General Beer Hunt Information: What's Included in a White Beer Travels Beer Hunt

As an introduction, I will first try to answer the question:

Why go on a Group Beer Hunt?

Many people who like a good beer are content to go to their local pub and enjoy it, without thinking very much about it. But there are a significant number of others, who want to find out more; they want to try different beers in different bars or beer festivals, they want to seek out both old favourites and new, obscure ones in Speciality/Craft/Specialty Beer shops, and they often want to learn more about how beer is made, perhaps initially getting such knowledge from books, but later on, much more enjoyably, by visiting breweries. These bars, beer festivals, breweries and beer shops, could be close to home or some distance away; presumably there is some magic frequency of visits, which converts someone into a recognised Beer Traveller or Beer Hunter.

Many do this on their, or with a friend, and, of course, this has its advantages. However, a growing number join groups of fellow Beer Hunters and join Beer Hunts organised by the likes of White Beer Travels, or by other Beer Hunt organisers, such as the ones listed on the site's Contacts page.

For me, some of the main arguments for joining a group Beer Hunt, including what to expect on a good one, are as follows.

The organisers' contacts in the industry will get you into places that are difficult or otherwise impossible to visit unless in a group associated with a particular Beer Hunt organiser. Of course, many group tours visit places, such as the truly great Cantillon, in Brussels, in Belgium (www.cantillon.be, White Beer Travels Web page), where you can just turn up and visit yourself anyway, although certain organisers who take groups to such places often get to sample something unusual.

If you are travelling on a ferry across, for example, the English Channel separating England from Continental Europe (or under it on the vehicle-carrying train, Le Shuttle), or Beer Hunting using a private coach/bus, the cost of these are divided amongst the group, this resulting in a far lower price per person than that paid by individual on his/her own, or as a couple.

There are also substantial discounts possible when travelling on public transport with a group. Giving just a couple of examples of many, for a small group, there is a substantial discount on buses in Belgium, and in the States (Länder) of Germany, such as Bavaria, five people can travel by train for as far as they like for the same cost as a return for one person on a relatively short journey in Bavaria.

Once one has arrived in the target country for Beer Hunting, any use of public transport that is required will have been pre-planned, bus and train times will be known, and tickets will have been purchased in advance. This all requires knowledge of appropriate websites and the ability to use them, examples being the Belgian Railways one, www.b-rail.be, or the De Lijn one, www.delijn.be, covering all modes of public transport in the Dutch speaking half of Belgium. Of course, if the website required is only in, for example, Dutch, as per the latter one, then knowledge of this language will be required, and others for equivalent websites in other countries. Some solo travellers have such knowledge, but it is more commonly held by experienced Beer Hunt organisers, as exemplified by the "instructions for use" that are available for such websites, for example, the White Beer Travels ones for using the De Lijn website, which can be reached by clicking here.

In some cases, group discounts are not readily available on public transport, but substantial discounts are available on an individual basis, if you know how. For example, it is possible to be sitting on the Eurostar train from London to Brussels, having paid a fraction of the fare that other passengers on the train have paid. Of course, solo travellers can get the same discount, provided, of course that they know how to! There are many other examples like this, on other trains and on planes, which a seasoned Beer Hunt organiser will know all about and will take advantage of for the good of his/her group.

Hotels give very big discounts for groups, which can be reflected in the low cost of a group Beer Hunt. Solo travellers can sometimes get last minute hotel bargains, but groups cannot risk these, although last minute discounts are rarely as big as the group discount. There are a number of other discount opportunities for groups, such as group meals, brewery visit costs (including of course, the accompanying beers sampled).

Coaches to/from your home town (or to/from where your car is parked) give a great opportunity for bringing significant amounts of beer home, which is difficult on trains and planes, although, of course this can also be done solo by car.

However, when driving your own car, there is the drinking and driving issue. I  have witnessed countless people drinking up to what they think is the legal limit, but with the wide diversity of beers with different alcohol levels and measure sizes, this is not easy; I have seen far too many, otherwise sensible people, taking a chance in this area; as well as risking action from the police, they are putting the lives of themselves and others on the line: "Don't Drink and Drive" is the best advice, and group Beer Hunts make this possible.

Solo travellers without a car cannot get to some places that are not served by public transport and thus miss out on some exceptional places. Of course, there are some exceptional places that can be reached by public transport, but one must know how to use it, as has already been emphasised.

One can visit special places in the beer world, without having to plan anything yourself. This, of course, requires that the trip organiser has the knowledge to select such places, and the ability to get groups into them, and navigate o them directly, without getting lost, i.e. al the places visited will have previously been reconnoitred (recced).

On a group Beer Hunt you will be in the company of like-minded people; it is almost guaranteed that you will make new permanent friends, who you will want to meet up with again and again.

You will be provided with information packs covering the places visited and their beers, and there will be an opportunity to purchase commercially available beer guides, almost certainly at a substantial discount.

The hotels used on the Beer Hunt will be in good locations, typically in the centre of a town or city that has sufficient attractions to suit an accompanying partner, who perhaps might not be as keen on visiting breweries or whatever as the main protagonist.

Why go on a White Beer Travels Group Beer Hunt?

I hope that the many pages of the White Beer Travels website convince you that I do have the knowledge, experience and contacts to ensure that the itineraries for White Beer Hunts are special, and that the plus points just covered above are intrinsic to these Beer Hunts. This is endorsed by past participants, including very well respected people in the beer world, such as the world renowned Beer Writer, Roger Protz (1939-) (www.beer-pages.com, Bookmark) and other members of the British Guild of Beer Writers (www.beerwriters.co.uk, Bookmark), see the Home page. And, if you check on the site's Future Beer Hunts page, I think you will find that they are very keenly priced, i.e. the discounts obtained for groups are passed on to the participants.

Further Information on White Beer Travels Beer Hunts

Beer Hunts can be based on one, two, or more venues, i.e. places where one stays overnight in hotel accommodation. For example, one previous trip involved a four-night stay in Bruges, using this as a base for brewery and bar visits by private coach/bus. Another was for two nights in Lille, in France, two nights in Antwerp, in Belgium and two nights in Middelburg in The Netherlands. USA ones have been based in Chicago and New Orleans, with the country's Specialty Beer (Craft Beer) epicentre, Denver, Colorado, being considered for the near future, after a major White Beer Travels reconnaissance trip there. These Beer Hunts and recce trips are detailed on the Past Beer Hunts page of the site, see the next paragraph.

Beer Hunts can be tailor-made. For some ideas on possible components of these, click on Future Beer Hunts, Past Beer Hunts, and Recce Trips, here, or at the top or bottom of this page. The Recce Trips page provides details of places that White Beer Travels has researched in detail on the ground (and in books and on the Internet, etc), but which have not yet materialised into organised Beer [or Wine or Cider] Hunts.

The Beer Hunts often coincide with major events: Amsterdam would be visited when the PINT beer festival, The Netherlands' best, was on; Antwerp is scheduled, among other things, to coincide with the replacement for its famous 24-Hour Beer Festival, the Zythos Bier Festival (www.zbf.be and White Beer Travels Web page) which is organised by OBP's successor, Zythos (www.zythos.be); Chicago at the time of its Real Ale Festival (not currently being run) or its Blues Festival; New Orleans would be visited at the time of its Jazz & Heritage Festival; etc; etc.

The hotels chosen are of a reasonable standard, such as those in the Ibis chain (www.ibishotel.com) or better. Indeed, the discount that one gets for a group booking often means that otherwise expensive hotels become affordable.

Only hotels very conveniently situated for major Speciality Beer outlets are chosen, i.e. the hotels will be within walking distance of such places.

En route between each venue, for multi-centre Beer Hunts, there would typically be one or more stops, at, for example, breweries and/or bars. Similarly, on the Continent, to and from the port of entry/departure.

Places featured in the Beer Hunts have been fully reconnoitred in advance. This applies not only to the breweries and bars visited, but also to the travel route itself, including the approaches to city-centre hotels. The route taken is presented in the form of detailed travel notes, which are given to trip participants This allows them to readily find places they would like to return to on their own trips. An example of such notes is available free-of-charge from the Downloads page of the site.

The places used for bases will satisfy both the newcomer to Specialty Beer and the most seasoned of Beer Hunters. However, they will also have major general tourist attractions, such as renowned museums and music venues, and quality restaurants, etc.

For coach trips, an essentially direct route is taken for the UK part of the journey, to minimise the time taken to get to the Continent. People can join en route, a popular pick up point being at the ferry terminal in Dover or at Ashford Railway Station, if going through the Channel Tunnel. These would typically be the best choice for those living in London, so that those who got on the coach in, for example, Grimsby do not suffer a very time-consuming detour through Central London.

Group size for Beer Hunts ranges from two to around thirty people. For small groups, public transport or taxis are typically used to get to, for example, a scheduled brewery visit. The cost of such transport is included in the trip cost quoted on the Future Beer Hunts page.

Beer Hunts can, by choice, be very beer intensive, with visits organised every day of the trip, morning, afternoon and night, or have sufficient spare time allocated for doing one's own beer hunting, or, with the previous paragraph in mind, to enjoy non-beer attractions.

John White has, to date, acted as the courier on White Beer Travels Beer Hunts. This is the plan for all subsequent trips, unless of course the launch of this website results in an explosion in demand for Beer Hunts, when of course, additional, fully qualified, beer-orientated couriers will be used! As required, John acts as interpreter (French and German to English) on visits to breweries, beer museums, etc.

Trips are suitable for both couples and singles. Accompanied children are also welcome, although there may be restrictions on certain parts of the Beer Hunts, such as, for example, beer tasting after a brewery visit. This is not a theoretical feature of White Beer Travels Beer Hunts; a good percentage of women generally take part in them, both as singles and as halves of couples. Children came on one of the trips to the USA.

Each participant is provided with a comprehensive information pack (100 plus pages of A4). Typically, this includes: a guide for each of the places used as a base, covering bars, restaurants and general tourist attractions; notes on other places visited, such as breweries and en route bars; and maps which exactly pinpoint the places covered in the guides. Part, or all, of the information is provided in advance, to allow one to pre-plan one's schedule. This will be by post to everyone and additionally by e-mail to those having an e-mail address. Note that the guides have hyperlinks to appropriate websites (for breweries, bars, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc), that can be directly accessed from the e-mailed guides. Example guides and maps can be obtained by clicking on Downloads here, or at the top or bottom of the page. As an example, click on 2001 Belgian Beer Hunt Based in Ghent & Namur, here, for a list of the guides (155 pages of A4) and maps issued to each participant for this particular trip.

In the information packs,various times are quoted for meeting up, trains, etc. In order not to keep the bulk of the group waiting, and/or to avoid them missing a train or whatever, if one does not turn up, in for example, the hotel reception, for a scheduled start of a given activity, it will be assumed that you are doing your own thing on the particular day in question.

The main price quoted is for two sharing a full facilities room, with bath and/or shower and WC. For European Beer Hunts, breakfast is included each day. There are supplements for single room occupancy and discounts for more than two sharing a room, when such rooms are available.

The main UK contingent typically spend much of the first day travelling to the trip hotel. For example, for a Beer Hunt based in Bruges (Brugge), in Belgium, they would typically arrive at the Bruges hotel at around 7pm. On the last day, there are usually activities that culminate in Brussels, until an hour before their Eurostar train from Brussels back to the UK, which is typically around 5pm. People who make their own way to the hotel, can, of course, arrive at the hotel earlier or later. Beer Hunts typically have one free day, to allow for general sightseeing or whatever, but optional beer-orientated activities are typically organised on this day, for which there is an additional charge.

For scheduled brewery and bar visits, the trip price includes beer tasting. For certain venues, snacks right up to multi-course beer cuisine meals can be provided. These can be included in the cost or be chargeable extras. Group rates mean that the price of these is very attractive; some memorable meals have been organised for White Beer Travels Beer Hunts.

It has been mentioned that substantial discounts for group bookings can be obtained for hotels, the saving being passed on to the Beer Hunters. However, what if the group size is only, say eight, and you need a minimum of twenty to get a discount? At least a couple of the White Beer Travels Beer Hunts are organised at times, such as when major Beer Festivals are taking place, when other Beer Hunt organisers are running trips. If the bookings are pooled together, to reach the magical twenty, then the discount is obtained. In such circumstances, this is done whenever possible. At such times, there is also the possibility to go on, for example, joint private coach/bus trips, which would not be financially viable with a small group. Again, this option is often offered on White Beer Travels Beer Hunts. I stress that it is an option, since some may want to do their own thing rather than go o such a trip; this they can do, and they get a reduction on the trip cost.

Travel Insurance is not included in the price of White Beer Travels Beer Hunts, but it is recommended that this is taken out. Residents of the European Union (EU), and the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, should augment this with a free-of-charge European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), a credit card-style replacement for the E111 form. Note that, although in the UK we do not have the Euro, we are in the EU! Having an EHIC is a condition of many travel insurance policies. The card provides reciprocal medical treatment in EU and EEA countries and Switzerland, but does not, for example, cover repatriation in an air ambulance, hence the recommendation that one also has suitable travel insurance to augment the EHIC. EHICs can be obtained by filling in a form that is obtainable from the post office, over the phone (tel 0845 606 2030), or online. For UK residents, the appropriate Web page is www.dh.gov.uk/travellers, this having much useful information on travel insurance. Google (www.google.com) will reveal the equivalent Web page for other countries.

Of course, there is a no-smoking policy on all coach or equivalent (helicopter, stretch limo, or whatever) transport. 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.

John White (1945-), .

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