The Weekend Beer Forecast publishes each Wednesday to alert beer road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

Click on the links to learn more.

If you would like your event to appear here, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

This week’s forecast was provided with the help of Martin Newman – casinotop10.net

As always, drink responsibly

***********************************************

The inaugural Tennessee Winter Beer Fest will be Saturday in Townsend, Tennessee.

The Queen City Brewers Festival will be Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The second annual International Great Beer Expo will be Saturday in Secaucus, New Jersey.

ZooBrrrew will be Friday in Rochester, New York.

The 16^th annual Central New York Brewfest will be Saturday in Syracuse, New York.

The Buffalo Winter Brewfest will be Saturday in Buffalo, New York.

Beer Advocate Extreme Beer Fest will be Friday and Saturday in Boston, Massachusetts.

The inaugural Cincinnati Beer Week will be Thursday through February 9 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Cincinnati Brew Ha-Ha will be Saturday in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The seventh annual AleFest Columbus will be Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The third annual Fond du Lac Brewfest will be Saturday in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Wines and Beers of the World will be Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The 11^th annual Winterfest will be Friday in St. Paul Minnesota.

The inaugural Omaha Beer Week will be Friday through February 12 in Omaha, Nebraska.

The inaugural Border Beer Fest will be Saturday in Laredo, Texas.

The Barley Bros. Winter Ale Festival will be Friday and Saturday in McCall, Idaho.

The third annual Belgianfest will be Saturday in Seattle, Washington.

The Weekend Beer Forecast publishes each Wednesday to alert beer road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

Click on the links to learn more.

If you would like your event to appear here, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

As always, drink responsibly.

***********************************************

Field of Beers will be Friday in Jupiter, Florida.

The sixth annual Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival will be Saturday in Jupiter, Florida.

South Florida Beer Week continues through Sunday at various locations in South Florida.

Atlanta Winter Beer Fest will be Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.

The eighth annual Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting will be Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.

The second annual Top of the Hops Beer Festival, Biloxi will be Saturday in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The 2012 World Beer Festival will be Saturday in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Jolly Skull Beer Festival will be Saturday in Greenville, North Carolina.

The fourth annual Winterfest Beer & Wine Festival will be Saturday in Washington, New Jersey.

The Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival will be Saturday in New York City, New York.

The inaugural Niagara Wine and Beer Fest will be Saturday in Lockport, N.Y.

The inaugural Lincoln Square Winter Brew will be Saturday in Chicago, Illinois.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild Winterfest will be Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The inaugural Coralville Brrr Fest will be Saturday in Coralville, Iowa.

The inaugural MSD Brew Ha-Ha will be Saturday in Kettering, Ohio.

The fourth annual St. Louis Centennial Beer Festival will be Friday and Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri.

The third annual Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival will be Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The second annual Black Hills Beer Festival will be Saturday in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Denver Winter Ales Festival will be Friday in Denver, Colorado.

The third annual Winter Brews Festival will be Saturday in Concord, California.

The eighth annual Strange Brewfest will be Friday to Sunday in Port Townsend, Washington.

Super Bowl means tailgating and, at least here at Road Trips for Beer, tailgating means some tasty local brews in the cooler. However, because Indianapolis hosts Super Bowl XLVI this year, fans partying pre-game outside Lucas Oil Stadium, in hotel rooms or in local homes on February 5 should be aware of something important.

You cannot buy beer to go on Sundays in Indiana – with one exception.

Under state law, grocery stores, liquor stores and the like have to put the chains on the beer coolers every Sunday. Restaurants and such are allowed to sell beer and liquor for on-premise consumption.  There are currently bills in the state Legislature to change this, but without going into great detail, it is unlikely to happen before 2013.

However, anyone seeking to stock up – or restock – brews to watch the New England Patriots battle the New York Giants has another option on game day.

Indiana production breweries are allowed to sell bottles and growlers of beer to go on Sundays – and there are plenty to choose from within a short distance of Lucas Oil Stadium. Reportedly they are stocking up for an expected boost in business.

Here’s a list of the craft breweries in town and beyond where you can buy beer to go on Super Bowl Sunday (click on the brewery name to visit its website):

DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS

These are the local breweries closest to the Super Bowl site.

Flat 12 Bierworks

414 N Dorman St.

(317) 635-2337

Opened extended hours for Super Bowl Week.  Open noon to 4 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.

Sun King Brewing Co.

135 N. College Ave.

(317) 602-3702

info@sunkingbrewing.com

Sun King normally closes on Sundays, but it will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery

10 W. Washington St.

(317) 381-8180

Sunday hours noon to midnight.

Ram Restaurant & Brewery

140 S. Illinois St.

(317) 955-9900

Sunday hours, 11 a.m. to close.

Fountain Square Brewing Co.

1301 Barth Ave.

(317) 4931410

contact@fsqbrew.com

Extended hours during Super Bowl Week. Open noon to 11 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.

Note: The above venues will be easily accessible via a fleet of five free shuttle buses being sponsored by Monarch Beverage and World Class Beer in Indiana, part of a campaign that includes social media to promote Indiana craft beer. You can read more about it here.

Look for this banner on the side of the shuttle buses.

STILL PRETTY CLOSE

Broad Ripple Brew Pub

842 E. 65^th St.

(317) 253-2739

bpub@indy.rr.com

Sunday hours noon to 10 p.m.

Thr3e Wise Men 

1021 Broad Ripple Ave., Indianapolis.

(317) 255-5151

swise@scottysbrewhouse.com

Sunday hours 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A LITTLE FARTHER

Barley Island Brewing Co.

639 Conner St., Noblesville

(317) 770-5280

Sunday hours noon to midnight

Oaken Barrel Brewing Co.

50 N. Airport Parkway, Suite L, Greenwood

(317) 887-2287

oakenbarrel@comcast.net

Sunday hours 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Triton Brewing Co.

5764 Wheeler Road, Indianapolis

(317) 735-2706

info@tritonbrewing.com

Sunday hours 1 to 9 p.m.

Bier Brewery

5133 East 65th Street, Indianapolis

317-253-2437

darren@bierbrewery.com

Sunday hours noon to 4 p.m.

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery (College Park)

2801 Lake Circle Drive, Indianapolis

(317) 471-8840

Sunday hours: 11:30 a.m. to closing.

WITHIN AN HOUR’S DRIVE OR SO

Power House Brewing Co.

322 Fourth St., Columbus

(812) 375-8800

Sunday hours 4 to 11 p.m.

Bloomington Brewing Co.

1795 E 10th St, Bloomington.

(812) 323-2112

Sunday hours 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Big Woods Brewing Co.

60 Molly Lane, Nashville, Indiana.

(812) 988-6000

Sunday hours 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Lafayette Brewing Co.

622 Main St., Lafayette.

(765) 742-2591

mail@lafayettebrewingco.com

Sunday hours noon to 8 p.m.

Peoples Brewing

2006 N. Ninth St. Road, Lafayette

(765) 714-2777

Sunday hours noon to 5 p.m.

Half Moon Restaurant & Brewing

4051 S. Lafountain St., Kokomo

(765) 455-2739

Sunday hours 11 a.m. to closing.

MAKE IT A ROAD TRIP

You may want to plan your pre- or post-Game Day itinerary to make the rounds of these other fine Indiana craft breweries and brewpubs that are a few hours’ drive from Indy.

New Albanian Brewing Co.

(Two locations in New Albany)

415 Bank St.

(812) 725-9585

3312 Plaza Drive

(812) 944-2577

Mad Anthony Brewing Co.

2002 Broadway, Fort Wayne

(260) 426-2537

madbrew@msn.com

Three Floyds

9750 Indiana Parkway, Munster

(219) 922-4425

brewpub@3floyds.com

Figure Eight Brewing

155 W. Lincolnway, Valparaiso

(219) 477-2000

info@FigureEightBrewing.com

Back Road Brewing

308 Perry St., LaPorte

(219) 362-7623

Chuckk@csinet.net

ShoreLine Brewery & Restaurant

208 Wabash St., Michigan City

(219) 879-4677

gm@shorelinebrewery.com

Four Horsemen Brewing Co.

710 Fellows St., South Bend

(574) 387-5772

Turoni’s Main Street Pizzery and Brewery

408 N. Main St., Evansville

(812) 424-9871

All of the information above is as accurate as posted on the brewery websites at the time of this writing.

This listing is not inclusive, but we tried to list the craft breweries that are both open to the public and that sell beer to go on Sunday.  If you’re looking for a more exhaustive list, we recommend that you purchase a copy of “Indiana Breweries” by John Holl and Nate Schweber. (Read our review of the book here)  .

Also of note

Lucas Oil Stadium

Beer from Upland Brewing Co. in Bloomington is ordinarily available on tap during games inside Lucas Oil Stadium, but it’s reportedly been pulled out for the Super Bowl (Hint: Clydesdales and sponsorship). I exchanged a few tweets with Upland, and they are working on having some of their bottles available inside the stadium. Their success remains uncertain as of this writing. Upland does have a tasting room in Indy  at 4842 N. College Ave.; however, because the beer isn’t brewed there, carry-out on Sunday is not available.

Here are links to some other stories and resources for your Super Bowl 46 craft beer experience in Indianapolis:

• IndianapolisSuperBowl.com 
• Girls’ Pint Out: “5 Unique Craft Beer Spots for Super Bowl Visitors,”   “5 Beer Themed Treats to Take Home from Super Bowl XLVI,”  and “5 Indianapolis Craft Beers for Super Bowl Visitors.”
• Hoosier Beer Geek: “A Beer Weekend in Indianapolis.”
• Broad Ripple Super Fest
• Brewers of Indiana Guild
• IndianaBeer.com (beer map)

Acknowledgements

This article would not have been possible without the help of Tamre Mullins, writer for Girls’ Pint Out, and Bob Mack , web and social media developer for World Class Beer in Indiana. Both are Indy residents with extensive knowledge of the state’s craft beer scene. Big props for their help.

The Weekend Beer Forecast publishes each Wednesday to alert beer road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

Click on the links to learn more.

If you would like your event to appear here, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

As always, drink responsibly

******************************************

Barleywine on the Bayou will be Friday in Pinellas Park, Florida.

Beertopia will be Saturday in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.

South Florida Beer Week will be Monday through January 29 at various locations in South Florida.

The inaugural Buckhead Beer Fest will be Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.

The fifth annual Winter Warmer Beer Festival will be Saturday in Asheville, North Carolina.

Beer Summit Winter Jubilee will be Friday and Saturday in Boston, Massachusetts.

Big Ass Beerfest will be Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The fourth annual Fox Brew Ha Ha will be Friday and Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The second annual Kalamazoo Beer Week continues through Saturday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Cabin Fever 2012 will be Saturday in Maplewood, Missouri.

Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest will be Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin.

The St. Cloud Craft Beer Expo will be Saturday in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

The third annual Yaga Chili Quest and Beer Fest will be Saturday in Galveston, Texas.

The second annual Winter Beer Festival will be Friday to Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The inaugural New Year Beer Festival will be Sunday in Bremerton, Washington.

The Winterhop Brewfest will be Saturday in Ellensburg, Washington.

The 2012 Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival will be Friday and Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska.

LEARN TO MAKE YOUR OWN BEER AT THE HOMEBREW ACADEMY

The Weekend Beer Forecast publishes each Wednesday to alert beer road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

Click on the links to learn more.

If you would like your event to appear here, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

As always, drink responsibly

***********************************

Friday the Firkteenth will be Friday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The second annual Columbus Winter Beer Fest will be Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The third annual Beer & Boards Celebration will be Saturday in Bellaire, Michigan.

The second annual Kalamazoo Beer Week will be Saturday through January 21 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Bockfest 2012 will be Saturday in Los Angeles, California.

The Oregon Wine, Food & Brew Festival will be Friday and Saturday in Salem, Oregon.

The second annual Buckman-Kerns Brewfest will be Sunday in Portland, Oregon.

LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BEER AT THE HOMEBREW ACADEMY

The Indiana craft beer community thrives as much as any in the United States, though it may not get as much press as Colorado, Oregon or Asheville, North Carolina.

The state’s breweries scored nine medals at last year’s Great American Beer Festival; Indianapolis’ Sun King Brewery scored eight of them – and four of those were gold!

Indianapolis will be the site of this year’s Beer Bloggers Conference, and in just a few weeks, the host city for Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012.  As the world’s attention focuses on Indy, the city’s craft beer community has launched a grass-roots effort to let the world know that beer is more than the corporate macrobreweries that will plaster their logos all over the event.

Bob Mack, the web and social media developer for World Class Beer in Indiana, is spearheading the campaign that will include free shuttle buses to Indy’s craft beer hotspots and promotion of local breweries with the #IndianaBeer hashtag on Twitter.

Here’s what Mack wrote on the World Class Beer blog:

In a few short weeks, Indianapolis will play host to the 2012 Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is one of the largest attended sporting events in the world and one of the biggest advertising and media focused events to boot. It’s a tremendous opportunity for the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana to shine as business leaders and celebrities descend upon us.

What better time to show the world what fantastic things Indiana brewers are doing?

Of course, the Super Bowl is a corporate event and the corporate beers pay dearly to get their names onto signs, banners, shampoo bottles, potato chip bags and just about anything else that has room for print. Frankly, it’s an advertiser’s wet dream and the stakes are way too big for Indiana brewers to compete on the level as the big boys.

But we have the advantage. In Indiana we have real people making real beer. And we have passionate drinkers that care about what they consume and who they get their beer from. And we have the means to let visitors to our state know about it.

During the week of the Super Bowl, Monarch Beverage and World Class Beer will be sponsoring free shuttle buses that will run between downtown, Fountain Square and Mass Ave. taking visitors to bars, restaurants and stores along the route. On that bus will be advertising for our “Drink Local” campaign along with a Twitter hashtag, #IndianaBeer.

During Super Bowl week, we strongly encourage everyone to use the #IndianaBeer hashtag to get the word out about local beer and where it can be found anywhere that Super Bowl attendees might be drinking!

If you plan on taking a Road Trip for Beer that includes the Super Bowl, you might be wise follow the hashtag on your Twitter account.

And should you want to further explore the state’s craft beer culture while you’re there, we recommend that you pick up a copy of “Indiana Breweries,” by John Holl and Nate Schweber.

RELATED STORIES

Planning a Road Trip for Beer to the Final Four

A month ago, Cigar City Brewing announced that it would be opening a pub in Airside C of Tampa International Airport.

A recent story in the Tampa Bay Business Journal revealed a new twist to that news: The award-winning Tampa craft brewery will be making beer at the airport as well.

According to the story, brewery owner Joey Redner plans to install one or two brewing barrels in the leased space in the terminal that serves AirTran, Frontier and Southwest airlines.

The first beer brewed there is expected to be served in March 2012, the story said.

This is certainly good news for craft beer-loving travelers flying in and out of the popular Florida airport on those airlines, and should make a long layover or delays much more enjoyable.

Cigar City is in the midst of expanding its brewing space and installing a canning line at its facilities in Tampa.

Story and photos by Tonya Vots, correspondent

While some may argue that the top beer news in Georgia for 2011 is the end of a statewide ban on Sunday alcohol sales, craft beer fans in the Peach State are more likely to say the introduction and growth of the growler market is by far the top beer news of last year.

A growler is a container of fresh draft beer intended for off-premise consumption.  Such containers can be plastic, glass or even stainless steel and – when one travels through states that sell fresh-filled growlers – the containers are an excellent means of picking up local and regional beers available only on draft.

States allowing this form of beer retail each have their own governing statutes on growlers.  States such as California and Wyoming allow growlers to be filled at breweries, while some three-tier distribution states, such as Georgia and Alabama, do not.  In Georgia, growlers for off-premise consumption are allowed to be filled at retail package establishments that do not sell liquor, based on the city’s or the municipality’s approval.

Early in 2011 the first Georgia growler shop opened in Athens.  Simply called The Beer Growler, it opened with 20 rotating taps, which soon expanded to 25.  Next, Ale Yeah!, a dedicated craft beer shop in Decatur, announced the addition of eight taps for growlers.  As soon as the City of Atlanta approved growler sales, local beer mecca Hop City was ready with 16 taps.

Beer fans were elated and Road Trips for Beer took on a new meaning in Georgia.

As growler fans continued to seek out fresh beer offerings closer to them, occasionally they’d hear of a random wine or sandwich shop adding a few rotating taps. t is not uncommon for craft beer fans to drive a couple hours to refill growlers.

To refill, a customer returns a rinsed out growler in exchange for one that’s been cleaned and sanitized.  Most growler shops will gladly fill growlers from other stores, provided the government alcohol warning is displayed on the vessel.

In August, The Beer Growler opened a 40-tap location in Avondale Estates, its first Metro Atlanta store.

“We’re glad to help bring the joy of fresh craft beer to the masses,” says The Beer Growler partner Sean Galvin.

In the northwest corner of the state, Beverage World in Fort Ogelthorpe added 20 taps in August Customers from three states visit the shop, which offers growlers in three sizes.  Back in Metro Atlanta, two Whole Foods Market locations added growler stations.  In Duluth, The Best of Brews opened in November with 30 rotating taps.

“Forty percent of our sales revolve around draft sales,”  said Ale Yeah! proprietor Eddie Holley.

Ale Yeah! added four more taps in September and in a daring move in the waning days of 2011, added a flavor infuser (sometimes called a Randall) to one of the draft lines.

Growlers in Georgia also make available new items for brewerania collectors, with custom art 32 oz. growlers and deals with local breweries to provide brewery branded growlers.  Growler shops also sell a wide range of beer glasses, beer merchandise and stock craft beer bottle/can inventories.

Most of the growler shops keep updated tap lists online. A few shops update followers on Facebook and Twitter for up-to-the-minute tap changes.

The beginning of 2012 was very much alive with growler news.  Hop City plans to expand to 60 taps, as well as open a store in Birmingham, Alabama.  In Cumming, The Crafty Draught announced a January 14 opening with 20 taps.

 Learn how to make your own beer at the Homebrew Academy!

The 2011 Beer Bloggers Conference in Portland, Oregon, certainly ranks as one of our top road trips of the year. Though the days were spent in sessions – admittedly, sometimes accompanied by beer – the nights were lived in the hoptastic splendor of the city some call Beervana.

Getting even a taste of Portland’s beer culture during the three days left only a desire to return for more, but one of the highlights of the August 19-21 weekend was a trip to see the harvesting of the hops at Goschie Farms in the Williamette Valley.

Other beer writers chronicled the event, and there are links to their stories at the bottom of this post, but we wanted to share with you a video we took during the tour and subsequent dinner under the trees on a gorgeous Pacific Northwest evening permeated with the scent of fresh Humulus lupulus, without which beer would not be beer. At the beginning, you can also get a few glimpses of our rush-hour ride to the farms, made much more enjoyable by local brewers on board who shared some samples of their creations.

If you love great beer and ever get the chance to tour a hops farm during one of your Road Trips for Beer, do it! You will not regret it.

See more photos from the tour here.

Read more about BBC11 and the tip to Goschie Farms at these sites:

• Firkin Around: BBC11 – Goschie Hop Farms.
• Seacoast Beverage Labs: Seeing Hops for the First Time.
• The Not So Professional Beer Blog: Hop Harvest at Goschie Farms.

Here are a couple of  Pacific Northwest hops farms that are open for visitors. Be sure to call ahead for arrangements.

Puterbaugh Farms

Regional breweries and brewer guilds often schedule special tours of hops farms during harvest seasons. Contact the guild local to your destination to see if there is one happening during your planned visit.

If you write about beer or if you are in the industry and want to connect with a community of bloggers whose influence is growing, the 2012 Beer Bloggers Conference will be July 13-15 in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information, click here.

Every so often, a brewery or distributor is kind enough to send me a sample or two of their beers, or someone hands me one because they want to know what I think of it.

The problem is, this site focuses more on traveling to good beer rather than reviewing it.

So what I do is pass along a few basics about the brew, give you the brewer’s take on it, and then close my eyes and use my experience and imagination to write about where the beer might best be enjoyed.

This particular brew was given to me by my father-in-law, who had a received a six-pack of it as a gift from the brewery’s owner.

Worktruck Wheat Beer (5.3% ABV)

Brewed by: Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling Company, Ste. Geneivieve, Missouri.

What the Brewer Says: Traditional wheat based beer originating in Southern Germany. Specialty beer for the summer but is brewed all year long. A very complex unfiltered wheat beer. A distinct banana-like fruitiness is very apparent. Slight hints of clove and nutmeg underlie the medium-light body. Very lightly hopped, the first impression is the fruity esters and bread like characteristics from the malted wheat. Very easy to drink. Not for the average beer drinker. A beer best drank young; matures in only a few weeks of aging. Traditionally this beer can be served with a slice of lemon. This adds a bit of citrus note that complements the fruitiness. No fruit is added. All of the flavors come from a unique yeast strain from Bavaria. The esters are produced during fermentation.

The Space and Time: An early summer day in one of those cities with a thriving cultural scene. You’ve spent the morning and most of the afternoon visiting various art galleries, soaking in the creations of those who can turn their thoughts into tactile representations of their innermost feelings, and you’re thirsty. The sun’s still up; it’s not quite dinnertime, but not too early for a beer. You wander onto the sidewalk patio of a locally owned bistro, sit at a table that still holds a piece of shade provided by an unfolded umbrella shelter. The server brings you a beer list. You peruse it and order Crown Valley Worktruck Wheat. It arrives, and you sip while watching the office drones walk past on their way to catch a ride of some kind to their suburban enclaves.

Fun Fact: The founder of the brewery, Joe Scott Sr., also owns the nearby Crown Valley Winery, which grows its own grapes

Where You Can Find It: Throughout Missouri and parts of Kansas, Arkansas and Tennessee. Brewery tours are available.

Anyone interested in sending samples for this feature can find contact information here.

A whole slew of Georgia cities and municipalities will start allowing package sales of beer and other adult libations beginning January 1, 2012, the first time in decades that they’ve been able to legally do so on a Sunday.

Among the cities are Atlanta and other metro Atlanta communities, Valdosta, Savannah and Clayton, according to local news site 11alive.com.

In early 2011, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill that allowed the Sunday liquor sales referendums to proceed, leading the way to the end of a statewide ban on Sunday package sales that had been in place since the late 1800s. When elections came around in November, Sunday alcohol sales were approved  by more than 80 percent of voters in some cities, including Atlanta.

Some communities have already started the Sunday liquor sales.

But Sunday beer sales in Georgia will remain sporadic through the state as nearly 500 other jurisdictions are expected to vote on the issue in 2012.

The best advice we can give road trippers is to find the number of a liquor store where you hope to buy some local brews when you’re passing through on a Sunday, and call ahead to see if they are allowed to sell it.

RELATED STORY: Growlers are a growing part part of the Georgia craft beer scene

The St. Louis Brewery, more commonly known as Schlafly Beer, opened 20 years ago in the home town of brewing giant Anheuser-Busch. Its ensuing success has much to do with the philosophies of co-founders Tom Schlafly and Dan Kopman, who believe in adhering to principles that include being a conscientious and good neighbor, and trying to create the best-tasting beer possible.

Road Trips for Beer editor Gerard Walen was fortunate enough to go on a press trip of St. Louis earlier this year with a small group of travel writers, hosted by the Missouri Division of Tourism, which included in its itinerary a tour and dinner at the Schlafly Tap Room. Here’s a video of the experience, in which you’ll learn more about the craft brewery’s history, its barrel-aging program, its planned sour beer offerings and more.

Read more about our trip on Mantripping.com.

This is a sponsored post

If you love beer, Denver is the place for you. Colorado is home to more than 80 brewpubs and 18 microbreweries, as well as two very major breweries – Coors and Anheuser-Busch. Colorado hosts top-notch beer festivals and events and boasts a beer history as rich as the brew itself. Known as the “Napa Valley of Beer,” the valley encompassing Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins is a must-visit location for beer enthusiasts. Read on to learn more about the area breweries, the beers, the fests, and the history of this celebrated libation.

Denver Breweries

The Mile High City is the ideal place to begin a tour of the area also known as the “Denver Beer Triangle.” Sip your way across the countryside while enjoying views of the majestic Rocky Mountains as your journey takes you from Denver to Boulder, then to Longmont and finally Fort Collins. Each brewery hosts tours so be sure to check them out as your sample the wares. Bottoms up!

Denver

Coors Brewery. Located 12 miles from downtown Denver, this granddaddy of them all is the largest single brewery in the world and the third-largest manufacturer of beer in the U.S. Take one of the free tours offered Monday through Saturday and learn about the history and art of brewing beer.

Wynkoop Brewing Company.  Founded by Colorado State Gov.  John Hickenlooper, this brewpub is both the oldest and the largest in the state. Relax with a game of pool or round of darts while enjoying a taste of Patty’s Chile Beer made with Anaheim chiles and smoked Ancho peppers.

Boulder

Boulder Beer Company. This microbrewery was founded in 1979, making it Colorado’s first. Try the Hazed & Infused American pale ale and discover why Boulder is known as the happiest city in America.

Avery Brewing Company. Eccentricity is the word at this popular brewer where Old World tradition meets modern ingenuity. The result is the must-try New World Porter.

Longmont

Oskar Blues Brewery. Oskar Blues Brewery uses cans to ensure maximum freshness of its craft beer. This is a fact you won’t forget due to the giant roadside attraction beer can located in front of the brewery.

Left Hand Brewing Co. Enjoy the award-winning Milk Stout or Sawtooth Ale while relaxing on the patio next to Longmont’s St. Vrain River. These beers have won awards both at home and abroad, so get ready to be wowed.

Fort Collins

New Belgium. This eco-friendly microbrewery produces up to 150,000 barrels a year, and does so entirely with wind power. New Belgium is known for its Fat Tire beer, but Ranger IPA is also a good bet.

Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co. No trip to the Napa Valley of Beer is complete without a sojourn to the “king of beers” itself. Tour the brewery and learn the history behind this famous brewery. Don’t forget to visit the Clydesdales.

Denver Beers

Every day, more than 100 styles of beers are made and sold in Colorado. It’s something in the water – literally. The water from the Rockies is like no other, giving Colorado beers their distinctive character and taste. Below are just a few of the can’t-miss brews that make Colorado proud.

Vanilla Porter. Poetically described by the brewers at Breckenridge Brewery as a “vanilla kiss in a rich, dark sea,” the combination of roasted nut and chocolate with real vanilla bean will have beer connoisseurs swooning.

Railyard Ale. Sample this refreshing ale at Wynkoop Brewing Company, and watch the trains come and go from the historic Union Station. Both malty and fruity, this smooth amber is just one of several brewed-on-site beers.

Dry Stout. Not just any stout, this stout available at the Denver Chophouse and Brewery is stored in just-emptied whisky barrels courtesy of Austin Nichol’s distillery. Pair with a Chophouse steak for an unforgettable meal.

Denver Pale Ale. Either stop by your local liquor store or visit the Great Divide Brewing Co. Taproom for this English-style pale ale with hop flavor and a malty middle.

Pick Axe IPA. Make a day trip out of the 25-mile trek to the Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs where you’ll find this class Indian pale ale. This award-winning beer is worth the drive but if you can’t make it, Pick Axe IPA can also be found in local liquor stores.

Denver Beer Fest and the Great American Beer Festival

The Denver Beer Fest takes place at the end of September and includes a wide variety of events including beer tastings, tapping, meet-the-brewer nights, brewery tours, and more. The crowning glory of the event is the Great American Beer Festival, the largest beer festival in the country. The GABF showcases over 400 American brewers serving more than 1,800 different types of beers, competing for top honors in the beer-making industry.

This is an event not to be missed by anyone who has an appreciation for beer, but if you do plan on attending make sure you book your downtown Denver hotel well in advance.

Denver Beer-story

In 1859, the city of Denver was founded and beer production began right about the same time. It wasn’t until a few years later, in 1873 when Adolph Coors came to town, that beer brewing became the art form we know today. Now beer lovers gather from the world over to taste the excellent, diverse range of handcrafted beers Denver has to offer.

This sponsored guest post was written by Charles Watkins, who is a freelance writer, full time father, and beer enthusiast.  He has more than 10 years of experience working in the travel industry.

If you love trying great beer – and really, that’s the whole point of taking a Road Trip for Beer, isn’t it? – it seems almost inevitable that  sooner or later you’ll get the itch to brew your own.

This happened to me last year, and I was lucky enough to find a beginner’s kit under the tree at Christmas – well, next to the tree. The only thing missing was knowledge on how to do it. I knew it took more than the technique my older brother tried to make me believe in when I was a youngster, which involved leaving a rusty nail in a glass of water overnight.

I had skimmed through Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” and a few other homebrewing books, but I still didn’t feel confident enough to start that first batch.

Then my friend Billy Broas, a great guy whom I met in person at the 2010 Beer Bloggers Conference in Boulder, contacted me about a new project he was undertaking: the Homebrew Academy. He invited me to be one of the charter members, and I took him up on the offer. I’m so glad I did.

The Homebrew Academy is an online course with hands-on videos, step-by-step detailed instructions, checklists and more, including an active forum where newbies and veterans can exchange ideas and recipes, ask questions and offer advice. And believe me, I asked a lot of questions.

Before my first brew day, I printed out the instructions and checklists and watched and re-watched the videos. My American Pale Ale came out pretty good, and that’s not just my opinion. I offered it to a certified beer judge to taste, and he had some very kind things to say about it. I did run into some problems with fermentation temperature, nothing that affected that batch badly, but after asking questions and receiving advice on the forum, I was able to make adjustments in subsequent batches to keep it from becoming an issue.

The Homebrew Academy currently offers two levels of instruction: Just Get Brewing, for beginners, and Go Brewmaster for more advanced brewers.

If you bought a home brewing kit for someone on your Christmas list, this is a great and affordable additional last-minute gift. If, like me, you receive a kit but want to boost your confidence level before you put the brew pot on to boil, it makes a worthy investment. And after you brew your first batch, Billy will send you a fancy diploma suitable for framing.

For more information on how to join the Homebrew Academy, click here.

Disclaimer: The author of this piece makes a small cut from any memberships completed through the link. However, all opinions are genuine, and any payment will just help defray the cost of brewing ingredients.

Wine (Tim Rutherford, left) vs. Beer (Oscar Wong of Highland Brewing),

As craft beer continues to ingrain itself into the national culinary consciousness, a growing number of beer-pairing dinners are filling the calendars of foodies across the country.

“Craft beer is helping beer reclaim its place at the dinner table, and today’s culinary professionals are starting to get it,” wrote Julia Herz, craft beer program director of the Brewers Association, in her recent  “Musing on a Year of Craft Beer” column.

Beer dinners are still catching up with wine dinners in the halls of fine dining establishments, but an interesting subset of the culinary experiences has recently emerged: Beer versus wine dinners.

I attended my first one over Labor Day weekend at the Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Savannah, Georgia, during the 2011 Savannah Craft Brew Fest. Oscar Wong, founder of Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina, chose and introduced the beers. Brew Fest Chairman and wine columnist Tim Rutherford carried the banner for the wine portion.

Between the quality food, beer and wine, and the hosts’ good-natured bantering, the dinner provided solid entertainment as the final event of the festival.

This was the first time the dinner was held during the Brew Fest, and its popularity will likely keep it on the schedule.

Each of the five delicious courses was accompanied by a beer and a wine selection, with diners voting on each course to determine the winner.

Here’s a video I shot that will give you an idea of the good-natured competition that night.

The fifth annual Savannah Craft Brew Fest will be August 31 to September 2, 2012. It’s a Road Trip for Beer worth putting on your itinerary, and I’ll be sharing more of my experiences there in the next few months.

Disclaimer: Visit Savannah compensated me for the cost of the dinner. Any opinions expressed above are all mine.

Learn How to Make Your Own Beer at the Homebrew Academy.

I make no secret of my fondness for the Ohio craft beer scene and its breweries. I discovered the thriving scene during a trip to Cleveland in 2010, and returned earlier this year to attend the inaugural Cleveland International Beer Festival. That world-class festival will take place again May 11-12, 2012.

So I was happy to receive a review copy of the “Ohio Breweries” travel guidebook in the mail. I looked forward to learning more about the state’s brewery business – and I discovered there was a lot to learn.

With 49 regional breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs (at the time of publication), there’s plenty for author Rick Armon to explore. Armon, a Cleveland native, currently lives in Akron and writes for the Akron Beacon Journal, where his reporting duties include the beer beat.

“Ohio Breweries” covers beer makers from the giant Anheuser-Busch InBev plant in Columbus (10.7 million barrels/year) to the Hazards Island Microbrewery on Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie (6 bbl/year). All together, Ohio is the fifth largest brewing state in America, but it seems that few people outside the state realize it.

The book follows the same basic framework as other brewery guidebooks published by Stackpole Books. The state is divided into five zones, and each zone comprises a section of the book. Another section is devoted to the “Big Boys”: AB-InBev, MillerCoors (Trenton) and Boston Beer Company/Samuel Adams (Cincinatti). “A Word About …” chapter divides each section and takes a closer look at other aspects of the Ohio beer scene, such as Ohio’s beer economy, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association and Ohio beer festivals.

For each brewery, Armon uses words to paint a picture of the establishment based on personal visits and interviews with owners and brewers. Here’s an excerpt from the entry for Rockmill Brewery in Lancaster, about owner Matthew Barbee:

His grandfather had operated a winery and it was Barbee’s dream to one day follow in those footsteps. But he didn’t want to grow grapes in the Midwest. At the time, he was researching the saison or farmhouse ale style of beer-making – bottle-conditioned beers that are fermented at warmer temperatures and typically bottled in wine-sized bottles. It just so happened that his stepfather, Dennis Smalley, had the water at the farm analyzed and it was almost identical in terms of minerals to Wallonia, a French-speaking portion of Belgium where the saision style originated.

Barbee knew then that he wanted to make farmhouse ales. Remarkably, he wasn’t a homebrewer and had never made beer before launching his brewery, which is named after the farm. He is self-taught, having learned the craft through experimentation and reading books as opposed to attending a beer school.

“We chose to take our own path in order to have a true reflection of our DNA and journey in the end product,” he said. I’m really glad we did that because I have a specific learning style and one of my favorite things is exploring a city or exploring a craft. That was a big part of the fun for me, the exploration of it all.”

Each brewery entry also includes a list of beers brewed, the author’s pick for the must-try brew, and information such as production numbers, hours and tour availability. The back of the book contains a handy list of suggested beer websites and a glossary of beer terms.

We highly recommend “Ohio Breweries” to anyone planning a Road Trip for Beer to Ohio.

This is the latest in a series of regional brewery guidebooks published by Stackpole Books. Previous ones are “Pennsylvania Breweries” (now in its fourth edition), “New York Breweries” and “Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Breweries” by Lew Bryson; “New Jersey Breweries” by Bryson and Mark Haynie; “Michigan Breweries” by Maryanne Nasiatka and Paul Ruschmann; and “Indiana Breweries” by John Holl and Nate Schweber.”

“Massachusetts Breweries” by Holl and April Darcy is scheduled to be released in spring 2012.

Ohio Breweries, by Rick Armon. Introduction by the author. Stackpole Books, 2011. 192 pp. ISBN: 9780811708685. Suggested retail price $19.95.

Photos by Drea Rane

More and more craft breweries across the country are canning their beers for a variety of reasons, but it’s hard to picture just how prevalent this trend has become until you see it in Christmas tree form.

The dining room at Percy Street Barbecue, a Philadelphia restaurant, now sports an 8-foot tree composed of 400 beer cans and topped with one of the galvanized steel buckets that hold the cans as they are served to customers.

General Manager Aric Ferrell and Desiree Howie, a staff member and local artist, took more than 12 hours to assemble the sculpture.

Besides slow-smoked meats and homey side dishes cooked by Chef Erin O’Shea, Percy Street boasts a long list of canned beers, the vast majority of them from craft breweries. Most of the cans used on the tree are from Percy Street’s Six Pack Program, where guests select five beers and the sixth can is on the house.

If you’re taking a Road Trip for Beer to Philadelphia, the eatery at 900 South St. would be a great addition to your itinerary. And you just might find inspiration for putting up a different kind of tree this holiday season.

Every so often, a brewery or distributor is kind enough to send me a sample or two of their beers.

The problem is, the travel focus of Road Trips for Beer does not really encompass beer reviewing except for occasional mentions of brews that I’ve tasted on a road trip. It just doesn’t seem quite right to shoehorn a beer review into the site every so often because that’s not what you come here to read.

Another issue, I confess, is that my palate is not as well-developed as some others. Sure, I can tell the difference between “hoppy” and “malty” and can detect coffee or chocolate flavors in an imperial stout or porter, but I enjoy trying different beers and basically categorize them as “I like it” or “I don’t care much for it.” And I have drunk brews in the “don’t much care for it” category that others have raved about. I believe the old maxim is “to each their own,” and that’s the way I look at it, so I don’t feel comfortable recommending or rating beers.

To get to the point, I’ve been thinking for a while about how best to write about these samples. The breweries are kind enough to send them to me; the least I can do is mention them at some point.

Here’s what I’ve decided. I’m going to let you know a few basics about the brew, give you the brewer’s take on it, and then close my eyes and use my experience and imagination to write about where the beer might best be enjoyed.

Let’s get started on the inaugural “Beer, Space and Time,” in which I get three beers out of my fridge, into my mouth and out of the way.

Frog Hop Fresh Hopped Pale Ale (5.1% ABV)

photo courtesy of GrizzlyGrowler.com

Brewed by: The Great Northern Brewing Company, Whitefish, Montana

What the Brewer Says: “A truly fresh hopped pale ale. Pronounced tropical fruit characteristics and grassy hop qualities dominated the aroma while well-rounded maltiness balances the moderate bitterness. As a result, Frog Hop is a very crisp, drinkable, and unique beer – perfect of enjoying on a beautiful fall day.”

The Space and Time: Fall, yes. A long morning of fly-fishing for trout in a swift mountain stream morphs into an Indian summer afternoon. Waders are off, creel is filled and you pull out the bottle of Frog Hop out of the stream, open it, pour it and recline for the duration of the drinking against the trunk of a tall pine tree. Dinner will be fish, served fresh.

Fun Fact: Great Northern bought the 126 pounds of fresh hops for this brew from local growers, who brought their crop to the Whitefish Farmer’s Market. Within 24 hours of picking and while still wet, the hops were added to the boil.

Where You Can Find It: Only at the Black Star Draught House in Whitefish, on draft or in 22-oz. bottles.

Batch 19 (5.5% ABV)

Brewed by: MillerCoors

What the Brewer Says: “The pre-Prohibition style lager delivers a bold, hoppy flavor that is surprisingly well balanced. It derives its bold taste by using a rare combination of hops, including Hersbrucker and Strisslepalt. Hersbrucker provides herbal notes and Strisslespalt delivers notes of black currant. We are aware of no brewer in America who uses this combination today.”

The Space and Time: Your buddy scored the use of an old warehouse for the band to practice in, but the space needs a little – make that a LOT of work. From early morning until after the sun sets, you and your friends are sweeping, cleaning and hauling out trash. Finally, you whip the warehouse into good enough shape to set up the instruments. A bottle of Batch 19 washes the dust out of your mouth, quenches your thirst and gets you in the mood to jam all night.

Fun Fact: MillerCoors claims the beer is “derived from a recipe found in an old logbook discovered in brewery archives dating back to before 1919, when Prohibition banned beer.”

Where You Can Find It: Currently available on draft only in 16 cities across the country  . It should be noted that my sample came in one of the coolest-looking beer bottles I’ve come across in quite a while.

Newcastle Winter IPA (5.2% ABV)

Brewed by:  Newcastle Breweries (England) and Caledonian Brewery (Scotland)

What the Brewer Says: “Zesty in character and jam-packed with a creamy finish, the Newcastle Winter IPA is full-bodied and hoppy, delivering unique and authentic malt flavors for the cold season and snowy matchdays.”

The Space and Time: It’s December, in Florida. A cold front has moved through, creating one of those rare Southern evenings when sitting with the family around the fire pit in the backyard sounds like a great idea. The weenies are roasted, and the last of the gooey marshmallows have been carefully toasted to a golden-brown and slurped down. You send the kids into the house to put on their PJs, pop open a Newcastle Winter IPA and sip it while being mesmerized by the warm glowing embers of the fire’s last hour.

Fun Fact: The Winter IPA is part of Newcastle’s Limited Edition seasonal ales: The others are Summer Ale, Werewolf (fall) and Founder’s Ale (spring). Also, it comes in a brown bottle, while Newcastle’s flagship Brown Ale is still shipped in clear glass.

Where You Can Find It: Nationwide in six- and 12-packs, as well as on draft. Available November to January.

The beers mentioned in this article were provided by the breweries or their representatives. However, any personal opinions expressed are mine and not influenced by any other. Anyone interested in sending samples for this feature can find contact information here.

How would you like to take a Road Trip for Beer to Montana, and have a chance to win a year’s supply of brew – all on the brewery’s dime?

One of our favorite breweries-that-we-have-not-yet-visited is doing just that. Great Northern Brewery and Black Star beer is holding yet another of its creative and wacky contests for fans of the golden lager.

The Whitefish, Montana, brewery will hold the Black Star Barter contest again on February 4, 2012, (nothing finer than Montana in February!) and you can enter to win a trip there online. Here’s the news release:

Black Star Launches Online Beer Barter Contest

What would you do or trade for a year’s supply of beer?  Would you tattoo a giant red bronco on your back or fork over your precious taxidermy water buffalo? Prove it at The Black Star Barter on February 4, 2012 in Whitefish, Montana.

Whitefish is the most far-out little mountain town you’ll ever see, but we realize it’s a wee bit difficult to get to for a weekend rendezvous, so Black Star wants to bring you, a friend and your outrageous barter item to the official Black Star Barter.

Enter a photo or video of what you’d do or trade – any beer-worthy object or talent – for a year’s supply of Black Star, get a lot of votes and win a trip to compete in the official Black Star Barter! Hosted at the Great Northern Brewery, home of Black Star Beer in Whitefish, MT on February 4th, 2012, you’ll compete head to head for a year’s supply of beer.

If the judges choose you as the ultimate barterer you’ll be walking away with 365 days of pure liquid gold; the greatest prize ever conceived by man, Black Star beer.

Enter the contest here.

Follow @BlackStarBeer’s barter using hashtag #beerbarter

Contest Timeline

You have 30 days to think of and submit what you’d do or trade for all that beer!  We’ll be opening the contest up to votes on Monday, January 9.

Enter:  December 8, 2011 at 9:01 a.m. (PST) -January 9, 2012 at 11:59 a.m. (PST)

Vote: January 9 2012th 2012 at noon (PST) – January 15, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. (PST)

Winner will be chosen on Monday, January 16, 2011.

For questions regarding the Black Star Barter contest, please contact barter@blackstarbeer.com or call 800-732-1003.

Good luck. May the best barter win!

Here’s a video from last year’s barter.

From micros to macros, breweries around the world release their holiday ales and lagers this time of the year, some to glowing reviews, and others to not-so-kind remarks.

And then there’s Piggly Wiggly.

The grocery chain with the chuckle-inducing name and stores mostly through the South introduced two store-brand beers earlier this year under the “Pig Swig” brand: Pig Tail Ale and Pig Pen Pilsner.

Now Piggly Wiggly stores (“Bringing home the bacon for millions of American families since 1916″) in South Carolina and coastal Georgia also will offer a holiday brew beginning this week: Seven Swines ‘a Swigging Ale.

Here’s how the Piggly Wiggly folks describe it:

Seven Swines ‘a Swigging Ale pours a deep, copper color while delivering a light, crisp body.  Noble and American Hops balance a touch of holiday spice to warm even the coldest Scrooge.

Seven Swines ‘a Swigging Ale is the third Pig Swig variety to hit the shelves this year (“Pig Tail Ale” and “Pig Pen Pilsner” debuted at the end of May). All three varieties are brewed locally by Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, SC.

Before the collective wrath of beer snobs begins to heap ridicule on this venture (which comes in at a respectable 6.5 percent ABV), they need to consider a few things.

• The other Pig Swig brands garner relatively decent ratings on BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com. BA tasters give Pig Tail Ale a high-average score of C+, while the RB score comes in at 2.6 on a scale that goes to 5.0. The Pig Pen Pilsner gets a weighted average of 2.0 on RateBeer; no one has ranked it on BA. These are not the sort of scores that indicate gold medal wins at the Great American Beer Festival, but by comparison, Budweiser is given a 1.4 on RB (D+ on BA), and Walgreen’s store brand Big Flats 1901 receives a C- on BA, and a weighted average of 1.86 on RB.
• Thomas Creek Brewery contract brews for a lot of brands, makes some pretty good beer of its own and has brought home medals from the GABF.
• The brand names of the Pig Swig brews are as funky and irreverent as any produced by craft breweries.

OK, that last point may have nothing to do with the taste of the beer, but if I lived in the region where the holiday ale was offered, I’d be sure to give it a try. It sounds promising, and likely a step above most other store brands.

If any of you get a chance to taste Seven Swines ‘a Swigging during a road trip, I’d love to hear what you think.

Now, which of the little piggies in the children’s rhyme had beer … ?

There will be a fantastic opportunity next week to meet one of the legends of the brewing world at one of the finest breweries in Florida.

Charlie Papazian and I at Tampa Bay Brewing Co.

The American Homebrewers Association will hold its final AHA Rally of 2011 at Cigar City Brewing  in Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday, December 7, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The special guest will be none other than Charlie Papazian, renowned craft beer advocate, the president of the Brewers Association, founder of the AHA and author of such books as “The Complete Joy of Home Brewing,” now in its third edition and part of nearly every U.S. homebrewer’s reference library.

He also founded the Great American Beer Festival and hands out the awards every year. Oh, and he’s a nuclear engineer. And I had a chance to meet him this summer when he made a brief visit to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company. I shook his hand and chatted just a bit, and he was kind enough to pose for a photo with me.

The rally is free for AHA members, but you can download a membership form from the AHA website to bring with you and join the association at the event. Space is limited, so registration is required.

Also attending will be Steve Parr, AHA business coordinator, as well as Cigar City staffers and plenty of local homebrewers. The organizers promise great prizes from AHA and Cigar City, as well.

Click here for more information or to register.

Ordinarily, Road Trips for Beer publishes the Weekend Beer Forecast each Wednesday to alert road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

However, since the holiday season means the slow season for beer festivals, we are publishing events today for the entire month of December.

We’ll update this list if we find out about other events, so if there is something that’s not here but should be, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

The regular Weekend Beer Forecast will resume next year.

Click on the links for more information.

As always, drink responsibly. And Hoppy Holidays!

November 30 to December 4

City Link BeerFest will be Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The 19th annual Walk the Line on Barleywine Festival and Tasting will be Saturday in Dunedin, Florida.

Florida FrostFest 2011 will be Saturday at Myakka River State Park, Florida.

The third annual Highlands Beer Festival will be Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky.

The third annual Philadelphia Winter Beer Festival will be Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Fegley’s Brew Works Craft Beer Festival will be Saturday in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The 17^th annual Brewfest, Part 1 will be Saturday in Jeffersonville, Vermont.

The 16^th annual Holiday Ale Festival will be Wednesday through Sunday in Portland, Oregon.

The 2011 Winter Beer Festival will be Friday and Saturday in Seattle, Washington.

December 9 to 11

Craft Brew Palooza will be Saturday in Tampa, Florida.

The inaugural 12 South Winter Warmer will be Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.

The inaugural Valley Forge Beer Festival will be Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Mid-Atlantic Holiday Beer Festival will be Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dec. 16-18

None scheduled

Dec. 23-25

None scheduled

Dec. 30 to Jan. 1

None scheduled

The Weekend Beer Forecast publishes each Wednesday to alert beer road trippers about beer festivals and other brew-related events during the upcoming weekend.

Click on the links to learn more.

If you would like your event to appear here, please e-mail the details to gerard@roadtripsforbeer.com.

As always, drink responsibly.

********************************************************

The third annual Roxy’s Beerfest will be Saturday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The 2011 Winter Beerfest will be Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“The Muppets” new movie debuts the day before Thanksgiving, but I was lucky enough to take a little road trip Saturday to Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney and catch an advance screening at the park’s 24-screen AMC Theater (which has a full bar in the lobby, by the way). “The Muppets” is a thoroughly entertaining flick that will appeal not only to kids, but also those of us who grew up watching “The Muppet Show” on television.

Of course, the way my mind works, I began thinking about what our fine felted friends might do after the show when the music ends, the lights darken, the makeup comes and the costumes return to the hangers.

I imagine that, like many of us, Muppets head to the nearest watering hole to tip back a pint or two and talk about the workday.

So, what would be in their beer glasses? Here are a few thoughts.

Kermit the Frog

The amphibious master of ceremonies at The Muppets Studio is sort of an everyman type. He’s not looking for anything too fancy, but wants clean taste and a green label. Kermit is quaffing a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Miss Piggy

The porcine beauty queen wants only the best, and to her that means something rare and expensive, and of course the container must be breathtakingly beautiful. Miss Piggy fills her crystal champagne flute with nothing other than Samuel Adams Utopias.

}

Fozzie Bear

This throwback jokester to the golden age of Vaudeville always goes for the cheap laugh and has a seemingly endless supply of magic tricks in his repertoire. So it’s Magic Hat #9 for this bear. He can steal jokes from the witty sayings printed under each bottle cap and as a bonus, Fozzie can use the swirling design on the top in his hypnotist act.

Gonzo

Also known as “The Great Gonzo” and “Gonzo the Great,” this Muppet’s wildly unsuccessful stunts fail to deter him from trying again. Naturally, though he is not of the canine persuasion – and really, who knows what sort of creature he is – Gonzo’s favorite brew would be Flying Dog’s Classic Pale Ale. The company pays tribute to the Great Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson with label art drawn by longtime Thompson collaborator Ralph Steadman. So there’s that, too.

Swedish Chef

Muppet Theater’s resident chef loves to  fling knives and cleavers around his kitchen while spouting gibberish that sounds vaguely Swedish but really isn’t; however, his dialect issues could cause some problems when it’s time to order a beer. Rather than trying to pair a beer with his personality, I’m going to guess that the chef would step up to the bar and order a Belgian brown ale, specifically “Chouffe McChouffe Bier Brune D’Ardenne from Brasserie d’Achouffe,” because, well, it sounds like something he could enunciate properly.

Animal

The always manic, never depressive, rock ‘n’ roll drummer is a special case, in more ways than one. Though his appearance reminds me of a lot of homebrewers whom I know, his drink of choice veers from beer and into the world of caffeinated malt beverages. Animal drinks Four Loko. And not the watered-down version: He scored a semitruck load of the super-caffeinated, 12 percent alcohol by volume “energy drink” before public outcry forced the company to scale it back. Once his stash is depleted, Animal will be back to ordering Red Bull and vodka.

Sam the Eagle

This character’s beer is fairly easy to pin down. Always trying to live up to his duty as the avian embodiment of the United States, Sam once was a devoted drinker of Budweiser – even the can is red, white and blue – until that damn foreign company bought out Anheuser-Busch. Now you won’t find Sam with any beer other than Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

Statler and Waldorf

Another obvious pick. These arrogant old men constantly belittle their fellow Muppets while safely perched in their private box above the stage, never considering that any of the entertainment beneath them is worthy of their time. Nothing will do for these two curmudgeons than to share a bomber of Stone Brewing Co.’s Double Bastard Ale.

Of course, this list only includes the characters from “The Muppet Show” and the new movie, who obviously are of legal drinking age. It would be too much of a shock to get to Sesame Street and see Elmo sitting on a curb with a brown bottle in a paper sack.

Which other characters did I leave out, and what beer would you picture them drinking? Let us know in the comments section.

Be sure to check out “Kermit Rocks,” an ode to the green guy by fellow beer writer Owen McCuen on Ferment Nation.

Along with a lot of other folks, many beer lovers will take Thanksgiving road trips to spend the holiday with loved ones to feast on turkey and give thanks for the good things in their lives. Which beers do you bring, though, to share with others?

I was honored this week to yet again fill in for Alan Shaw, who writes the “Beer Geek” blog and column for Ticket Sarasota, the entertainment section of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

The topic was “beer pairings for Thanksgiving dinner.” However, since I do not consider myself an authority on the topic, I turned to some experts in the field for their suggestions.

Because of space limitations, I had to edit down a couple of the responses: One’s from Rob Hill, who is the “Beer Guy” for the Total Wine & More chain, based in Potomac, Maryland. (His official title is “new programs manager, customer experience, but his cicerone and certified beer server designations give him the cred for his nickname).

I also reached out to Rick Andrews, a fellow Floridian and author of the Ales from the Crypt and Firkin Around beer blogs, a foodie who loves to dip into his extensive craft beer stash to find the perfect beer pairing for whatever he whips up in the kitchen or on the grill.

I’m publishing here their mostly unedited responses to the questions regarding their beer-pairing suggestions for before, during and after the Thanksgiving Day feast because they included some great advice that didn’t make it into the column, which you can read here.

Rob Hill

Thanksgiving Day often involves relaxation and social time with family and friends, some football on TV, and the anticipation of a big evening dinner. Thus, different beer styles will nicely suit the multiple courses of the evening and keep the taste buds pleased.

Before dinner: Terrific pre-dinner beers offer clean crispness and plenty of flavors to a fresh palate, with moderate alcohol that won’t overpower the senses. Blue Point Toasted Lager is an easy-drinking Vienna-style lager that’s golden caramel in color with a toasted, bready malt character nicely balanced by mild hop bitterness. For more hop-forward character, Victory Prima Pils is a straw golden-colored German Pilsner-style beer with heaps of hops imparting an herbal bite over layers of soft and smooth malt flavor. These pre-dinner lagers satiate your thirst and keep the palate clean while prepping it for the food to come.

With dinner: Thanksgiving in my family has always included a traditional turkey dinner with popular trimmings such as stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, potatoes, squash and a green vegetable. Several beer styles with autumn-like colors can pair nicely. Bell’s Amber Ale is orange-amber in color and won’t overpower the food with its mild floral, fruity hop character that’s well balanced by sweet malt undertones. With brown gravy and/or the darker meat of the turkey, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale-style beer can complement nicely. Adriaen Brouwer Dark Gold Ale pours deep burgundy in color and offers sweet, bready caramel malts, dark fruit and mild roast character delivering flavorful complexity with an engaging vinous essence. This style is stronger in alcohol; the Adriaen Brouwer is 8.5% ABV.

With dessert: The trend toward increasingly darker beer colors with each course of the day can carry through dessert. Thinking apple, pecan and pumpkin pie here, perhaps with vanilla or chocolate ice cream, both the Schwarzbier and Stout styles come to mind. A Schwarzbier (“black beer”) is a dark lager style originally from Germany that is moderate in alcohol and, as its namesake implies, is a clear dark brown, almost black color. But motor oil it is not. Examples including Samuel Adams Black Lager and Xingu Black from Brazil are relatively light-bodied dark beers on a base of pilsner malt in which the dark hue is derived from additional, specialty malts. Decidedly malty in aroma and flavor character with little hop influence, this style evokes caramel and chocolate notes with a very subtle undertone of roasty bittersweetness. It’s smooth and highly drinkable. Alternatively, Stout will generally provide more body and higher alcohol. Pike XXXXX Extra Stout, at 7% ABV, is virtually jet black in color with an espresso-cream tan head. Fresh roast coffee aromas with notes of bitter sweet chocolate and hops deliver a rich and complex character of roasted flavors, caramel, licorice, and hints of vanilla and oak to complement and balance the sweetness of the dessert.

Rick Andrews

For our Thanksgiving Day we will be having Harpoon Winter Warmer and also World Brews Four-In-Hand Winter Beer. This will be served from a cooler out in the back field as we hold a new pre-meal family tradition of a game of two-hand touch football. Winning team gets to call for drumsticks at dinner! A table will be setup with salty snacks, nuts and a bread-bowl of spinach dip. Given the cooler weather we’ve been experiencing in Florida, it should make for a lively start to the day of grazing and sipping. The spice flavors should work up an appetite as well as leave a dry palate for dinner time.

Speaking of dinner, this year we will be toasting and imbibing with a Belgian Brune (brown ale) and saison (farmhouse ale). My choices are McChouffe (the Brune) and Lecto Divina (the saison). Both are tasty and finish clean without interruption of the rest of the meal’s flavors. Surely there will be wine and some Bud for my alternate drinking family members.  However it should be noted that those two Belgian style ales should satisfy the beer geeks in the family, come dinner time. Classic tasting Belgian beer is always ‘in season” and can wonderfully round out a robust turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

After the savory tastes of dinner, the sweet of dessert will be topped with a special bottle I’ve been aging for a while. It’s North Coast’s Brother Thelonius Belgian Strong Dark Ale. I may also open a surprise bottle of the collaboration brew Life & Limb from Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head. These fuller, richer ales have a sweet tone to them, which should round out the apple and pumpkin pie and other rich desserts. A little cup of espresso afterwords should counterbalance the tryptophan in the turkey and keep us all from falling asleep during the NFL games!

No matter what the season, we can all be thankful for great beer!  Cheers to a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, to all.

Here’s a Bonus

On the website of the Boulder, Colorado-based Brewers Association, Anthony Orig published a piece that compiled some Thanksgiving dinner recipes, submitted by craft brewers, that include beer as an ingredient. Here’s the link.  Enjoy!