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Tags: Qantas / Australia Travel / Beer Travel / Drinking Travel / In-Flight Drinks / → All Tags

Beer Ban On Select Qantas Flights Is Un-Australian

Aussies are definitely not impervious to the charms of a cold can of Fosters; after all, they do have record-breaking pub crawls and boats made of beer cans. But if you're flying on a domestic Qantas flight Down Under, there are a few less beers going round these days.

Citing unruly behavior, mostly from drunken mine workers heading home after a couple of weeks working in the desert, Qantas has banned full strength beer and spirits on all flights within Western Australia. This follows existing bans on sales of spirits on intrastate flights in other parts of Australia.

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Tags: Beer Travel / Beer Festival / Drunk Travel / Drinking / San Diego Travel / → All Tags

Guzzle The Nation's Best Brews At San Diego Beer Week

When you think of the U.S.'s best beer cities, places like New York, Portland and Philly always pop into mind. But according to Men's Journal, if you want to guzzle the nation's best brew, you have to head to San Diego. There's no better time to sample some of the city's suds than San Diego Beer Week from November 6 to 15.

San Diego County boasts 33 breweries, and the first-time Beer Week will showcase the local craft beers in more than 100 events, including beer tastings, beer dinners and home-brewing demonstrations. And it isn't just bars that will take part. Restaurants want to tap into Beer Week's potential. "We are encouraging breweries to push the envelope and create events with places not typically associated with craft beer. We know we’ll have support from beer enthusiasts, but we want to reach people who might not know about San Diego’s craft beer scene,” says Colby Chandler, president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, the event's sponsor.

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A Pumpkin Beer Festival In Seattle To Start The Halloween Season

Pumpkin season is upon us. Most places are now filled with orange displays, the convenience store is pushing their pumpkin cappuccino things, and of course there’s plenty of candy. We’re all about celebrating Halloween even if it is still an entire month until the big day, especially if it involves some special holiday beverages. One brewery in Seattle knows that there’s only one way to truly get the season underway, and that is with a pumpkin beer festival.

The Elysian Brewing Company is putting the final preparations in place for The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. Things will be taking place this weekend, October 10 and 11, at the brewery’s Capitol Hill location. There will be plenty of pumpkin beers to help lager lovers get their fix and celebrate the season. The brewery will be honoring nine of their own beers, including The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Hansel and Gretel Ginger Pumpkin Pilsner, and Night Owl. There will be concoctions from other breweries as well including Southern Tier, Rock Bottom, and Dogfish Head.

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Tags: Events / Munich Travel / Beer Travel / Bogota Travel / San Diego Travel / Festivals / → All Tags

This Weekend In The World: Oktoberfest And Shakespeare

· Munich:
Everybody say it with us now: "Ein Prosit!" That means "a toast" in German, and you'll be saying it about every five minutes at Munich's famous Oktoberfest, which begins tomorrow and runs sixteen days until October 4. There will be beer tents, heart-shaped cookies, lederhosen, and preztels all up and down the Theresienwiese fairgrounds, and you can trust us to give you all the tips you need to have a great Oktoberfest 2009.

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Let The Alaskan Railroad Be Your Designated Driver

There's travel blog bait, there's travel blog bait, and then there's a train that takes you along one of the most scenic routes in these United States and serves you six half-pints of microbrews plus appetizers. Well played Alaska Railroad, well played indeed:

Take a scenic journey along Turnagain Arm with the world's best designated driver—the Alaska Railroad. The Microbrew Express travels 80 miles roundtrip from Anchorage to Portage and features an impressive assortment of the finest local microbrews and incredible scenery of Turnagain Arm.

We got tipped to this via The LA Times, which also notes that the BrewHouse beer menu includes Brewhouse Blonde and Oatmeal Stout. Tickets are $149 per person and cover the rail trip plus everything else. The event takes place Oct. 3 and purchases are obviously 21+.

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Oktoberfest In The US Means Electing A 'Miss Buxom'

We thought we did a pretty good job rounding up the 5 Things You Have To Know For 2009's Fest during our 2008 Oktoberfest post-mortem, but apparently we left out the annual Fremont Oktoberfest festival up in Washington. The three day beer-soaked event, which includes over 70 brews on tap and bills itself as being "for kids and adults of all ages," includes a cigar lounge, copious amounts of alcohol, and an appropriately-named "Miss Buxom" Contest.

The festival kicks off on September 18 and goes until the 20th, with Miss Buxom being choosen at 7pm on the first night. They say you don't need to be female to enter, though we're guessing it kind of helps since the winner is chosen by audience applause. You must be wearing "traditional German attire with a Fremont twist" even to enter, which we're taking to be a euphemism for "cleavage."

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Tags: Labor Day Travel / Beer Festivals / Beer Travel / Drinking Travel / Events / → All Tags

Have A Hoppy Labor Day Weekend In NYC

For those living in New York, the Labor Day weekend usually requires an unfortunate trip out of the city to attend Uncle Herman’s annual family barbeque. However, if you’re lucky enough to not have genetically mandated plans, start thinking about attending this year’s Great World Beer Fest. This is its seventh year running and it used to be called Brewtopia, so we're thinking they've got things down to a sudsy science by this point.

This year’s festival of all things beer will be held at the Park Avenue Armory, and they’ve added an extra day. Craft porters, ales, and lagers will be available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this year’s holiday weekend. If you do plan on attending, the most important decision will be choosing what session to enjoy. There’s evening sessions on Friday and Saturday, and afternoon opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. The only drag is that tickets are a pricey $60 per person.

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The Secret To Summer Beer Bliss Sits In Munich

To avid beer drinkers and expats, this super summer beverage might be pretty familiar; it's the Radler, a mix of light beer and lemonade which also goes by the names of panache in France and clara in Spain. Since lemonade never fails to refresh, the Radler is a way of both adapting beer for summer bingeing and offering a refreshing beverage.

Since Oktoberfest in Munich actually takes place in September and the city is usually still experiencing summer temperatures, tucking into a Radler is a way to continue drinking into dusk without suffering heatstroke and passing out from a combo of booze and sunlight. In town and away from the Oktoberfest tents however sits Donisl Restaurant, a bastion of Bavarian cuisine for over 200 years, which happily serves up fizzy steins of Radler to those looking for a meal with their beer.

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British Pub Crisis! UK Losing 52 Bars Per Week

Here in the states, we’ve been keeping a close eye on what restaurants and bars are having trouble making it through the recession, but we figure not too many consumers are shedding tears, since it’s high-end eateries that seem to be having the most trouble.

But we’re hearing some frightening news from across the pond, where the hardest-hit businesses in Britain are also one of the country’s prime tourist draws: good old-fashioned pubs. Local pubs in the UK have been having such a rough go of it that a new report indicates they’re closing at the rate of 52 per week. Yep, that’s an astonishing 2,377 pubs lost in the past year!

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Washington DC Is Ready To Party For Belgian Independence Day

Bastille Day may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean we’re ready to stop celebrating other countries’ independence. Fortunately, the next independence day on the agenda is for a country that loves beer and food just as much as the French (and Americans): Belgium. Tuesday, July 21 is the anniversary of the date when Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld took the oath as the first king of the Belgians in 1831. And yes, we’re using that as an excuse to party.

For reasons that remain unclear, DC seems to be the stateside locale most excited to get down for this holiday. First, acclaimed high-end resto Brasserie Beck is going buffet-style, celebrating with chef Robert Wiedmaier’s favorite selection of Belgian food and brew—both in unlimited quantities!

Meanwhile, chef Bart Vandaele of Capitol Hill’s Belga Café is hosting a beer dinner of his own Tuesday night at the Belgian Ambassador’s Residence. But that’s just the culmination of Belga’s week-long independence blow-out, which starts tonight with a “Blonds Have More Fun” party celebrating Belgium’s blond brews, kicks up with a street-side waffle cart Saturday afternoon, and ends with a DJ party and fireworks display at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Viva Belgium!

Related Stories:
· Brasserie Beck [Official Site]
· Belga Cafe [Official Site]
· Where to Celebrate Bastille Day in New York [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kalense Kid]

Tags: Beer Travel / Oktoberfest / Germany Travel / Drinking Travel / → All Tags

Not All Beer Drinking Leads to Munich: Try Straubing

Munich is definitely not the only place in Germany that knows how to celebrate with beer, and this weekend's Guardian UK had a great alternative Oktoberfest tip: head to Straubing, home to the second largest beer festival in Germany and one that might be more authentic than the one we know and love.

Located not too far down the Danube from tourist destination Regensburg, Straubing gets in early by celebrating its love of beer (and all things cultural) in August—this year it's August 7 to 17. The official name of the fest is the Gäubodenvolksfest and it gets about 1.2 million visitors a year, who pay a lot less for the beer here than down the road in Munich a month or so later. Seven beer tents offer only locally-brewed beers and we recommend getting there for the opening day of the festival for the "Bierprobe"—the first tapping and trying of the beer. Prost!

Related Stories:
· Here for the Beer [Guardian]
· Oktoberfest Post-Mortem: The Five Things You Need to Know for 2009 [Jaunted]
· Germany Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: bugmonkey]

Tags: Beer Travel / Events / Los Angeles / Drinking Travel / → All Tags

Drink Beer Floats For Charity At The LA Beer Float Showdown

The LA beer float community—which we just discovered exists—is apparently locked in something of a civil war. On one side there's The Golden State, which has been combining Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout with Scoops ice cream. On the other side there's BottleRock LA, which serves Milk ice cream with various tap beers. To settle it once and for all, the LA Beer Float Showdown is being held to decide which establishment will reign supreme.

The competition takes place on July 26 at the Blue Palms Brewhouse on Hollywood Blvd. After the beer and ice cream costs are covered, all further proceeds will go to 826LA, a non-profit tutoring program for kids grade school to high school. Ice cream, alcohol, and guilt-free spending.

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