Brew Tour 2008: An Introduction

There is a fascination with the open road. Freedom maybe, adventure, the unexpected. Something about rolling on down the seemingly endless blacktop, white lines racing by. The past, once so close at hand, now dissipating behind you; a procession of the eternal present. Somewhere, there’s a destination waiting, unseen and untasted. But afterall, it’s in the journey, isn’t it?

And somewhere along that road there is a brewery. In some town, in some city, there are beers one can only taste by making that journey. The road and beer; true Americana. Oftentimes quite the perilous and dysfunctional relationship. But, if done right, oh, what a marvelous combination. This was our intention. That was our plan.

Our trip was not to be some rambling odyssey through the vast stretches of the American plains and valleys and mountains like some Kerouacian novel. Ours was not to be a kind of highway-bound expedition in search of ourselves, or freedom, or truth, or the American Dream (although they would turn up in some of the most unlikeliest of places along the way). No, this trip was to be a pilgrimage and a celebration of the resurgence of an American tradition, born of the traditions of Her forefathers; from the great melting pot to the brew kettle.

We were hitting the road for a spring break trip, forgoing the conventional sunny beaches and snowy mountain slopes for a six-day, six-state, 3,500-mile mission to seek out some of the best craft beers the South and Midwest has to offer. And find them we did. Four guys in a rented Chevy Cobalt with three working doors, looking only to their road map and the vast horizon before them. Living from one brewery to the next, one KOA Kampsite at a time.

So here it is; day by day, brewery by brewery. The Great Brew Tour 2008.