Adelaide’s beer scene is booming. Fact. New breweries have been popping up all over the place and showing us just how craft beer is done. From that we have seen dedicated bars, hotels and events celebrating said glorious beer. And now, three passionate self confessed beer geeks (we call them geniuses) are bringing us the holy grail of honouring that golden and oh so heavenly drop…
Introducing the Adelaide Beer Bus. It’s like the beer lovers version of a wine tour. Prayers answered. And who is answering these long awaited prayers? James McCall, Justin Kuhar and Steven Pollock.
James, who says that he has never been much of a wine drinker but has always loved his beer, had wished that someone would offer a craft beer tour. After catching up with some mates (Justin and Steven) at the pub over a beer (of course), together they worked to bring this brilliant business idea to life. Because why wait for someone else to do it when you can do it yourself?
Split into two tours, with a third on its way, you can pick between The Rolling Hills (Adelaide Hills) or The Vale Trail (McLaren Vale). So what can you expect on these tours? Well for starters you will be taken to the best craft breweries in the regions where you will be…
“…Given a bit of history of each brewery, how they got started and how long they’ve been around, their core range of beers and any seasonal beers currently on tap,” said James.
Then get down to the nitty gritty, and what we all came for, the tasting! You will be able to sample a range of different beers on each stop, whilst being educated as you are given the opportunity to talk to the brewers (if they are available).
Now this all sounds amazing enough, but when we spoke to James we wanted to know more… We are greedy like that.
So here are some things you didn’t know about the tours but you will want to:
- You’ll experience a huge range of beer styles. From lagers, kölsches and pilsners, pale ales, golden ales and IPAs, as well as porters and stouts, and then we go into the weird and wonderful. Have you ever tried chilli beer, orange beer, black IPAs, Irish reds or a cream ale? Well you just might have your chance…
- Taste beers in flight. The number may vary from brewery to brewery but generally speaking a beer flight will include somewhere between 4 and 8 small sample glasses of each style.
- Get beer-ducated. Learn about the ingredients in beer, understand the different aromas of English to American style hops, get to know how small changes in the brewing process can produce sweet, malty beers or dry, crisp beers.
As we mentioned there is another tour on the cards… Coming soon: The City Tour. Although they are still working on it, James did give us some insight into what we can expect, and it sounds next level! Considering the number of inner city and city breweries and venues doing amazing things with craft beer, that comes as no surprise.
Several potential stops include some breweries in the west, the veritable beer hub of Adelaide (or so it seems). Big Shed, Sweet Amber and Brew Boys just to name a few. Then of course you have crafty stops such as NOLA, Lady Burra, Pirate Life, Little Bang and the Wheatsheaf Hotel.
It seems that we aren’t just spoilt for choice when it comes to wine, Adelaide is all about the beer too!
Tours: The Rolling Hills and The Vale Trail
Cost: $179 (inclusive of all travel, guides, beer tastings, lunch, pickup and drop off)
Time: Tours run for approximately 7 hours
Find out more here.
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