Museums are fun. And cathedrals are beautiful. But what about traveling for beer? As a social lubricant, beer is a great way to meet people while traveling who can give a local’s perspective and transform sightseeing into an authentic experience. Next time you’re planning a vacation, build beer and brewery visits into your itinerary and you’ll be a better traveller for it.
Guests
Chris O’Leary is a beer writer and avid brewery traveler. He is the creator and editor of Brew York, a website that has covered beer in New York City since 2009. In his spare time, he travels to explore beer scenes in places around the world, visited over 3,626 different breweries.
Saarbrücken’s a gritty coal town, and not the first place that springs to mind when you think of German beer. But that’s where Franz Hofer experienced a “come to Jesus” moment during his first year abroad. That first sip of Hefeweizen was an illumination, proof that there was more to life than Labatt’s.
Hofer is an independent scholar and translator. At Cornell University, he wrote an award-winning Ph.D. dissertation. But Franz is an award-winning beer writer as well, and is the person behind A Tempest in a Tankard, a blog dedicated to the history and culture of beer, and is also a beer judge, homebrewer, and seasoned beer traveler. When not writing or teaching, he enjoys hiking and cycling, especially when there’s beer along the way.
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This episode is sponsored by:
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, where trailblazing runs in the family. From crafting a movement with their iconic Pale Ale, to taking the IPA haze craze nationwide with Hazy Little Thing – it’s an adventurous spirit you can taste in every sip. Find your next favorite beer wherever fine beverages are sold. With new brews for every season, there’s always something to discover. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Still Family-Owned, Operated & Argued Over.
Attention brewers: registration is now open for the 2025 Best of Craft Beer Awards. This is a BJCP sanctioned competition judged by fellow brewers and industry leaders; it uses a unique set of style guidelines that champions harmonious and dynamic beers. Held in beautiful Central Oregon, it’s the third largest professional brewing competition in North America and is an opportunity to have your hard work evaluated and rewarded. In addition to traditional and specialty beer styles, new this year is the Hop Water category. Register your beers through January 31, 2025 by visiting https://bestofcraftbeerawards.com/. Don’t delay, learn more and get your beers signed up by visiting https://bestofcraftbeerawards.com/
Don Tse
Living near seven malthouses, Don Tse is a freelance beer and malt writer and consultant known globally as The Don of Beer. He has been active in craft beer for over 25 years and has famously sampled and written tasting notes on almost 27,000 different beers. He is the co-host of the All About Beer podcast. Don has also written for magazines and presented on beer in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Singapore. Nobody in those countries thinks his jokes are funny.
Em Sauter
Em Sauter is an Advanced Cicerone®, cartoonist, author, beer reviewer, international beer judge and public speaker who runs the award winning website Pints and Panels, which focuses on visual beer education. Her first book "Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age)" was published in 2017 by One Peace Books. Her second book "Hooray for Craft Beer!" was released in April 2022 with Brewers Publications. Em is also co-host of the All About Beer Podcast. She lives in New England with her husband Matt and two cats- Milbo and The Geen.