Session 29: Will travel for beer

Beer by Bart's Gail & Steve ask us Beer Bloggers this month to pontificate about traveling, drinking beer, and melding the two concepts. I know a li'l somet'in'-somet'in' about going on a beer odyssey. Nowadays, I simply cannot travel anywhere without looking for the beer aspect.

Take last week for instance. The plan called for going to Sun Valley, Idaho for a friend's wedding. To get there, Half Pint and I planned to fly into Boise, then rent a car and drive to Hailey/Ketchum. Keep in mind these were Half Pint's friends first, but she allowed me to shanghai the beginning of our vacay by starting things out at one of five brewpubs in Boise. I researched everything about them and intended to hit Table Rock Brewpub, the first in town. I'll skip over the part about us spending 10 hours in SFO and let it be known that we did not get to make it to the brewery. After all, there was still Sun Valley Brewing in Haily.

(Note that the brewery isn't hyperlinked. That's because it's so rinky-dink, it doesn't have a Web site). Tragically, I tried two of their beers, both of which were tainted. I never did get to make it to the brewery, which might be for the best, but despite having a blast with our married friends, I think my trip was saved by the fact that the open bar at the reception featured two macro lagers and Au Naturale Blonde Ale from my friends in-state at Grand Teton Brewing.

The next time I know I'll be flying is in March, 2010. My family is going skiing in Whistler. So while I can't wait to hit the slopes with Half Pint and my nieces, I can almost taste that High Mountain Brewhouse pint of Columbus IPA now.