-OUR UPCOMING- -BEER TRAVELS- February 2009
SF Beer Week
Denver for Beer Drinker of the Year April 2009
Ireland June 2009
Monterey Beer Festival
Alaska for our 20th Wedding Anniversary July 2009 Germany for
Wolfie-Fest December 2009
Somewhere beery for Merideth's 40th birthday
Beer Travel is Seeing the World One Pint at a Time...
Latest One Pint at a Time
"Belgians, Trappists & Kerstbier"
With December being the last month for the Year in Beer, we wanted to make it a special one. And what can be more special than a beer tour of Belgium. We had two main goals for the trip: visit all seven Trappist breweries and reach 450 breweries. The Year in Beer culminated at the Kerstbierfestival, a Belgian Christmas beer festival in the town of Essen.
So enjoy our adventures in Belgium…
By the way, if you like what you see here, we could use your help.
't Brugs Beertje, Bruges, Belgium [December 2008, food & beer] A very friendly and helpful staff will assist you in wading through the extensive and impressive beer list. We spent hours there and we could have spent hours more enjoying the 'Little Bruges Bear'.
Arendsnest , Amsterdam, The Netherlands [December 2008, food & beer] ‘t Arendsnest Nederlands Biercafe is the epicenter of Dutch beer, as this is all they serve in a wonderful pub located in a quiet neighborhood off of the city center. Peter, the owner, was very helpful with his suggestions as most of the Dutch brews were unknown to us. If you can only make it to one place in Amsterdam, this should be it.
The Kulminator , Antwerp, Belgium [December 2008, food & beer] The Kulminator is famous for their cellar-aged Belgian beers. If we have one regret from the trip it was going to the Kulminator on our first day in Europe. We were in a jet-lagged induced comatose state and just blankly stared at the amazing and voluminous bottle list. We need to get back to Antwerp to go the Kulminator again.
The Liar's Club, Alpine CA [November 2008, beer & food] Up the street from Alpine Beer Company, Liar's Club is another beer bar that absolutely astounded us. Not only was the beer selection top notch, the juke box was mostly punk. Our kind of place.
O'Brien's American Pub , San Diego, CA [November 2008, beer & food] The self-professed "hoppiest place on earth'" is a must stop on any beer trip to San Diego. Don't be fooled by the strip mall location... the extensive beer list will knock your socks off. And the friendly staff will make you want to stay for another pint.
We travel the world looking for the next great beer experience. While we do include visiting the sites and landmarks of the places we visit, finding that next great beer experience is the real focus of our travels. Visiting pubs,breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs; this is the essence of being a beer traveler.
The rewards of beer travel can vary; sometimes we are rewarded with a real turkey, but other times, the reward is magical. Most of the time, we enjoy a good pint of beer and hopefully some good craic.
We are not trying to tell you where to visit or what beers to drink; rather we hope to inspire you to look for your own beer adventures.
So, pour yourself a pint and enjoy your visit to our site.
Introducing beergeekTV beergeekTV is a natural extension of our enjoyment of beertravel and desire to tell people about travel and good beer. Visit the beergeekTV page to watch us travel, explore and enjoy good beer.
Who is thebeergeek.com?
thebeergeek.com is a collaboration between Chris Nelson and his wife, best friend and fellow beer lover Merideth Canham-Nelson. Their passion for beer is evidenced by the list of breweries visited.
The Year in Beer
In 2008, Chris and Merideth embarked on the Year in Beer, a beer geeks dream year of travel. Traveling to a major beer event or destination every month, their journeys took them to the beer capitals of North America and Europe. Whether at a pub, in a beer hall or at a festival, they enjoyed the local brew, culture and made many new friends.
Merideth Canham-Nelson’s appreciation of beer developed in 1992 while working at a multi-tap pub in Oakland. She wanted to be knowledgeable about the beer she was serving and the best way to do it was to visit the breweries themselves. Merideth and her husband Chris now have frequent adventures throughout North America and Europe discovering great beer and meeting interesting people. When she is not traveling, Merideth works as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Chris Nelson is a full-time house-husband with his own web design business whose life is focused around everything beer; a wardrobe filled with beer t-shirts; a home office dedicated to beer memorabilia and two dachshunds named Porter and Stout. In 2007, out of 7,800 applicants from 31 countries, he was a final four candidate for Four Points by Sheraton’s coveted position of Chief Beer Officer.
To learn more about us, visit the About Us section of the website.
SF Beer Week Events
on the Monterey Bay
Visit the Beer Week website for the full list of events and details on the following: February 6
Uncommonbrewers Dinner at the Red Restaurant & Bar February 7 Seabright Brewery Beer & Chocolate Tasting
Santa Cruz Ale Works Beer & Cheese Tasting at Parish Publick House German Beer Tasting at Rosie's Cracker Barrel in Carmel Valley hosted by us February 8
7 Bridges Homebrew Demonstration & Class Around the World Beer
Dinner at Ol' Factory Cafe February 13
Beer Dinner at Trailside Cafe
