White Beer Travels. What's in a Name? All is revealed on the Home Page! Schneider Weisse, a well-travelled, classic Wheat/White Beer, brewed in Bavaria by Schneider. Click on the image to go to their website Select from a White Beer Travels Beer Hunt from the ones below, or why not let White Beer Travels do a custom-made one for you? Now is the time to be planning next year's trip(s)!
Belgian Beer, German Beer, British Real Ale, North American Craft Beer and Speciality Beer and Specialty Beer from around the world, are all covered in this White Beer Travels website This White Beer Travels website has been in operation since March, 2002. It promotes Speciality/Craft Beer from around the world: Belgian Beer, German Beer, Craft Beer from the USA and Canada, Real Ale from the UK, etc
 
Click here to reach the "White Beer Travels" Home PageClick here for Speciality Beer and Brewery News. Also check out the "Archives" for "old" news!You are already on this, the "Future Beer Hunts" Page, of the "White Beer Travels" websiteClick here to get information on "Past Beer Hunts" organised by "White Beer Travels"This gives general information on what to expect on a typical Beer Hunt organised by White Beer TravelsCurrent "Pub of the Month". See the "Archives" page for links to the other onesClick here for John White's Beer CV (Curriculum Vitae, Résumé) Click here for past Pubs of the Month, News, etcClick here for downloadable guides to places, breweries and barsClick here for "Links" to other websites. There are many on the other pages of the site, as well!Click here for full details on how to contact White Beer TravelsClick here for information on how the site was built, including acknowledgement of any help receivedClick here for details of the French to English Translation Service offered by White Beer Travels, & for the contact details of organisations that can provide the reverse
Belgian Beer and other great Speciality/Craft Beers, these including Real Ale from the UK and Craft Beers from the USA and Canada, are promoted on this, the White Beer Travels website. It is a big site, so to get an outline idea of the contents, click here to go to the site's Contents page
  Würzburg, in Germany, is world-renowned for its "Franken" wines. However, White (Wheat) Beers have certainly travelled to the city. The three different ones shown here are excellent examples. All are brewed in the city's Würzburger Hofbräu Brewery. Click on the glasses to go to the brewery's website, from which the image was pasted
Your cursor is a on a photo taken at the 24 Hour Beer Festival, Antwerp, Belgium. This was one of 34 brewery stands at the 2001 Beer Festival, 12 of which were for Wallonian brewers. Charles is the Curator of the Gambrinus Drivers' Museum, at 2a, rue Fontaine de Saint-Pierre, 5600 Romedenne (Philippeville), Belgium, tel 082 67 83 48. It is a beer transport museum/bar, which featured in a White Beer Travels 2001 Beer Hunt. Click on the photo to go to the Zythos website

To the left is John White's photo of Caracole Brewery's stand at the Antwerp 24-Hour Beer Festival, in November, 2001. Serving a Nostradamus is Charles Fontaine de Ghélin, a famous beer writer and, at the time that the photo was taken, the Sales Manager for this exceptional brewery, which is in Falmignoul, near Dinant.

One of his customers in the photo is Jan Hemmer of the don't-miss Folk Cafe/Bierreclame (Beer Plaques) Museum, in Breda, in The Netherlands (Haagweg 375, tel 076 522 09 75, www.bierreclamemuseum.nl).

The Antwerp "24-Hour" Beer Festival was featured in a 2002 White Beer Travels Beer Hunt based in Brussels and Antwerp. There was not a "24-Hour" Beer Festival in 2003, but there was a replacement for it, in Sint-Niklaas, in East Flanders, in March, 2004. This, and the 2005 festival featured in a White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, as will all subsequent ones, the festival being an absolute don't-miss for the Belgian Beer fan. Information on the festival can be found on a White Beer Travels Web page dedicated to it.

 

Your cursor is on the Zythos logo. Zythos, the 'Confederatie van Belgische Objectieve Bierproevers'(Confederation of Belgian Objective Beer Tasters), is Belgium's premier beer consumers' organisation. Click on the logo to go to the Zythos website

The "VZW" after Zythos means "Vereniging zonder winstgevend/winstoogmerk" (ASBL in French, i.e. "Association sans but lucratif), which means an organisation that does not set out to make a profit. Note the foam in the shape of Belgium coming from the glass!

The 2002 Antwerp 24-Hour Beer Festival was run by Belgium's premier beer consumers' organisation, OBP ("Objectieve Bierproevers" - Objective Beer Tasters). Unfortunately, very soon after the 2002 festival, OBP was wound up. A replacement organisation, Zythos (www.zythos.be), was announced in 2003. Zythos ran the equivalent festival mentioned above, which is called the ZBF (Zythos Bier Festival, www.zbf.be and White Beer Travels Web page). This took place again in March, 2005, and will do so in future years, for example, in 2007, it is on Saturday, the 3rd (Noon to Midnight) and Sunday the 4th (10am to 10pm) of March.

Zythos is the "Confederatie van Belgische Objectieve Bierproevers" (Confederation of Belgian Objective Beer Tasters), i.e. it is based on the former, regional OBP organisations, such as De Oostendse Bierjutters (DOB), O.B.E.R. HOP, and De Limburgse Biervrienden. The latter run the "Weekend der Belgische bieren", in Hasselt, which in 2006, commences on Friday, the 3rd of November. Click here if you would like to join DOB and Zythos. Note that Zythos means beer in Greek; it is derived from the Egyptian word, Zythum.

Beer Hunts you can join in 2007/8

In 2007 and 2008, John White, of White Beer Travels, will run a number of Beer Hunts, the next of which are detailed on this page. Alternatively you can contact John by phone, fax or by letter; please click on Contact Details, here, or at the top or bottom of this page, for the contact details.

Before booking on a White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, one should consult the White Beer Travels General page, which can be reached by clicking here. This provides information on what to expect on Beer Hunts organised and conducted by White Beer Travels, and there is important information on topics such as Travel Insurance, etc.

John will be very pleased to organise custom-built Beer Hunts for groups large and small. Click on Past [Beer Hunts] here, or at the top or bottom of the page for some itinerary ideas.

Click here for a facility at the bottom of the page for payment of deposits, interim payments and balances.

The majority of White Beer Travels Beer Hunters are not smokers, and genuinely can't stand people smoking in their presence. In Belgium, in particular, if one missed out establishments, such as famous bars, that do not have no-smoking areas, one would essentially end up with nowhere to go! Sadly and most ignorantly, a good proportion of Belgians that are stupid enough to smoke, also have an appalling habit of ignoring any smoking restrictions, particularly in bars; in most bars there will probably be ashtrays on the tables in no-smoking areas, and these areas will be full of pathetic, don't-give-a-sod, smokers! I once asked a very well known pub proprietor why he allowed this, and he looked at me with complete disdain, saying that the ashtrays were for general rubbish; he did not explain away the rubbishy people putting fag ends in them after smoking so inconsiderately. Even where smoking is allowed, if you have joined a White Beer Travels Beer Hunt, and you are unfortunate/daft enough to be a smoker, it is a requirement that you do not smoke amongst the group.

White Beer Travels Beer Hunts are recommended by
world-renowned beer writer, Roger Protz

In the UK national newspaper, the Independent on Sunday (www.independent.co.uk), on the 16th of January, 2005, in an article by Richard Ehrlich, entitled "The beer hunter", Richard quotes Roger Protz (1939-) (www.beer-pages.com), as follows: " ... my eminent colleague Roger Protz, author of the magisterial Complete Guide to World Beer (£19.99, Carlton), recommends the beer hunts organised by John White (www.whitebeertravels.com)." Roger's book can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk  and from www.amazon.com.

Six Night Beer Hunt,
based in Bamberg, Germany.
Saturday, the 21st,
to Friday, the 27th of July, 2007
This Trip is fully booked (the 2008 trip is Six Nights from Saturday, the 17th of May)

Your cursor is on a photo taken outside the Schlenkerla, Bamberg, Germany. Click on it to go to the Schlenkerla's website

The Schlenkerla, in Bamberg, the most famous outlet in the world for Rauchbier: Smoke Beer. The photo above of John White outside this truly great establishment, was taken by Joyce White, in July, 2003

Your cursor is on a photo showing Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Smoked Beer) being delivered to the glass from a wooden barrel. Click on it to go to the Schlenkerla's website

This photo was taken in the Schlenkerla, in July, 2003, by John White. Filling the glasses from an oak barrel, using gravity rather than gas, is Alex Culaj, a student from Kosovo, one of the Schlenkerla's six Bierschänker (Beer Servers).

The wonderful Baroque city of Bamberg is home to a famous beer style, Rauchbier (Smoke Beer) It has ten breweries/brew pubs, and some world-class bars and beer gardens to drink their products. Many regard Bamberg as the best Speciality Beer venue in the world, although it is also a major tourist centre in its own right. Click here for my Web page on the Schlenkerla (www.schlenkerla.de or www.smokebeer.com for its English pages). Brewery visits will include, of course, Heller/Schlenkerla, and the Brauerei Hummel, www.brauerei-hummel.de, in Merkendorf.

The cost for this trip is £360, for twin or double bedded accommodation with breakfast; the single room supplement is £80. We get to Bamberg by flying from London Stansted to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) with Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com), and then train from Nuremberg to Bamberg. Note that the cost is based on an air fare of £100 return. Should this be different at the time of booking, the overall price will change: up or down. A deposit of £100 is required, which on receipt, is used to book your flight. For those making their own way to Bamberg, the cost of the trip drops by £100 and the deposit required is £50.

The seventy-seven page White Beer Travels guide covering other Bamberg beer-orientated places, is available from the Downloads page, along with companion guides to: Nürnberg (Nuremberg) (thirty-one pages) and Forchheim (eleven page). Forchheim is near to Bamberg and has four Brew Pubs and holds one of Germany's best beer festival, the Annafest (www.anna-fest.de or www.annafest-forchheim.de) (this takes place in July, the trip's dates coinciding with it, but many of the Beer Gardens (Kellers) that feature in it, are open at other times of the year, see www.bierkeller.de, an essential website); Bamberg is often reached via Nuremberg, but also has much to offer the beer enthusiast and the general tourist. The Bamberg guide provides full details of how to get to Bamberg and how to get around it and out of it on public transport; the area around Bamberg is full of treasures for the most experienced of Beer Hunters. Trip participants are provided with the password to download the guides; their accompanying maps can be downloaded by anyone, without the need for passwords.

An optional trip will be made to the twin towns of Windischeschenbach (www.windischeschenbach.de) and Neuhaus an der Waldnaab (Neuhaus bei Windischeschenbach), in the Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate), in the NE part of Bavaria, close to the border with The Czech Republic (Ceská republika). Coming on this trip will allow one to sample the elusive Zoigl Beer, in genuine Zoigl outlets, i.e. on the premises of real communal brewers. Click here to go to the White Beer Travels Web page that provides more details of what to expect on the trip, and for information on Zoigl. There will be no cost for this trip; it is an optional one, to allow people to do other things, such as visit some of the world-class tourist attractions in Bamberg.

There will be a day trip to to Pottenstein (www.pottenstein.de, White Beer Travels Web page), a small town situated in the spectacular Franconian Switzerland (Fränkische Schweiz, www.fraenkische-schweiz.com); Pottenstein has two brew-pubs, both serving outstanding beers. Regensburg (White Beer Travels Web page), the Capital of the Oberpfalz, a marvellous place on the Danube, with five brewing establishments, will also be visited.

Four Night Beer Hunt,
6th to the 10th of September, 2007
Featuring the Bruxellensis Beer Festival
This Trip is fully booked

Bruxellensis (www.festivalbruxellensis.be, White Beer Travels Web page) is a world-class festival. The absolutely superb inaugural festival took place in September, 2005, and there was a truly marvellous follow-on festival, in 2006. In 2007, the festival will again be held in September, i.e. on Saturday, the 8th (from 11am to 11pm) and on Sunday, the 9th (from 11am to 9pm). It is organised by Yvan De Baets and Bernard Leboucq of the "Brasserie de la Senne" (De Zenne Brouwerij) (www.brasseriedelasenne.be). For further details of the festival, see the White Beer Travels Web page covering it.

The base for this Beer Hunt is Brussels, subject to no major events taking place in the city on the wekend of the festival. The cost for this trip is £210, for those making their own way to Brussels. For those who wish to go by Eurostar (www.eurostar.com) from London Waterloo to Brussels, it is £270. The latter price assumes booking by the 10th of May; after this date any price increase for the Eurostar ticket will be passed on. A deposit of £100 (for those requiring a Eurostar booking), or £30 per person (for those making their own way to Brussels), secures a place, with the balance due by the 1st of August, 2007. The single room supplement is £60. The price is based on twin or double bedded accommodation with breakfast in a high standard, city centre hotel, handily situated for tourist attractions and top-class Specialty Beer bars. Comprehensive information on a large number of superlative bars, restaurants and general tourist attractions will be provided, along with location maps. The password for the sixty-eight page downloadable White Beer Travels Guide to Brussels, which is obtainable from the Downloads page, will also be provided.

As is typical, with White Beer Travels Beer Hunts, there will be brewery and bar visits included.

Four Night Beer Hunt,
13th to the 17th of December, 2007
Featuring the O.B.E.R. Christmas Beer Festival

Details of this Beer Hunt are currently being formulated. Click here, to go up this page for details of the 2006 Beer Hunt featuring the same beer festival.

Four Night Beer Hunt,
based in Ostend, Belgium
28th of February to the 3rd of March, 2008
Featuring the Zythos Beer Festival

The equivalent Beer Hunt to this in 2006, is described on the Past to Beer Hunts page. Click here for a White Beer Travels page dedicated to Zythos and its Beer Festival.

The 2008 Zythos beer festival will take place in the same venue as the absolutely superb 2004 to 2007 ones, in St.-Niklaas, on the following dates: Saturday, the 1st and Sunday, the 2nd of March, 2008. Note that on the Saturday, there is an Open Brew Day at the Cantillon Brewery (www.cantillon.be), in Brussels; click here for a White Beer Travels Web page giving further details of these don't-miss days. This one can clearly be visited before proceeding to the Zythos Bier Festival, indeed the cost of getting there from Ostend by train and then returning to Ostend, via St.-Niklaas is included in the trip cost, as is entry to the Open Brew Day, and two beers, the norm on all White Beer Travels brewery visits. Other breweries to be visited on this Beer Hunt are to be confirmed, as are further details.

 

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Belgian Beer, just about the world's most renowned Speciality Beer is promoted on this website, along with great beer from all over the world
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