Across Australia and New Zealand, you’ll find countless brewers who will happily admit that their beer epiphany occurred on an overseas trip. Sampling beers that had never passed their lips back home set more than a few on the road to stainless steel upon their return Down Under. And now, as the craft beer community expands at a rate of knots, a beery tour of duty has become as much a rite of passage for the discerning drinker as vomiting in a gutter in Surfers Paradise is for schoolies.
Among the most common routes of choice – the UK, Belgium, Germany, North America – it is the West Coast of the latter that has become, perhaps, the Holy Grail. With most beer lovers going through a hop bomb phase at some point in their lives, the home of Sierra Nevada, Stone, Green Flash (you get the message) holds a particular fascination. And now a pair of Kiwis who’ve made the journey themselves are launching a guided beer tour of the region.
Glen Armstrong had already made his first love into his job by leading art-focused tours around the planet for the past six years and has now added love number two – craft beer – to his rather desirable resume. He has formed Craft Beer Tours, signed up well known beer writer, judge and expert Geoff Griggs as tour guide and began putting in place the pieces for a tour of the Pacific Northwest in 2013.
“While travelling I developed a passion for beer,” says Glen. “I decided that if I could make the art side of my passion work then I could make the beer passion work too.
“The essence of beer travel is getting to the places that beer is made and meeting the brewers. Having someone on board with the passion and knowledge to talk about it like Geoff, who’s been there and written about it and who has contacts with the brewers and associations there, adds a lot of value. What’s more, there are some beers you can taste there, like Russian River’s Pliny The Elder, that you can simply never get over here.”
His plan is to take 15 to 25 people on what he calls the “dream wish list” tour, a 14-day adventure next September for the purists that will call in to, among other places, Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, Pike, Rogue and Russian River breweries plus legendary bars like San Fran’s Toronado.
Geoff (above right with Rogue brewer John Maier) says: “I feel the time is right and there are enough suitably beer-savvy Kiwis and Aussies to make this work. I am also optimistic that this trip will mark the beginning of continuing education-focused overseas beer tourism from New Zealand. Glen and I have already discussed the possibility of future tours to Tasmania, Southern California, the UK and Belgium!”
As for the choice of the Pacific Northwest, he says it offers an amazingly developed beer culture and a diversity of styles and “sheer number of wonderful beers”. As Geoff points out, Portland alone has at least 35 breweries.
“It’s astonishing!” he says. “As well as encompassing America’s leading hop growing region, the area from San Francisco to Seattle is one of the most densely breweried parts of the world. It is also home to some of the most stylistically experimental, open-minded and talented brewers.
“I have been writing about beer and presenting beer tastings since 1995 and regard my greatest skill as the ability to introduce and explain different beers and beer styles to people in a manner which is friendly, informative and fun.
“Having judged at the last three World Beer Cup competitions and at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last month, I have had the opportunity to judge with many of America’s top brewers and as a result I now have an excellent network of colleagues in the US brewing industry. Many of these contacts are in the Pacific Northwest region and some have already expressed a desire to offer us a personal welcome to their breweries. I believe being shown round by the brewers themselves, rather than just going on the standard host-guided tours, will be far more interesting and memorable experience for our group.
When not drinking beer you can soak in views like this
“[On a recent trip of the region] I was blown away as much by the scenery and friendliness of the people as the quality of the beers and we vowed to return again as soon as possible. Next year’s tour is an opportunity for me to explore more of this wonderful region and share the experience with a group of fellow beer lovers.”
So there you go: 14 days in one of the world’s great beer cultures in the hands of one of the world’s leading experts and educators on beer. Time to start saving and working on brownie points at home, perhaps…
If you’re considering it, but still wavering, Glen points out there is one additional – and rather important – benefit of joining the tour…
“You’ve got a driver!”
