My homebrew club just had our annual holiday party and as usual when we get together, the topic of beer travel came up. I love the Bob & @denny take Belgium Experimental Brewing episode and was sorry that I couldn’t make it.
Has anyone had any great experiences with any tour companies. Any big lessons learned? Any open tours planned for 2026?
Paul
I just finished editing the second half of the trip podcast. Hope to have it up in a week or so.
Excellent! I want to go now!
My wife and I did the Trappist Beer Tour with Belgian Beer Me Tours few years ago. Had a great time, with a great group of people. The group was relatively small, somewhere around 20 if I recall. Although a lot of beer tours and tastings were planned, there was plenty of free time worked into the schedule to allow for other sightseeing, beer hunting, etc. This was a very professional and well-planned organization.
Thanks for this! I just looked at their tours on the website and they look good.
Cheers!
You do spend a lot more arranging tours with companies whether they are for beer, golf or other tourism. Often these companies go out of their way to bring you to places they get a kickback from but are not necessarily places you want to go. I head to Europe every fall for at least a month and beer is always top of the list of things I want to experience. I usually avoid “craft” places unless the food menu is what I am looking for. I can get craft at home if I want it. There truly is no comparison to the Stella, Stiegl, Heineken, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Leffe etc to the stuff they sell in the Canadian or US market. These companies also sell their beer that they feel is suited to North American palates rather than their full offering. I spent the fall in Germany. Each city and town has their own culture, just like France or Italy, which helps determine which beer(s) are to be enjoyed and studied. Sharing a table with locals or other travellers really allows you to enjoy the experience vs sitting at the table with the same people in your tour group each day who can not bring anything new to the experience that you don’t already know. Nothing like drooling over a 6 page menu at Schneider Weiss in Munich or discovering the beer menu in the Keller, the Haus and the Garten of one pub in Baden Baden are different. Anthony Bourdain had it right when he suggested you go where the locals go.
Hey Merkur. Trip from Trip’s Beer Trips here. I have a LOT of experiential as well as educational beer travel programs to Europe. My trips are curated to focus primarily on people in the quality beverage industry, Pink Boots Society, and Home Brewers in particular. I can provide a long list of references.
In addition Trip’s Beer Trips offers an AHA Member Deal for members. You can view that deal here. www.tripsbeertrips.com or you can Direct Message me through the Forum for more information
Our club, Brewers Of South Suburbia (BOSS), along with a brother club, IBRU, have about 20 members and spouses headed to Europe in April. We’ll be visiting at least 14 breweries in 8 cities in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Czechia. Our tour guide is Ron Smith of BeerMBA (Ron is a National ranked BJCP judge as well as an international beer judge. He also teaches beer and brewing classes near Indianapolis).
I generally agree that overseas tours can be overpriced, but for beer rhe right guide will get you into places that no one else can (no, not Stella or Heineken). I went on a tour of Belgium 12 years ago recommended by Gordon Strong and it was fantastic. Well worth it. The guide was the owner of Le Trappist Brugge and an all around great guy.
Good input. Thanks!
After checking, the company I went with (an importer in the US) doesn’t seem to offer tours anymore. This was our guide, and it sounds like he still does them through other places.
Regnier! I know him. He owns Le Trappiste in Bruges. One of the coolest bars I’ve ever been in.
He sounds like my sort of guy! A good contact to have.
Thx.
Paul
Yep. Went there on the trip too. Great guy and bar.
Several members of our club went to Belgium with Ron Smith in August 2024. He does multiple trips to Europe. Was a fantastic time, also about 20 per trip. Brussels, Bruges, other spots. Belgium Beer Trips - Germany Beer Trips - Guided Beer Tours to Belgium and Germany!
