Fifty Places to Drink Beer Before You Die: Beer Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations

The Destinations

Good People is Alabama’s biggest brewery, and is known for its hop-forward ales—including a double IPA called Snake Handler.

A

Alabama

BIRMINGHAM

RECOMMENDED BY Stuart Carter

The craft-brewing revolution was a bit slow to arrive in Alabama. It’s no small wonder that it arrived at all.

I arrived in Birmingham in the fall of 2005, Stuart Carter recalled. When I went to the store to check out the beer section, my first reaction was, ‘Where is the beer?’ I saw all the mass brands, but not much else. One day I was grousing to a colleague about the lack of good beer. He explained the state of affairs in Alabama. At that point, beer stronger than 6 percent ABV was illegal in the state of Alabama. And beer couldn’t be sold in sizes above sixteen ounces. My colleague also told me about Free the Hops, a nonprofit that was lobbying to reform the state’s beer laws. I got involved. Not long after, I found myself in Montgomery with sweaty ankles, speaking to a House of Representatives subcommittee about why Alabamians should be able to drink the same stuff as people in other states.

Alabama has not historically been known as a hotbed of state-sanctioned libertinism. After the Twenty-First Amendment repealed Prohibition, the state’s leaders seized upon section 2 of the amendment, which subjected alcohol to state and local regulations. By limiting the strength of beer to 6 percent and the size of beer containers to less than sixteen ounces, the good people of Alabama would be protected from the evils of intoxication. Further distribution strictures were visited upon would-be brewpub owners, essentially making such businesses economically unfeasible. As a result, beer lovers seeking a craft brew in Alabama in 2004 would have come up with an empty glass.

Enter Free the Hops. When the grassroots advocacy group—made up of architects, doctors, lawyers, and tradesmen with no ties to the beverage industry and no motives beyond the desire to enjoy a good doppelbock or IPA—began visiting the legislature to make their case, they quickly realized that education would be key to their success. One of the major concerns legislators had was that an increase in ABV would encourage underage drinking. We had to show the legislators that when teens scrape together enough cash to send someone’s older brother to the gas station, they’re looking for a major brand and something easy to drink, Stuart continued. To these kids, an imperial IPA would taste like ashes and cat pee. Stuart also made the economic case for revisiting Alabama’s ABV restrictions. We calculated that the state was losing twenty thousand to thirty thousand dollars a month due to beer runs to other states, he added. How many jobs might that support? How much tax revenue?

It took several years, but on Memorial Day weekend in 2009, then-Governor Bob Riley signed legislation allowing an increase from 6 percent to 13.9 percent ABV for beer. One of our wholesalers took a gamble and stocked his shelves with higher-alcohol beer, Stuart recalled. That Friday, trucks began going out with Celebrator Doppelbock, Old Rasputin Imperial Stout. Suddenly I didn’t have to drive to Georgia to buy stronger beer!

There were a few more hurdles to jump before Alabama’s brewing scene could really soar. In 2011, the Brewery Modernization Act passed, allowing breweries to have an attached taproom. And in 2012, a new container-size law passed, making it possible to sell beer in containers up to 25.9 ounces. With these new laws in place, the number of breweries in Alabama ballooned from two in 2011 to twenty-seven (as of this writing). And Birmingham has four. Stuart offered a rundown of his favorite offerings in his adopted hometown.

If you visit Birmingham to sample our beer, you have to visit Good People. It was founded in 2008 and is Alabama’s biggest brewery, brewing about fifteen thousand barrels a year. Their product is hop-centric—even their brown ale. Good People’s IPA has been highly rated in national tastings; their pale and brown ales are the brewer’s ‘keep the lights on’ standbys. They have a double IPA called Snake Handler that gets a lot of attention; I’ve had people from western states ask me to send them some. People love it, though I can’t drink it! Good People does some smaller batch beers too, including a double imperial stout called El Gordo that’s 13.9 percent ABV. It’s pretty close to perfect, with a consistency between molasses and used engine oil. The artwork they use on their cans reflects the rusty, iron nature of Birmingham’s industrial heritage. And the taproom is right across the street from Regions Field, which is the home of the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team. If the Barons are playing, the atmosphere is especially lively.

Avondale Brewing Company is another must-stop. Avondale is a four-thousand-barrel brewery that’s become the anchor of a regenerated business district. The brewery has punched so far above its weight in terms of economic impact, turning a whole neighborhood around. (Saw’s BBQ and Post Office Pies help round out the culinary offerings.) Avondale is doing a good job pushing into new areas, including a souring program. A rather malty saison is their flagship beer; a lot of their beers are Belgian-influenced. They’re referred to as ‘Hambics’—we’re in Birmingham, after all. They’re working toward a program where they’re souring beers for years. The sour beers appeal to wine drinkers and beer nerds. You’re hitting flavors that your brain says are wrong.

Birmingham’s current brewery offering is rounded out by Cahaba and Trim Tab. If want to get a broad sense of what’s brewing in Alabama, visit the Magic City Brewfest in June.

There are still neo-Prohibitionists afoot in Alabama, Stuart ventured, and many have affiliations with conservative religious groups. I’m a born again Christian and was director of a pro-alcohol reform group and see no conflict in this. After all—my Lord’s first miracle was not turning water into Kool-Aid.

STUART CARTER is a native of Scotland and a past president of Free the Hops (2007–10).

If You Go

Getting There: Birmingham is served by a number of carriers, including Delta (800-221-1212; www.delta.com) and United (800-864-8331; www.united.com).

Best Time to Visit: The Magic City Brewfest (www.magiccitybrewfest.com) is generally held in early June. Those sensitive to heat and humidity may wish to avoid the height of summer.

Spots to Visit: Good People Brewing Company (205-286-2337; www.goodpeoplebrewing.com) and Avondale Brewing Company (205-777-5456; www.avondalebrewing.com).

Accommodations: A comprehensive list of accommodations is available from the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau (800-458-8085; www.birminghamal.org).

The virgin powder in Alaska’s Tordrillo Range is nicely complemented by ales from Alaskan Brewing Company.

A

Alaska

TORDRILLO MOUNTAINS

RECOMMENDED BY Tommy Moe

Nothing tops off a great day of skiing like a crisp craft beer. And there are few more inviting places to kick back with a good glass of ale than the Tordrillo Mountains and Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.

The Tordrillos are a compact range seventy-five miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. They rest between the Aleutian Range (to the south) and the Alaska Range (to the west and north) and span some sixty miles north to south. Several peaks eclipse the eleven-thousand-foot mark. A combination of volcanic and glacial activity through the ages has carved an endless array of couloirs and towers; many runs range from three thousand to four thousand vertical feet. (One chute, which the guides have dubbed Manhattan, is only fifty feet wide and boasts thousand-foot walls!) With an average of six hundred inches of fluffy snow (thanks to its proximity to the Pacific) and some 1.2 million acres of terrain to choose from, fresh powder (or in the spring, soft corn) is always in reach. There’s some really extreme terrain available to explore, but there are also immense bowls where skiers or snowboarders of modest ability can experience the thrill of heli-skiing. On clear days—and there are a number of them—you can look out in the distance to see Denali (Mount McKinley), North America’s highest peak, at 20,320 feet.

You reach the runs via a Eurocopter A-Star helicopter. A ride in the A-Star sets the tone for a day in the Tordrillos; many visitors are as invigorated by the flight as the skiing. (It’s hard to describe the sensation of climbing over—and then falling away from—three-thousand-foot spires.) One of your guides may be Tommy Moe, gold medal winner in the downhill at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. And your home as you explore the Tordrillos is a five-thousand-square-foot log cabin set on the banks of Judd Lake and the Talachulitna River. The cabin can only be reached by float plane or helicopter, a roughly forty-five-minute flight from Anchorage. You can look out at two eleven-thousand-foot volcanoes from the deck (as well as Denali) or from the lakeside wood-fired hot tub. During the latter part of the season, it’s not uncommon to see black bears and occasionally grizzlies foraging around the lake or exploring surrounding hillsides.

The hot tub at Tordrillo has to be one of the nicest spots in Alaska to enjoy a beer, Tommy offered. The days are long, and you can bring a pitcher of beer down from the lodge, slip in the tub, and enjoy. We like to keep nice pale ale on tap at the lodge, something that can appeal to a range of tastes. One of my favorites is the American pale ale from Alaskan Brewing Company. During our spring skiing season, you can stay in the hot tub as late as you want and watch loon—and sometimes moose—come out on the lake. [During Cast and Carve weeks, guests mix spring skiing with salmon and trout fishing in the Talachulitna . . . all enabled by the Eurocopter.] The west deck is another great spot to enjoy a beer in the spring and early summer as the sun hangs in the west over the Tordrillos.

Alaska has a population of under 750,000 hearty souls spread over 570,641 square miles, but according to the Brewers Guild of Alaska, the Last Frontier supports twenty-seven breweries and brewpubs . . . despite the challenges of transporting equipment and raw materials to such an isolated locale. Anchorage has the greatest concentration of brewpubs, but Alaska’s best-known beers hail from the state capital of Juneau in the southeast and Alaskan Brewing Company. The brewery was opened in 1986 by the then-twenty-eighty-year-olds Marcy and Geoff Larson, who had been drawn to Alaska by the state’s beauty without a clear vision of exactly how they’d make a living and be able to stay. When pondering what to do to make ends meet, a friend suggested starting a brewery. When Marcy discovered a recipe for a gold rush–era beer that had been originally brewed by the Douglas City Brewing Company (circa 1900) and Geoff brewed a batch, the seeds were sown. That beer would become known as Alaskan Amber and would become the Alaskan Brewing Company’s flagship brand.

The summer solstice is a special time to be in the Tordrillos, as the sun never quite sets. It’s even more special if you can celebrate it with an evening ski. It’s a tradition at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge that we fly up for a few runs on the solstice after dinner. We’ll load up the ’copter around 9:30 and set down above a run—usually something mellow, as everyone has a full stomach. The light is just amazing, a steady alpenglow. We’ll make our turns down to the bottom of the bowl, and then break out some snacks—maybe some Alaskan king crab, crackers, and cheese—and some wine and cans of craft beer. Then we’ll toast the solstice, and look around at the great state of Alaska.

TOMMY MOE knew that skiing would be part of his future since his grade school days, when his father let him play hooky to ski powder. What he didn’t know was that he would become a World Cup contender and take home the gold in the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway—where he won the downhill by .04 of a second—followed by a silver in the super-G. Today, Tommy is a partner and founder of Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. He finds the greatest reward in sharing the property and newly discovered terrain with skiers and snowboarders seeking the trip of a lifetime, whether it’s a week of powder skiing in the winter, whitewater rafting the Tal and Coal Creek, or paddleboarding under the summer midnight sun. He resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with his wife, Megan Gerety, and two daughters, Taylor and Taryn.

If You Go

Getting There: Guests gather in Anchorage, Alaska, which is served by many carriers. From there, it’s a forty-five-minute floatplane ride to Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.

Best Time to Visit: Early February through April for ski packages; mid-June through early July for ski/fish packages.

Spots to Visit: If you visit Juneau, stop by Alaskan Brewing Company (907-780-5866; www.alaskanbeer.com).

Accommodations: Tordrillo Mountain Lodge (907-569-5588; www.tordrillomountainlodge.com) offers a number of all-inclusive ski packages. Captain Cook (907-276-6000; www.captaincook.com) is a popular hotel in Anchorage.

The incredible turquoise waters of Lake Louise are in view from the famed Plain of Six Glaciers trail . . . and several of the bars at Chateau Lake Louise.

A

Alberta

LAKE LOUISE

RECOMMENDED BY Luis Garcés

Mountain guide Michael Vincent has called the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise a four-star resort in a five-star location . . . and this is no slight against the resort! When you walk out of the hotel, you find yourself in the middle of a postcard, with forested hillsides sweeping down to the lake’s turquoise waters and Victoria Glacier gleaming in the distance. Chateau Lake Louise offers up vistas that can elevate a good pint to the sublime.

Chateau Lake Louise is set in the midst of Banff National Park, a 2,564-square-mile sanctuary west of Calgary, stretching along much of the southern section of the province of Alberta’s border with British Columbia. That the chateau and nearby Banff Springs hotel (another Fairmont property) exist in the national park is thanks in large part to the Canadian Pacific Railway and the laws of supply and demand; the railroad created a supply of westbound train seats, and the hope was that some recreational centers would create a demand. The railway did not underestimate Banff’s appeal. Whereas the Banff Springs hotel was built around the hot springs that bubbled up there to appeal to the spa culture, the original structure at Lake Louise—a log chalet with two bedrooms—was built for people interested in mountaineering. In the chalet’s early days, several professional Swiss mountain guides were hired and brought to Lake Louise to help guests climb the surrounding mountains. The guides were let go in 1954, but in 1997 the notion of having staff guides was reincarnated. The initial log cabin at Lake Louise burned to the ground, giving way to the monolithic 552-room luxury lodge that sits on what the Stoney Indians called Lake of Little Fishes.

Luis Garcés arrived at Chateau Lake Louise via Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, with a zeal to introduce guests to the finer points of beer. When I began working at Fairmont Mayakoba, I was surprised to find that there were no local craft beers featured, he began. I’m very passionate about beer and wanted to use my knowledge to introduce our guests to some of the fine beers being brewed in Mexico. Working with Cerveceria Calavera, we were able to introduce four craft beers—including an imperial stout—into all the food and beverage outlets at the hotel and train our staff on what makes them different. We also created a light menu pairing food and beer, which was very successful. When I arrived at Chateau Lake Louise, I was curious about the beer offering. The Glacier Saloon, our more casual pub and restaurant, had ten taps and some good beers available. But at the Walliser Stube, our alpine-themed restaurant, there was only Budweiser, Corona, and Kokanee—not the best pairing for the Swiss- and German-inspired cuisine. We explored the notion of instituting beer tastings, but it’s not as good a match for this property. People who come to Lake Louise want to be outside to take advantage of the destination.

The focus for many visitors is hiking. One would be hard-pressed to find a richer assortment of day hikes than those originating in the Bow River Valley of southern Banff; overall, the park has six hundred miles of trails. From the chateau, a half mile of walking takes you into wild country; a few hours later, you’re back in the comfort of an elegant lodge. The jewel of the extensive trail system around the lake is unquestionably the Plain of Six Glaciers hike. After skirting the lake, the trail climbs abruptly, eventually crossing avalanche paths. Turn a corner soon after, and you walk into an IMAX film. Lake Louise and the chateau are behind you, ahead is the Victoria Glacier, thirty stories tall, and beyond that, Mount Aberdeen, Mount Lefroy, and the Mitre (a mountain shaped like a bishop’s hat). Not far ahead, there’s the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. This structure was initially built as a mountaineering hut by the Swiss guides but now is run seasonally by a local family that serves fresh baked goods and tea. A little farther along, you can take in a vista of all six glaciers: the hanging glaciers on Aberdeen, Lefroy, and Victoria; the Lefroy and Lower Victoria Valley glaciers; and the hanging glacier on Pope’s Peak. You’ll want to stay alert as you hike along Lake Louise; despite the many sightseers, the region has one of the highest densities of grizzlies in Banff, and bear sightings—usually at a comfortable distance—are not uncommon. (If you’re less interested in a hike, consider paddling a canoe across Lake Louise; the reflection of the lodge’s red canoes mingling against the white of the glacier in the lake’s trademark turquoise waters is mesmerizing.)

Back at the chateau, you can experience those timeless vistas once again, this time with a libation from one of the Fairmont’s distinctive pubs. For Luis, the season will dictate the best venue. "If it’s summer, I love to sit out on the terrace of the Lakeview Lounge. The lounge has some good local beers on tap, including Rutting Elk Red, a red ale made by Grizzly Paw Brewing, just down the road in Canmore. Looking out on Victoria Glacier, you can compare notes on the day’s hikes with your neighbors and ponder the day you’ve had