Tour de Bier!

At the end of this course, we will spend nearly two weeks traveling Europe in the name of beer. The line-up is pretty exciting. It’s too bad Pilsen isn’t included this year, but I’m happy with the places we have. Before we leave to Germany, Randy Mosher will give us a lesson on pairing beer and food. This is critical for our stay in Europe. The tours themselves will most likely be very technical, and were chosen based on the brewery itself rather than how gourmet the beer is. However, we will go drink some of the worlds most classic beer styles right from the source, and this time they won’t have those ‘import’ flavors. We will pair them with food the whole time. It’s good to understand why they compliment each other- especially if you open a brewpub. I know at some point in Belgium we are getting a 5 course meal designed to be paired with, rumor has it, top shelf Belgian ales.
We’re going to Bamberg to visit Weyermann. They are a specialty malting facility that makes some of the best malts I’ve tried. I will drink rauchbier (smoked beer) like it’s the last day on earth. We’re going to La Trappe, the only Trappist brewery outside of Belgium located in the Netherlands. We’re going to the newly re-opened Hoegaarden brewery. We’re going to Stella Artois (apparently a verrry impressive brewery and they don’t let you take pictures). We’re going to Uerige Alt in Dusseldorf and apparently the beer is amazing and the food is amazing and they keep your glass full with Altbier the whole time. Altogether we’re making 18 stops on this trip!