Five days. Craft breweries. Notorious criminals. Suspicious locations. And a tour guide who keeps saying, "That's where they found the body."

America's Midwest is famous for many wonderful things. Deep-dish pizza, friendly people, enormous portions, excellent craft beer and the sort of winters that make Siberia look like a reasonable place to retire.

It's also produced some of America's most notorious criminals, baffling disappearances, legendary gangsters and murder mysteries that continue to fascinate people decades later.

Naturally, at Tipple Tours, we looked at this combination and thought: what this really needs is a brewery tour.

Welcome to Hops & Homicide, our wonderfully macabre concept for a five-day adventure through the Midwest's darker history, extraordinary craft beer scene and places where the locals occasionally lower their voices before telling you what happened.

Think true crime documentary meets brewery crawl, with considerably better company and fewer people whispering dramatically into microphones.

And before anybody asks, no, we're not planning to solve any murders. We have enough trouble getting twelve people to agree on a restaurant.

True Crime, Cold Cases & Cold Beers

There's something fascinating about true crime. Millions of people spend their evenings watching documentaries about serial killers, reading books about unsolved mysteries and listening to podcasts presented by people who somehow make a grisly murder sound like an excellent reason to subscribe.

The Midwest provides plenty of material. From Chicago's Prohibition-era gangsters to notorious criminal investigations across Illinois, Wisconsin and neighbouring states, this part of America has a history that could keep documentary producers employed until the end of civilisation.

But we're not interested in turning real tragedies into a comedy show. The victims and their families deserve considerably more respect than the criminals who made the headlines.

Our approach is to explore the history, investigations, notorious personalities and extraordinary circumstances surrounding these cases, with knowledgeable local guides helping separate documented facts from the sort of nonsense your uncle shares on Facebook.

The jokes are reserved for ourselves, the questionable decisions made by historical gangsters and the inevitable moment when somebody mistakes a brewery's fermentation room for a crime scene.

Chicago: Gangsters, Guns & Very Suspicious Sandwiches

Chicago is the natural starting point for any Midwest adventure involving organised crime, particularly if you enjoy architecture, excellent beer and the occasional story about somebody being introduced to Lake Michigan against their wishes.

During Prohibition, Chicago became synonymous with gangsters, bootlegging and spectacularly unsuccessful attempts to stop Americans drinking alcohol. Al Capone became a household name, speakeasies flourished and the city's criminal underworld developed a business model that relied rather heavily on bribery, intimidation and extremely poor customer complaint procedures.

One of the most infamous episodes was the 1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre, when seven men were killed in a gangland attack on Chicago's North Side. The original garage is long gone, but the story remains one of the defining events of America's Prohibition era.

Today, Chicago's gangster tours explore the locations, personalities and history behind this extraordinary period. Some visit former criminal haunts, others investigate the city's speakeasy culture and many reveal just how deeply organised crime became embedded in everyday life.

Naturally, we'd follow all this with a visit to a respectable craft brewery, where the only protection money required is whatever they're charging for a tasting flight.

Milwaukee: Beer Capital With a Dark Side

A journey through the Midwest's brewing history would be incomplete without Milwaukee, Wisconsin's wonderfully beer-obsessed city.

Milwaukee built its reputation on brewing giants including Pabst, Schlitz and Miller. German immigration helped shape its beer culture and the city became one of America's great brewing centres.

Today, the beer scene includes modern craft breweries, historic brewing sites and enough interesting drinking establishments to make our itinerary planner consider early retirement.

But Wisconsin also has a much darker place in American true crime history.

Milwaukee is associated with the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, whose murders between 1978 and 1991 remain among the most disturbing cases in American criminal history. It's a subject that demands sensitivity, particularly given the suffering experienced by victims and their families.

Rather than treating such locations as novelty attractions, a responsible true crime experience should examine the investigations, missed warnings, institutional failures and lessons that emerged from these cases.

And after exploring difficult history, there's something rather welcome about returning to the present, sitting down in a friendly brewery and remembering that the overwhelming majority of Milwaukee residents are far more interested in making good beer than appearing in a Netflix documentary.

The Craft Beer: The Only Thing We're Investigating Thoroughly

Now for the considerably more cheerful part of the adventure.

The American Midwest is a craft beer playground, with breweries producing everything from crisp lagers and citrus-packed IPAs to rich stouts, experimental sours and beers with names that sound like rejected heavy metal albums.

Chicago alone has a formidable brewing scene, while Milwaukee combines historic brewing traditions with an increasingly diverse modern craft beer culture.

Expect independent breweries, tasting flights, conversations with brewers and the occasional beer that arrives looking suspiciously like somebody has blended a tropical fruit salad with a thunderstorm.

We're particularly interested in the smaller producers. The places where the brewer might personally explain how the beer was made, the taproom has genuine character and nobody insists that you must detect seven different varieties of pine resin before you're allowed to enjoy your pint.

And if a beer is called Crime Scene IPA, Murder Hornet Stout or Witness Protection Porter, we'll probably investigate. Those are illustrative names, incidentally, not promises of actual beers. Although somebody really ought to brew Witness Protection Porter.

Prohibition: When America Accidentally Invented a Drinking Adventure

Between 1920 and 1933, the United States attempted to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. The result was one of history's more spectacular examples of a government policy not going entirely according to plan.

Instead of eliminating drinking, Prohibition helped create an enormous illegal alcohol market. Bootleggers became wealthy, organised crime expanded and Americans demonstrated remarkable ingenuity when presented with the prospect of a Saturday night without a drink.

Chicago was particularly notorious, with illegal bars, underground distribution networks and gangsters competing for control of the alcohol trade.

For Tipple Tours, this history offers a fascinating opportunity to explore how beer, politics, organised crime and American society became entangled.

We can investigate former speakeasy locations, hear stories about infamous bootleggers and discover how the country's brewing industry survived one of the strangest periods in its history.

The irony, of course, is that we're now proposing to spend several days visiting breweries in places where people once risked arrest for doing roughly the same thing.

Progress is a wonderful thing.

Is Hops & Homicide Actually a Good Idea for a Holiday?

We think there's a genuinely interesting travel experience hiding behind the ridiculous name.

True crime tourism is already popular, as are brewery holidays. But combining the two creates something rather different from the usual sightseeing itinerary.

The attraction isn't simply visiting locations associated with famous crimes. It's understanding the social history, the Prohibition era, the extraordinary stories of investigators and the way certain events shaped American communities.

Add the Midwest's exceptional beer culture, fascinating cities and slightly eccentric local attractions and you've got the ingredients for a memorable adventure.

Importantly, we'd want to work with knowledgeable guides, avoid sensationalising real victims and ensure that the experience feels thoughtful rather than exploitative.

We can laugh at Al Capone's tax problems. We don't need to laugh at somebody else's tragedy.

Do You Need to Like True Crime AND Craft Beer?

Not necessarily, although a passing interest in both would certainly help.

Perhaps you love true crime documentaries but have never visited an American craft brewery. Maybe you're a beer enthusiast who fancies exploring somewhere beyond the usual brewing destinations. Or perhaps you simply enjoy unusual holidays and have decided that five days investigating gangsters and drinking interesting beer sounds preferable to another weekend examining cathedral ceilings.

The ideal Hops & Homicide traveller enjoys good stories, unusual history, interesting drinks and travelling with people who don't take themselves too seriously.

You won't need specialist knowledge, expensive equipment or the ability to identify fingerprints.

And you certainly won't be expected to solve a murder before breakfast.

Why the Midwest?

Most American beer holidays concentrate on destinations such as Portland, Denver or California. They're excellent places, but we think the Midwest deserves considerably more attention.

Chicago and Milwaukee offer a compelling combination of brewing history, independent beer culture, architecture, food and fascinating stories. They're also relatively close together, making them a practical pairing for a short adventure without wasting days on the road.

More importantly, the region has a personality of its own. It's less predictable than the classic American tourist circuit and full of places that reward curiosity.

At Tipple Tours, that's exactly what we're looking for.

The world's full of perfectly sensible holidays. Somebody else can organise those.

Hops & Homicide: A Killer Combination

At first glance, a holiday combining Midwest true crime history and craft beer sounds like something dreamed up during a particularly strange pub conversation.

Which, admittedly, is how quite a few Tipple Tours ideas begin.

But beneath the jokes lies a fascinating combination of American history, legendary brewing cities, extraordinary investigations and places that most international visitors would never think to explore.

We'll discover how Prohibition helped transform organised crime, investigate some of the Midwest's most remarkable historical stories and sample the beers that make this part of America such an interesting destination.

There'll be independent breweries, atmospheric bars, memorable characters and enough peculiar experiences to keep the group entertained long after the final tasting.

Five days. Two great brewing cities. Notorious history. Brilliant craft beer. And a suspicious number of people saying, "I saw a documentary about this."

Welcome to Hops & Homicide.

Small groups. Big pours. Absolutely no actual murders.

Fancy Joining the Investigation?

At Tipple Tours, we specialise in small-group wine and beer adventures with unusual destinations, eccentric experiences and a healthy disregard for predictable holidays.

Discover our latest adventures at Tipple Tours and keep an eye out for Hops & Homicide, where Midwest brewing meets the darker chapters of American history.

Your own room, great company and the sort of holiday stories that make people at work quietly move their chairs away from you.

The only thing we're planning to kill is the idea of a boring beer holiday.