San Diego Beer Blog

The original plan was “A weekend in Chicago” but due to weather, Northwest Airline screw-ups and shoddy directions we were limited to an afternoon. C’est la vie. With our limited time frame we had to make the most of our afternoon in the windy city.

Chicago has a massive listing of beer establishments. With a little bit of pre-trip research, we had our selection narrowed down to The Map Room, Goose Island, Delilah’s, Green Mill, The Hop Leaf, Rock Bottom and Clark St. Alehouse.

Thanks to the L and Google Mobile Maps, we were able to get around the city without too much hassle. We purchased day passes for $5 which are good on trains and buses. After reviewing our location and some maps, we were off to our first stop. Read more »

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Europe with a large group (the most cost effective way to take big trips). After spending 5 days with crappy Bulgarian beer, we were off to Vienna Austria. Vienna was 4 days of the metric system, a weak dollar, smoking indoors, street performers, museums, public transportation and most important, bier. RateBeer has put together a solid list of beer bars in Vienna, this was a life saver for us! Without it we would have never hit all the establishments we did.

Vienna’s large network of buses, street cars and subway trains make the entire city easily accessible. I paid €18.50 for a Vienna Card that allows unlimited access to the entire system for 72 hours. As an added bonus, the Vienna Card also gives a discount at most major attractions. I must have saved at least €10 by just presenting the card at various locations, well worth the investment.

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Driving up to Big Bear, I noticed a sign I’ve never seen before “Fresh Beer Brewed Here - 866-BEER”. Wait? There’s a brewery up in Big Bear? How did I not know this? Needless to say, I had to check it out before I went back home. It took a little convincing to get the crew interested in heading out, but I was able to wrangle a couple of guys for the mission.

Big Bear Mountain Brewery is located at 40260 Big Bear Blvd, 92315 in a large light yellow building. It’s hard to miss if you know it’s there, it’s the only yellow building in the area.

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