn’t a bad place to start your brewery tours, regardless of where you’re staying. Many breweries you probably already know, such as Modern Times, Coronado, Karl Strauss, Stone Brewing, Pizza Port and, well, there are so many it’s hard to name them all. San Diego offers several, diverse beer experiences. For instance, North Park has smaller, cozier taprooms and Miramar has larger (and sometimes massive) production breweries. So, here is a quick guide to just a small number of the area’s numerous breweries — some you know, some that may be new to you. We hope it helps you when you visit San Diego.

Read More

A Beer Insider’s Road Trip Guide to Northern California

For most, the foray into the world of beer trading is swiftly met with an introduction to the secondary value world, as that perceived value tends to drive the trading market. Fortunately, there are still areas free from the shackles of “me first” mindset. Luckily, through my own beer journey, I’ve been fortunate enough to find a small group that acts as a family. While the group mostly allows us to maintain connections online and send each other beers as presents, surprises, and BIFs (beer it forward, essentially chain mail but with beer as presents); recently I have focused my domestic travels on meeting these people in person. With SF Beer Week in progress and more than a half dozen faces I had yet to meet in person, I “sailed off for the San Francisco Bay”.

“Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.”

Read More

2 Days, 2 Nights | Tampa’s Craft Beer Scene

By Devin Caster and Jose Minaya

Tampa, unlike many cities around the country, is a sprawling city filled with small communities. You’ve likely seen the adverts for Busch Gardens, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buccaneers and the beaches lining the Gulf. PorchDrinking would like to take you further into the city to see what more it has to offer in beer, community and culture. We have two PorchDrinkers native to Tampa who have made it their mission to provide you a quality experience filled with delicious food, great beer and fun entertainment. Read More

2 Days, 2 Nights | South Bend Craft Beer Scene

Notre Dame isn’t the only source of gold in South Bend; there are plenty of pint glasses filled to the brim with golden lagers and ales, too. Not to mention, barrel-aged barleywines, stouts, and everything else one can imagine are all being served in Northern Indiana.

Read More

2 Days, 2 Nights in Washington, D.C.’s Craft Beer Scene

The first time most people visit Washington, D.C., they are in middle school. They are hustled from monument to monument, eat in overcrowded food courts and rarely adventure to spots beyond the National Mall.

Read More

2 Days, 2 Nights of Craft Beer in Salt Lake City

If you’re looking for a beercation like the rest of us, we know you can have an exceptional one here. Utah is generally thought of as that dry place between craft beer mega states Colorado and California. Unlike the super states that surround us in virtually every direction, you can truly experience a good amount of what Utah beer has to offer in just 2 days and 2 nights, sightseeing along the way.  Read More

Wicked Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium

If you love serious sour and funk, be warned: you won’t want to leave Wicked Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium in Asheville, North Carolina. You’ll wonder if they’d notice if you hid among the barrels and spent the night. At 5’4”, this thought seriously went through my head.

Read More