17 of the world's coolest breweries to visit in your lifetime
Pittsburgh's Church Brew Works is inside a former Roman Catholic church that was built in 1902 and officially deconsecrated in 1993. Drink award-winning beers like Celestial Gold or Pipe Organ Pale in converted pews under stained-glass windows.
Ever had beer so good you wanted to take a bath in it? At Starkenberger Brewery in Austria, you actually can. Because besides the brewery being in a beautiful castle, deep within its bowels you'll find a Turkish bath-like spa containing seven 13-foot, beer-filled baths. These warm pools are said to have healing powers, even if you don't take an open-mouthed swim.
The Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon, is the state's only oceanfront brewery. Enjoy one of its six award-winning beers on tap while overlooking the ocean, surfers, and the epic Haystack Rock, one of Oregon's most famous, as well as beautiful, landmarks.
Switzerland's Davos is the highest city in Europe, and thus its BierVision Monstein Brewery is the highest brewery on the continent. Perched at 5,120 feet and surrounded by the Swiss Alps, Davos is a famous destination for skiers and adventurers of all stripes. Inside of a 100-year-old former dairy, BierVision markets itself as "the last beer stop before heaven" and uses alpine spring water for its beer, as well as its schnapps and whiskey.
Founded in 1040, Weihenstephan, outside Munich, Germany, is the world's oldest brewery. To put it into perspective, 1040 is 736 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The ancient monastery — which has burnt down four times since its founding — sits atop a scenic hill and has a beer garden featuring epic views of the surrounding area. Like most Bavarian breweries, the specialty here is hefeweizen and weissbier.
LeVeL33 — named for the floor it's on — claims to be the world's highest urban craft brewery. This super-modern and swanky brewery and restaurant, set inside "Asia's best business address" in the the Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore, overlooks the sparkling city skyline through floor-to-ceiling windows and serves wine alongside its five craft beers.
Belgium's Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren is said to brew the world's best beer. The Trappist monks here really only brew enough beer for themselves — they began brewing in 1839 and started selling to the public in 1931. But when RateBeer.com — the world's largest beer review and rating website — named their dark, quadrupel-style 12 the best beer in the world, they went from virtually unknown to world famous. Since the brewery only brews around 126,000 gallons of beer a year, a bottle of one of its three ales is hard to come by, especially since beer must be reserved 60 days in advance and must be picked up at the abbey's gate. Even tougher, there's a limit of one case per car, and reservations must be made on a "beer phone," which gets as many as 85,000 calls an hour.
Bandido Brewing claims it's "for adventurers, by adventurers," and indeed the two guys from Oregon behind the brewery are concocting adventurous brews using local ingredients like the Amazonian Guayusa tea leaf and organic coffee from the nearby Mindo Cloud Forest. They founded the brewery and pub in the colonial, UNESCO World Heritage part of Quito, Ecuador, after realizing they were "trapped in a purgatory devoid of craft beer." At more than 9,000 feet above sea level, it just might be the world’s highest brewery.
Any self-respecting beer lover should make the pilgrimage to America's oldest brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and have a Yuengling straight from the source.
For the second year running, Vermont's Hill Farmstead Brewery has been named the Best Brewery in the World by RateBeer.com. In fact, seven of its beers were listed in the top 100 beers in the world, six of which were in the top 50 in the world.
Right before complete Alaskan wilderness, Silver Gulch bills itself as "America's Most Northern Brewery." While Silver Gulch, housed in a former roadhouse north of Fairbanks, is served across the country, the 10-mile trek up the Old Steese Highway is worth it for the specialty beers it serves only at its restaurant and beer garden.
Kuchlbauer's Bierwelt is a traditional German wheat-beer brewery with a modern-art twist. Reflecting the owner's interest in art, the brewery — which has been around since 1499 and in the same family for eight generations — is housed inside a Friedensreich Hundertwasser-designed, primary-colored 115-foot tower. The psychedelic construction is crowned by a 32-foot-wide gold observation ball that weighs 26,455 pounds, which you can drink inside of.
Inside Louisville Slugger Field, a minor-league baseball park in Louisville, Kentucky, Against the Grain is a 15-barrel operation but has brewed hundreds of different beers. It's also one of only a handful of functional, Victorian-style brewhouses and pairs its brews with smoked meats.
You can create your own beer — recipe, label, and all — at Kiuchi brewery in Naka, Japan. Home of the award-winning Hitachino Nest Beer — the one with the owl — brewers here will walk you through the brewing process to make you a custom beer. You decide the flavor palette, design the label, and brew the beer, and they will send it to your doorstep three weeks later.
The Barking Deer made history as Mumbai's first microbrewery and brewpub. Beers at the Mumbai brewery include Bombay Blonde Ale, The Barking Deer India Pale Ale, and Flying Pig Belgian Wit, as well as a constantly changing selection of specialty beers on tap.
Brewery Vivant is a former funeral parlor in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that makes to-die-for French- and Belgian-inspired brews and features stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings.
The Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery is a scenic little brewery near Portland, Oregon, inside an old wooden barn on a working hazelnut farm. Naturally, heirloom fruit and nuts from the farm inspire — and make it into — the fruity brews, like farmhouse saisons, Belgian stouts, wild ales, and sour- and barrel-aged beers. It will open to the public in the next few months.
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