Bier- und Brauereireise USA

QUAFF (Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity) Meeting @Karl Strauss Curt also took me to a QUAFF meeting, which is the largest, oldest and most influential homebrewer club in...

Afterwards, we went to the subsequent two-day (sold-out) Ensenada Beerfest. For the more than 120 Mexican breweries exhibiting, it was naturally easier to cool the beer with ice...

About Curt or QUAFF, I was appointed to the jury of the Copa Cervecera del Pacifico, a Mexican beer contest. Last year there were 300 beers submitted, this year there were 600....

Bagby Beer Company A very beautiful brewery awaited me in Oceanside (San Diego County). The brewery had an open layout, so you could sit at the bar, watch the brewing process,...

Curt, my main contact person for breweries in SD, took me to Vista (San Diego County) for a brewing event of his home brewing club 'Society of Barley Engineers'. This event...

Benchmark Brewing Co. My first stop in sunny San Diego was Benchmark Brewing. Brewmaster and co-founder Matt showed me around their nice 10hl brewery. The brew kettle is...

Coors Brewing Company I took a 40-minute taxi ride towards the Rocky Mountains to see the largest brewery in the world in Golden, Colorado. This brewery, like almost every...

Epic - Denver Brewery & Taproom The branch of Epic Brewing Co from Salt Lake City, Utah in Denver. So far, I only knew the original brewery in Utah, which makes very good...

Sprecher Brewing Company One of the oldest craft breweries in Milwaukee (est. 1985). They consistently have good beers, such as a Triple IPA with pineapple notes, but also good...

Eagle Park Brewing Tasty little pub brewery in a not so flashy industrial style. You can find the cream bricks here too. The beers are consistently very good. Only their White...

Finally, I visited the laboratory and the Sensory Lab. The lab manager initially explained the sample plan of the critical control points so I could get a small overview. The...

Now it was time for the packaging area, consisting of bottle fillers, can fillers, and keg fillers. Starting with the bottle filling station, there are some differences. The...

My next stop at New Glarus Brewing Company was the 'Brewhouse'. Here, no expense was spared, and the complete Krones package was purchased: Variomill wet malt mill, Pegasus...

After already drinking and eating with a few brewers on Friday, on Saturday I went on a brewery tour to the capital Madison with two colleagues. Our first two stops were in the...

My home for the next 2 weeks

Third Space Brewing City Lights Brewing Both nothing outstanding, but nice new breweries. Both are just a short walk away from each other. Both work (like most craft breweries...

The second location of Milwaukee Brewing Company (aka MKE Brewing) was our next stop. The new brewery here is currently being built by KHS (!). The mix of industrial style,...

I have already contacted a few breweries from Germany, including Mobcraft Brewery. I met with the owner and master brewer Andrew Gierczak here. He studied microbiology and...

I went to the small Gathering Place Brewery with Jack. After interesting conversations with the bartender (his family is from Waldsassen), he showed me the nice 8hl brewery with...

Of course, I had to visit the world-famous Miller Brewery. I went there with low expectations, but I was still curious. The brewery is so big that the whole area is called...

The next day, my flight from Burlington (fantastic beer selection at the gate: 9 great craft beers) went to Milwaukee via NY LaGuardia. Thankfully, I can stay with Zach's family...

I spent my last day in Burlington visiting two breweries. Vermont Pub Brewery (est 1988) Oldest microbrewery in Vermont and the 'origin of all craft beers in Vermont'. The...

The last stop on our brewery tour was at the Three Penny Taproom in the capital city of Montpelier. This was a hidden gem recommended by Jim, where we might find the highly...

Our last brewery on the tour was Hill Farmstead Brewing. I was particularly looking forward to this one, as it has displaced The Alchemist as the number one brewery. Hill...

Next we went to Lost Nation Brewing, a very good sour beer and saison brewery. It was so crowded here too that we had to stand at the entrance to drink our beer. Gose 4.5% An...

The next stop was at von Trapp Brewing, the brewery of the family known from 'The Sound of Music'. Except for the American decor, everything here was authentically Austrian,...

And now the long-awaited stop at The Alchemist Brewery. I had already tried a can of their world-famous Heady Topper in Germany. This beer was ranked number 1 among all craft...

Our second destination was the Prohibition Pig Brewery in Waterbury, VT. It is located in the former building of The Alchemist Brewery (see Vermont Brewery Tour (3)) and is...

On February 9th, I went on a car trip with Zach's uncle Jim to visit the best breweries in Vermont. During the drive, we had very interesting conversations. For example, I...

Zach's uncle Jim recommended that I try some beers from the Hermit Thrush Brewery, but it's too far south in Vermont and I won't be able to make it in the remaining days. So...