The Brewery Vibe, Part I

The Brewery Vibe – Russ Webb

Innis & Gunn – Edinburgh

I am a traveler. No, seriously, I travel all of the time for both business and pleasure. Most people who travel a ton have a very particular routine. You get to the airport either ridiculously early or you run through the terminal to catch your plane like someone is trying to catch you (I’m of the latter club). Once you arrive at your destination you grab a cab or Uber, head to your hotel and figure out your next step. My planning starts a little before that when I know I’m visiting a new city I check to see what breweries are nearby, what their hours are and when I can squeeze that into my timetable.

So why do we visit breweries? We don’t go to the dairy where the milk is extracted. You can visit the Hershey plant in Pennsylvania, but not many do. Even bourbon/scotch drinkers rarely seek out every distillery around them. The answer is easy…it’s the vibe.

Sometimes they feel like the latest in hipster bars, and other times they feel like you are visiting a working factory, but almost every time you feel like you have been welcomed into the inner sanctum of beer magic and allowed to taste the secret potion at the source.

Service Brewing – Savannah

One of my favorite things about visiting breweries while on the road is getting to meet the locals that go there and chat with them about what keeps them coming back. Most times I hear folks tell me that there’s “no place else like it” and it’s “the very best beer around”. Craft breweries have done an amazing job of creating disciples from every day, ordinary beer lover like you and me. We are quick to tell outsiders about our favorite local brews, and even volunteer to go with them because, you know, who doesn’t need a guide? I will often just start chatting with the people working in the tap room and it’s not unusual for them to recommend other local breweries and I have even had them call ahead for me once to get me into one that wasn’t open on that day! The brewery vibe is special, just like the people that started the craft beer revolution and continue to foster its growth.

In a series of future posts we will be featuring these breweries so you can get an idea of what we are talking about and hopefully get out to visit one or two yourself.

Pirate Republic – Nassau, Bahamas

Canteen Brewhouse – Albuquerque

Brickway – Omaha, NE