Craft beer destinations, brewery road trips, beer festivals, beer travel stories and drinking traditions.
I've eaten in excellent restaurants around the world but some of my most memorable meals happened at Georgian kitchen tables. The food was incredible, the wine never stopped flowing and every grandmother seemed personally offended by the idea that I might already be full.
After years running boozy tours, I've noticed a pattern. Guests arrive stressed, glued to their phones and talking about work. A few days later they're laughing with strangers in vineyards and breweries wondering why they don't do this more often. Coincidence? Possibly. Wine and beer certainly isn't hurting.
I went to China expecting beer, baijiu and the occasional unusual drink. Instead, I found snake wine, mystery dishes, fascinating local traditions and several moments where curiosity clearly overruled common sense. As travel strategies go, it worked surprisingly well.
Armed with just a few words of Mandarin, I travelled across China using a communication strategy based largely on train noises, airplane impressions and farmyard animals. Somehow it worked. Whether I was ordering chicken, finding transport or buying supplies, the less dignity I retained, the more successful the conversation became.
Most pub crawls involve a few streets and a sensible journey home. Ours involved eight countries, four continents, 25,000 miles and a growing inability to remember what day it was. It started with a pint in Heathrow Terminal 2 and somehow ended with seven slightly confused travellers standing in New York wondering how any of this had happened.
Saudi Arabia was one of the strangest places I've ever visited. I found the world's largest café with almost no customers, a giant bottle-opener skyscraper containing an Anne Summers shop, mystery buffet meat, endless royal portraits and enough Diet Pepsi to concern medical professionals. Somehow, the lack of alcohol ended up being the least unusual part of the trip.
I flew from Britain to Brazil for just three days at Christmas, spent most of Copacabana Beach trying to hold my stomach in, accidentally joined a volleyball game despite not playing since childhood and discovered that Brazilian beer is served at temperatures usually reserved for organ transplants. It may not have been sensible but it was unforgettable
Craft beer changed everything. What was once a landscape of identical light lagers is now 9,500+ breweries making everything from hazy IPAs to barrel-aged stouts to sour ales that taste like they shouldn't work but absolutely do. Our beer adventures cover the best brewery destinations, craft beer road trips, drinking traditions from around the world, and festivals worth flying for. Whether you're a hop-head, a lager loyalist, or just beer-curious, we've got stories and guides to fuel your next adventure.
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