3 week European brewery tour destinations ?

[brewman !]

My wife and I are in the planning stages of a 3 week trip to Europe. (France, German, Belgium, etc.)

She knows I love breweries, beer and brewing. She is asking me where I would like to go and what I would like to see as far as beer stuff is concerned.

So... where should I go ?

Thanks !

PS: I emptied my inbox and can now receive PMs again.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Westvleteren, Roeselare, Brussels & Pajottenland, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Bamberg and Munich at the very least.

 

[bh10]

Westvletern for sure, but the one place I have to go next time Im over there is Ayinger.

 

[brewman !]

Thanks for the tips, guys. Keep them coming.

 

[Wingy]

Bamberg would be a great mix of sightseeing and beer - it's a great town with around 80 breweries in the immediate area. Cologne is sort of OK as a "tourist" town, after a day you've pretty much seen the sights but the beer halls are phenomenal and the night life is great.

If you get up to Amsterdam (not sure where you are flying in/out of), Brouwerij t'Ij is a fun brewery built in a converted windmill. When I was there it was mostly locals and it had a fun vibe.

It's impossible not to love Munich so you need to head down that way - you can spend weeks there and not get bored, plus the beer is great.

I don't know anything about Belgium or France so I can't help you there, sorry. I lived in Germany for a while so feel free to PM with any questions on itineraries (the Northeast Coast is cheap, fun, and sort of off the beaten track... if you can get up to Wismar, Stralsund, or Ruegen you'll have a blast!).

 

[DCPiet]

+1 for Bamberg. Pretty cheap hotels from what I remember, and you can easily do a day-trip down to Munich on the train.

 

[GryphonBrew]

I would say that the Weihenstephan brewery is a must.. .Supposedly they've been brewing there since 1040.. Almost 1,000 years, and their simple classic lager is freakin' fantastic.

http://www.brauerei-weihenstephan.de/index2.html?lang=eng

 

[rico567]

All of the above....plus, there are plenty of things to see in those places that are just as fascinating as breweries....some maybe more. Multiply the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago by about 4, and you have the Deutsches Museum in Munich. And Amsterdam is just a wonderful city.

 

[chemman14]

All of the above....plus, there are plenty of things to see in those places that are just as fascinating as breweries....some maybe more. Multiply the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago by about 4, and you have the Deutsches Museum in Munich. And Amsterdam is just a wonderful city.

The Deutsches Museum is awesome!!!

 

[shanecb]

I'm seconding Weihenstephaner brewery. It is a must.

 

[milehighsuds]

Der Halve Maan in Brugges, Belgium isnt bad. Somewhat touristy but they make a great Tripel. Plus the town of Brugges is just beautiful

 

[brewman !]

I'm blown away by the suggestions I'm getting here and the fact that when I research them I'm seeing not only a brewery but locations with charm and character as well.

Can we take this one step further ? Would anyone like to recommend a route/itinerary that takes in "quite a few" of these locations as well as other points of interest ? It sounds like some of you have done this before....

Thanks for the input !

 

[ArcaneXor]

You can hit a lot of the major destinations via high speed trains, except the more rural portions of Belgium. The Thalys and ICE run between Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Munich. Duesseldorf is basically just a few km up the river from Cologne and easily reachable by train. The more rural areas of Belgium can be explored by rental car with Brussels as your base (bring a GPS - Belgians don't believe in street signage... or building smooth roads).

 

[Houblon]

It sounds like some of you have done this before....

We visit on average twice per year using Schiphol (Amsterdam) as our airport before taking the rail to Belgium and getting a car. Amsterdam is a neat city that we first visited in `94, a must see indeed with plenty of flights to Schiphol.


I will say make primary plans and have backup plans as $hit happens, pub closed on a given day- whats nearby instead? See something neat, stop as the odds are you may never be back there again in your life.

The best stuff sad to say needs a car to visit but places like Antwerpen, Brugge, Brussels all are on the rail.


No matter what, never drink & drive in Belgium, ever! They don't F`around and it would suck to get locked up on vacation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/going-belgium-where-visit-152770/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f28/beer-vacation-belgium-164833/

Some pics from 2007 up>
http://s821.photobucket.com/albums/zz138/UknowWho2u/

The more rural areas of Belgium can be explored by rental car with Brussels as your base (bring a GPS - Belgians don't believe in street signage... or building smooth roads).

? Huh, we've found the roads to be as good or better than many Fla roads, never mind new england roads.

 

[jmhart]

My wife and I did that exact trip this time last year. We took a little over three weeks and ate and drank our way through German, Belgium, and France (we didn't even go to Paris, just stayed in wine country).

In Germany, we went to:

Munich: Ayinger, Kloster Adechs, different biergartens around the ctiy,
Ettal: Kloster Ettal (about an hour, maybe an hour and half south of Munich)
Bamberg: Home of smoked beer. 7 fantastic breweries, collect all 7
Aachen: Not a lot of beer stuff, but a nice break before moving to Belgium. Visit the Bad
here, trust me.

In Belgium:

Bruges: All the pubs, all the food, all the beer. We just walked around eating and drinking
all day
Westvleteren: St Sixtus, De Struise, De Dolle...we looped from Bruges and made it a day
trip
Brussels: IMO, it's just another big dirty city just like we have here in the US. We drove
through it only to stop at Cantillon on our way to France.

In France we skipped Paris and made a big loop around the country like this:
Champagne-->Alsace--->Burgundy--->Bordeaux--->Provence

We did the train thing all through Germany, but then rented a car in Aachen to get us around Belgium and France. A lot of the places we went in those countries were not conducive to public transportation.

 

[cjb]

Der Halve Maan in Brugges, Belgium isnt bad. Somewhat touristy but they make a great Tripel. Plus the town of Brugges is just beautiful

Yeah, it's worth a stop if you're in Bruges (which is worth visiting in itself). In Brussels, I can highly recommend a tour of Cantillon. I've also been to Achel and Westvleteren (though for the latter it turned out the cafe/shop was closed, and there's not much to see otherwise).

 

[jmhart]

Der Halve Maan in Brugges, Belgium isnt bad. Somewhat touristy but they make a great Tripel. Plus the town of Brugges is just beautiful

De Halve Maan was a REALLY fun tour. And yes, their tripel is pretty delicious. So was the unfiltered blond at the end of the tour. Honestly, as if it wasn't fun before that, the unfiltered version of their blonde made it well worth it.

Also, there's a great waffle place down the street. My wife and I went before and after the tour (in addition to the other 3 times a day we stopped by while we were in Bruges).

 

[BenjaminBier]

If you're in Germany, ask at your hotel if there are any "Gasthof Brauerei" in the area. German brewpubs are awesome! You'll find a lot of variety you never knew existed in German beer.

On your way from Belgium to Munich, stop in Trier, Germany! In addition to being Germany's oldest city, full of sweet Roman ruins and history, it's got an amazing local brew culture.

Check out this place: http://www.blesius-garten.de/en/brewery.php

Trier is also home to a 500 year old variation of Edwort's Apfelwein called "Viez" which is partially fermented with Lactobacillus.

And like I say, it's on your way from Belgium to Munich or vice versa ^ ^

 

[EricScott]

If you are in brussels in addition to cantillion, go to delirium.

 

[cjb]

If you are in brussels in addition to cantillion, go to delirium.

Oh yeah, Cafe Delirium should definitely be on the to-do list.

 

[milehighsuds]

De Halve Maan was a REALLY fun tour. And yes, their tripel is pretty delicious. So was the unfiltered blond at the end of the tour. Honestly, as if it wasn't fun before that, the unfiltered version of their blonde made it well worth it.

Also, there's a great waffle place down the street. My wife and I went before and after the tour (in addition to the other 3 times a day we stopped by while we were in Bruges).

Zot Blond and Brun was very tasty, they recently started making a Quad. I have two bottles in the frige my girl brought home for me, have yet to try them but considering their other three beers i bet these are just as good. Im goona have to sub to this thread, just found out i might be going back in May!!!