Session #29: Traveling For Beer

I just returned from yet another trip to visit beer destinations, in this case beer gardens in Queens and Brooklyn, an emerging trend there. So it’s fitting that The Session is all about traveling for beer. Our 29th monthly trip is hosted by Beer by Bart tourguides Gail and Steve.

Their chosen topic is “Will Travel For Beer,” which they describe as follows:

If you see the words “travel” and “beer” and instead of your best tourist sagas you think of work or logistics, we want to know your tips and strategies on the road. (Perhaps for getting prized bottles home.)

And if you haven’t done much travel for fine beer, either for work or pleasure, but you have a trip you’d love to do, tell us where you’d like to go seeking the experience and the community of beer. Who would you want to meet at your destination, who would your travel-mates be, and what would you most want to taste when you arrived?

Details please, whichever way you take this! You’re welcome to pull out the vacation slide show if you wish. By all means have a beer that reminds you of the trip, and describe it if you wish. This episode of The Session goes up on Friday July 3rd, 2009. Finish early and maybe you can go someplace for the weekend!

For me, beer and travel are inextricably linked. I can’t really imagine them being separated from one another. Travel is beer, at least for me. Of course, unlike most people I do this for a living — or try to — and so it makes sense that any time I go somewhere, even if it’s just a family vacation, I also check out the beer scene, what breweries are there, etc. I spent my honeymoon visiting breweries in the Pacific Northwest. Frankly, I don’t travel nearly enough but with two young kids it’s not always possible.

I’m actually behind in putting up photos of all my beer trips, but time is short these days and deadlines are always looming, so I’m working on it. But there are still quite a few you can see at the old photo gallery. I’ve started moving them all over to a Flickr Pro account, where you’ll be able to more photos from all of the events, since I don’t have to worry about taxing my server there.

I’d say my favorite trip would have to be to the Traquair House Brewery located in Traquair House, Scotland’s oldest continuously inhabited home. You have to take two buses south from Edinburgh, and then walk about 2 miles from town to get to the house. It’s pretty remote and completely worth the effort. The house has secret passageways, a hedge maze and an unimaginably old brewery. My photos from that trip are on film, so one of these days I’ll have to scan those pictures. Until then, here’s a shot from the Traquair House website.