“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”
~ Benjamin Franklin
Beer is intertwined into the fabric of European culture. From the centuries old Abbey breweries of Belgium, to the beer halls of Germany to those historic pubs in the United Kingdom, beer contributes to an area’s identity.
While wine is wonderful, the travel advisors at GetAway Travel do not turn up their collective noses at a good brew or two. Be it a crisp Czech Pilsner, a rich Irish Stout or an intriguingly complex Belgian Ale, we’ll hoist a glass with the best of ‘em.
A beer with friends tastes great anywhere, but a beer with a fellow traveler is an experience. So sit back, take a sip or two of your favorite libation and we’ll pull the tap and dispense some fun beer information. And if it helps influence your next travel adventure, GetAway Travel can get you there.
Grab a bottle of Belgian beer
“The good Lord has changed water into wine, so how can drinking beer be a sin?”
~ Belgian saying
With 120 varieties and 580 brands of beer, more than any other country in the world, Belgians certainly have the foundation to argue they have the best beer in the world. Beer is a serious issue here, as serious as wine is in France.
In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Belgian beers come in various colored ales and lagers in white or wheat varieties. Wait, white? Belgian white is top-fermented ale also known as witbier. It has a cloudy, white appearance because yeast remains suspended in the brew along with raw wheat. The taste is described as “zesty citrus” flavored. It is brewed with citrus peel and coriander.
Lambics, very popular in the Brussels area, are more like dry, bitter home-brewed cider than beer. Lambic beers are fermented by airborne microbes instead of standard brewer’s yeast.
Trappist beer, think heavy beer brewed by monks, is another Belgian specialty. It is heavily fermented and malty. It has a high ABV (alcohol by volume) and it can have dark fruit, caramel and spice undertones.
Belgian residents are pretty exacting beer drinkers. Most special, local beers are served in glasses unique to that beer. Beer connoisseurs insist specific glasses match and enhance the character of the beer.
If you order a certain beer and the specific glass isn’t available, bartenders will ask if you’ll accept the beer in a different glass. Belgians usually will decline and order a different beer.
Czechs invented Pilsner beer
“A fine beer may be judged with only a sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure.”
~ Czech proverb
Travel to the Czech Republic and celebrate the birthplace of the clear, crisp Pilsner lager. You won’t be celebrating alone. The Czech Republic drinks the most beer in Europe per person, about 38 to 40 gallons per person each year. Beer is often priced lower in restaurants than water or soft drinks. As a bonus, you will notice your beer glass will rarely sit empty, servers pride themselves on getting a full glass down as soon as one empties.
Czech hop growing
Pilsner beer, with its distinct herbaceous and hoppy qualities was invented in 1842 in Plzen.
Pilsner Urquell is on tap in most pubs, but you can also get Budweiser (yes, really, Budweiser).
For years Anheuser-Busch has wrangled over who can use the name, Czechs insist Budweiser was invented in the Czech Republic in Ceske Budejovice. A detente of sorts was eventually reached. You can order Budweiser in the Czech Republic and get their brew, but in the US Czech Budweiser is marketed as Czechvarin.
Pilsner is a lager. It is also described as having a crisp snappy firm hop bite and is served with a dense foamy head. Pub employees are trained to get the correct pour — the foamy head prevents air from oxidizing the beer and changing the taste. Take a selfie at the pub and tell your friends it’s a milk mustache.
German law governs beer production
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, and in water there is bacteria.”
~ German proverb
The oldest food and beverage law in the world is Germany’s Reinheitsgebot (Purity decree) of 1516. It originally stipulated only four ingredients go in beer — malt, yeast, hops and water. That doesn’t mean you won’t have a wide variety to choose from.
You can order your beer Helles (light) or Dunkles (dark). So you can get a crisp, pale Helles lager or a malty Märzen or a Hefeweizen which is flavored with banana and clove.
Residents in Northern Germany prefer their Pilsners while those in Southern Germany gravitate to a malty lager or cloudy wheat beer. There is strong regional loyalty to their specific beers.
There are actually about four specific types of beer, although the country’s 1,300 breweries have thousands of distinctive brands.
Helles and Dunkels are Munich-style lagers, Hefeweizen has the banana and clove undertones, Märzen or Oktoberfest is a rich, copper-colored “festival” lager and Schwarzbier s a dark, nearly black roasted malt lager. It is surprisingly light bodied with a crisp finish and a mild undertone of cocoa.
The world’s oldest operating brewery is in Germany. Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan traces its start to a monastery in 725.
Meet me in the pub for a brew or two
“Give my people plenty of beer, good beer and cheap beer and you will have no revolution among them.”
~ Queen Victoria
The United Kingdom and Ireland are famous for traditional pub favorite beers like English hop-forward IPAs, rich stouts and smooth Irish dry stouts like Guinness.
The Brits take pride in their beer, although it may take some getting used to that they think drinking beer cold and carbonated ruins the taste. Brewers focus on warm-fermented ales like bitters, milds and IPAs rather than cold-fermented lagers.
At a pub you can order long pull or short pull beers. Long pulls are traditional “real ales” from the cellar fermented naturally. They may have a slightly sweet or bitter undertone and with a hoppy or nutty aftertaste. A short-handled pull means you are getting a colder, fizzier mass-produced keg beer.
Ireland is famous for dry-roasted stouts like Guinness. Half of the alcohol consumed in Ireland is beer and by a huge margin, it’s Guinness. Guinness is made with unmalted barley to produce a rich coffee-like bitterness. It has a dry finish and is served with a creamy head of foam. Try a Porter in Ireland. Its a dark brown ale often with chocolate and toast flavors achieved with a softer roast than stout.
“Beer, the cause of, and solution to all of life’s problems.”
~ Homer Simpson
The great thing about beer is that GetAway Travel advisors can set-up a travel itinerary and no matter where you go — you can try a beer. Cheers and bottoms up, call us (262) 538-2140, e-mail: sue@getaway.travel or paul@getaway.travel
