Next year, Mr Ticker and myself are travelling to the US of A. Not until March, you understand, but being excited planner types, we want to get an itinerary set up! We would really like some advice and ideas about what beers to look for, and bars/pubs/breweries to visit whilst we are there. Flights are booked, but hotels, accommodation, and excursions are all open to suggestion, and we want to make the most of the time to explore beery goodness. It will be our honeymoon, so we are open to a little bit of extravagance. Please help!
First stop is San Francisco and Oakland.
Next, Vegas.
Finally New Orleans.
Any suggestions will be most gratefully received!
I've not yet been to the West Coast or the Deep South but from my experience in the States Craft Beer is very easy to find. Most, if not all bars have a craft offering and liquor stores are loaded with a huge selection from around the States so make sure you take an empty suitcase filled with bubble wrap and old whisky bottle tubes so you can bring some home!
ReplyDeleteYou should check out New Belgium (Fat Tire is a bit boring but worth a try, Ranger IPA is excellent) and I think Lagunitas is brewed is SF so be sure to try some of their brews! There are too many Californian breweries to count, you won't be sure of a decent beer on the west coast! In New Orleans/Vegas drink lots of whisky sours and margaritas... but watch out for a cocktail in NOLA called the hand grenade!
I'll be in SF and Oakland by then if you want someone to show you round. If not, my fave place in SF was City Beer Store or Toronado. In Oakland I loved the Trappist, though there's a couple of other good places which I never went to. To buy bottles go to Whole Foods, City Beer Store or that big liquor supermarket place - they all sell decent stuff. Make sure you get a fresh bottle of Double Jack - it kicks any other IPA to shit. Also try to get Pliny on draught rather than in the bottle if you can, fortunately it's not too difficult to do that :-)
ReplyDelete