WEEK 148---Travelling for beers

This post is supposed to be week 146 & 147 articles which were backlogged---but decided to jump ahead to today's column first--will post about those two on a later date.

说起旅行，大家第一时间想到的离不开旅游景点，美食，拍照打卡之类，对啤迷来说，上述惯性动作之外，最大重点自然是为了啤酒（或加上蜜酒）。

在craft beer世界里，欧洲和美国好多不同城市/小镇都有啤迷想去亲临探访的酿坊或酒吧，对不少长期在亚洲生活又没有任何公干理由顺便出游的啤迷来说，欧美啤酒之旅就是最理想出行目标。

出外旅行自然大家各适其所，相较之下，啤迷自然会做些跟一般旅游不同的事，最大不同当然是一般人想去很多旅游景点，但啤迷主要“景点”会是酿坊酒吧瓶子店。此外，啤迷也会：-

Travelling for beers(or to some extent--mead)is what makes a beer geek happy---while many travelling for leisure would focus mainly on things like sight-seeing, finding nice food, taking lots of selfies/ tourist spots pics---beer geeks essentially go travelling for one single most important reason---to seek for beers( or mead)---the biggest attraction for travelling geeks will always be breweries. taproom/ bars or bottle shop---never far from those.

For geeks living in Asia---travelling for beers to either Europe or US will always be a "dream trip"---be it travelling for a specific beer fest like MBCC or any others, or a "normal days" trip like some of my HK geeks friends just did visiting Copenhagen and Brussels---the focus will always be on what to drink/ what brew can be found or had---all other things associated with leisure travelling such as sight-seeing  and so on are secondary.

These are some of the focus points of geeks when travelling for beers abroad"-

1) Bringing own bottles when travelling

This might sound weird---why bring bottles to Europe or US when the whole purpose of travelling is to seek/enjoy awesome brews there? Is it not akin to bringing sands to a desert?

While it may sound like that--in truth quite some geeks do bring their own bottles when travelling---either to trade bottles in person with other geeks or to have either prearranged or impromptu bottles sharing session/s while abroad--these are things common to geeks though it kinda sound not normal to most people.

1）带着啤酒去旅行

这听起来好像有点奇怪，既然是为了啤酒大老远飞去欧洲或美国，从家里带着酒去有着那么多好酒选择的欧美不就等于是带着沙子去沙漠吗？

实际上，带着酒出行的啤迷还真不少，会那样做的理由很简单，不是为了跟外国啤迷交换酒就是因为安排了瓶子/罐子分享会大家一起喝喝聊聊，两者都是不少啤迷会做的事。其实craft圈子说小也可以相当小，很多啤迷之间都是相互认识或着有共同啤迷朋友或至少社交媒体上打过招呼，就算不是认识的，基于对craft文化的认知也可以很快交上朋友，啤酒这个共同语言的影响是显而易见的。

2) Bringing own bubble wrap when travelling

While most people would pack in extra clothing or say extra pair of shoes/sneakers when travelling---there is one thing some geeks would always pack in their luggage/back pack--bubble wrappers for bottles protection.

While travelling to drink at either beer fest/taproom/bars is always the main objective---bringing home some nice bottles are equally important to many geeks---the fact that bubble wrappers would not always be available for free or not available for purchase easily means the best solution is always to prepare your own--it would be nice to have some bubble wrappers + wrapping tapes ready in the back pack.

2）自备保护瓶子气泡膜

去到心目中欧美酿坊/酒吧探访固然是主要目标，不过啤迷也会想从酿坊或瓶子店带一些瓶装/罐装啤酒回家跟朋友分享或自己慢慢享用，这时候最需要的就是可以在运送过程中有效保护瓶子/罐子的包装气泡膜，因为不是每家店都会提供或售卖，所以最好随时行李/背包有自备气泡膜。

新朋友要注意的是，一般来说绝对大多数酒吧只能是内用并不卖外带的瓶子/罐子，所以酿坊或瓶子店是首选，但欧美酿坊也不是每一家都有外带瓶子卖，又或者是随时去随时可以买到心目中想要啤酒，很多酿坊都是限时或有固定时间卖不同类型酿品甚至有的啤酒只是一年特定发售日或需要会员制才买得到。

3) Finding fellow geeks to share bottles

People do make new friends when travelling---same goes for geeks--especially those travelling alone for beers---it is important to have someone to share beers since bottles can be in 750ml sizes only---for examples in Brussels where sour beer geeks travel from different corners of the world just to sit at the taproom of Brasserie Cantillon sipping lambics---the trouble is--if you travel solo--there's only so many of the 750ml bottles one can drink---hence it's very common to see strangers sitting together sharing bottles---it is a cost effective way & a good way to drink less taste more.

Of course--some geeks who travel alone would have prearranged with geeks living around or travelling to the destination on same dates either for bottle sharing session/s or bars hopping---the craft community is far and wide but at the same time it can be very small in that most geeks would either have common friends or at least being social media friends---the common language of craft beer is helpful.

3）寻找分享好酒人

对啤迷来说，如果一个人单独出行，怎么能在喝量少情况下品嚐到多款不同类型啤酒是关键考量。举例说，比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒是很多啤迷想去布鲁塞尔或周边地区的主因，一个人去的话会有个难题因为多数酸啤瓶子都是750毫升，一个人喝一瓶会过多，最好的方式当然是有几位啤迷一起分担，但是怎样找到可以分享的人？说来也不难，一些啤迷出发前就会先探询认识的当地啤迷朋友，如果没有认识的也可以在craft社交媒体询问，再不然就到当地酿坊/酒吧看是不是会碰到聊得来的陌生啤迷。实际上，几家啤迷必去的比利时酸啤酿坊/酒吧经常会看到陌生人围坐一起分享多款不同风味啤酒，一个人出行虽然有可能找不到合适饮酒伙伴的危机，但也不是不能解决的问题，很多啤迷朋友其实都是从陌生人演变而来的。

4) Sight-seeing not a must BUT eat well sleep tight is a must

The worse thing that could happen to a geek travelling thousands of miles is to fall sick---any sort of catching a cold/ having fever//sore throat/stomach upset and so on will be bad for tasting.

To geeks---while sight-seeing is at times needed--it's not the most important things on the to do list---rather than tourists spots--the most interesting sights for geeks will undoubtedly be the breweries/taproom/bars and bottle shops. To fully enjoy the brews--one need to ensure his or her body condition is at normal level---no unwanted health issues due to time differences or different food---Asians mostly need rice and hot soup/ noodles---these are the soul food to ensure revitalization---and of course good sleep is essential--boozing til dawn is not really needed---and drinking without food is a big no no anytime anywhere.....

4）景点不是重点但吃泡睡好绝对需要

既是出游，一些值得看的景点有时还是要去看下拍照之类的，不过啤迷最关心的行程莫过于几时去哪一家酿坊/酒吧，又或是跟哪几位啤迷约了瓶子分享会。当然，出门在外最不想遇到的事情就是身体不舒服，从亚洲到欧美地方除了要面对时差问题，也可能会有食物口味问题，飞那么远当然要好好品嚐心目中想喝或发掘一些意外惊喜，而先决条件就是要保持身体状况不出任何会影响味蕾或体力的问题，所以，对啤迷来说，一些景点可以少去甚至不去，但吃饱睡好一定要有，睡不好会影响酒精抗力，没吃好饭就喝酒就更加是大忌。