A road trip to every World of Beer in Florida

After a few years of drinking locally, my husband & I set off on our first official pilgrimage for great beer. Three summer weeks in 1996 in a ‘66 Datsun Roadster with a tent. We left Sarasota, traveled through recent post-Olympics Hot-lanta, on to South Carolina to tour the BMW manufacturing facility, up the eastern seaboard, visiting Washington, DC, and on to NYC. Back then - we did not have access to the "interwebs" and we did not even carry a cell phone (that came to us in '98). We were armed with just the Southern Brew News, courtesy of Sarasota Brewing Company, zig-zagging our way to the next edition – Mid Atlantic Brew News, etc. On through Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara, and continuing to Erie PA, where we visited the family farm in Harborcreek for a week - they still grow acres & acres of grapes for Welches – it’s impressive in July. Returning down through Ohio, West Va, Knoxville, Birmingham, Tallahassee & home - the entire trip was a 22 day quest to try all the regional craft beers we could find with the “news” and a map. Craft Micro Brews were just getting off the ground in the east - though the western US was leaps & bounds ahead (that trip came later). Mainly word of mouth led us to each next destination. Best beers of that entire trip were on the first and last legs - Oatmeal Stout at the Phoenix Brewing Company in Atlanta (now the Five Seasons Brewing Company [and still very good]), and any craft beer available at the Magic City Brewing Company downtown Birmingham AL, where we also visited the very impressive Barbers Motorcycle Museum. NYC definitely had the most vogue and impressive brew-pubs (layout & décor), but absolutely the worst craft beer at the time.
Now it's a different time, and we continue on our beer quest - keeping records and obtaining guidance from the internet. Though we started collecting late in our travels, we've amassed 66 different pint glasses visiting from Key West to Alaska, San Diego to New England (from 17 states so far). Together we've sampled in Canada, Mexico, Grand Cayman, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, Australia, and recently New Zealand. Hopefully this fall we are headed to Italy and the mother of all - GERMANY ! Still have to say that although Colorado is terrific, and though up-state NY is really gaining ground, and northern CA too - Portland, OR remains our Beer-vana! Just about nothing short of perfection comes out of Portland, with McMenamins being our favorite! Seattle thinks they can match - but they are all heavy roasters - influenced no doubt by their delicious coffee roasting. We're planning to return to San Diego to test the new waters there and see how well their current 36 brewers are producing. Our very latest trip was June in Austin TX. We sampled from both Austin & Texas brewers – some just getting started. We found a most impressive new summer release being made by the Shiner (very German & well established) Company; Shiner Ruby Redbird – made with Texas grapefruit and a touch of ginger. Also found it available in Atlanta – but have not seen it this far south yet. Look for it and ITM, happy tasting to everyone!

I've been a craft beer lover since 1989. It grew out of my desire to try different beers in college. So in 2008, my wife and I decided to combine a trip to visit family in Vermont with a craft beer pilgrimage. We flew into Burlington, rented a car, and drove a little south to Magic Hat - a funky '60s ambiance complete with black lights. While there, we got a Vermont Brewers Challenge "passport". By getting it stamped at each brewery we visited, we became eligible for more and more free brewery stuff - cool. Next we visited nearby Otter Creek/Wolavers and Orlio (Middlebury). Back in Burlington, we visited Zero Gravity, Switchback, & Vermont Brewpub. Then on to the Alchemist (Waterbury), Rock Art (Morrisville), & Trout River (Lyndonville). Next we visited Harpoon (Windsor) and Long Trail (Bridgewater Corners). That's 11 breweries in a week - whew.

My wife and I would like to try visiting all FL breweries this year. I wonder if there is a similar "passport" for FL breweries? What about an up-to-date FL brewery directory/map? The Florida Brewers Guild directory is missing some breweries like Schnebly Miami Brewing Company & St. Somewhere.