Three Questions and a Pint With Joel Gaier
Three Questions and a Pint With Joel Gaier
Joel is the author of the new book Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey. As the host of the popular “Brewery Travels” podcast, he hit the road (and the sky) to visit nearly 1400 breweries across all 50 states, including 26 in PA. He began his travels
in 2017 and his book releases on December 17th . I caught up with him by phone to share a beer and a quick chat.
Flights Across America – Cover
Three Questions
Flights Across America – blurbs
1) What was the biggest takeaway from all the breweries you visited?
Not surprisingly, that they’re all different. Breweries are sort of like fingerprints—they’re unique. But in their uniqueness, they all have a story to tell. Sometimes it’s an owner’s story about how he or she got into the business. Other times, it’s the story about a particular beer they make and why people like it. And yet another story might be about how the location for the brewery was chosen. All in all, every brewery has a story to share with the community.
2) What would people be most surprised to know about your beer travels?
Oh, how much work I put into the project. From being a hobby to visit breweries in a state where I was with my family to becoming a true obsession of visiting them in every state. We would re-route trips in order to visit a brewery. It was pretty meticulous planning at times; it wasn’t willy-nilly. While it wasn’t a job, it was still a lot of work.
3) If someone wanted to plan a “beercation” to visit a bunch of breweries, what are few things they should know before they go?
I have a few sections in my book about beer tourism and how to plan your visits. The two big tips would be to make sure to double check a brewery’s hours. Sometimes they’re inconsistent and you don’t want to make a big plan and show up on say a Thursday when a brewery is closed, thinking its hours are like the weekend’s. Or, if it is closed for maintenance or some other reason. And two, might sound obvious, but find out what type of beer the place serves—if you don’t like a certain type of beer—like sours or IPA—but that’s the type of beer a brewery specializes in, you may want to skip it.
You can see Paul’s other ‘Three Questions and a Pint’ here:
Flights Across America – Promotional
The Pint
Joel was spending some time back at home with his kids while we were talking and wasn’t having a beer. I was enjoying a Sierra Nevada Narwhal as we talked. (Sierra Nevada Narwhal.)
You can follow Joel Gaier on his Instagram at — @brewery_travels.
You can purchase the book from Amazon here: Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey
You can read more about it on GoodReads here: Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey (GoodReads).
Paul R. Kan
Paul R. Kan is the author of Hawai’i Beer: A History of Brewing in Paradise which was a North American Guild of Beer Writers’ award winner and a #1 new release on Amazon’s Books on Beer. He has written for Good Beer Hunting and is Editor-at-Large at The Beer Thrillers. Along with beer reviews, book reviews and interviews, he also writes about the interesting ways beer intersects with people and society. His current book project is Red, White and Brew: The Beers and Battles that Shaped America. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
ʻOi kau ka lā, e hana i ola honua (While the sun yet shines, do all you can).
Paul R. Kan Articles
The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:
- Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
- Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
- From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates
- Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
- Twofer Brewfer Brewery Reviews: Gearhouse Brewing Co. and Liquid Art Brewing
- Tapping into Heritage and Hope on Maui
- Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)
- Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte
- Three Questions and a Pint: with Noah Reighard
- Visiting Four Breweries in Phoenix: Getting to Visit Tombstone Brewing Company, Wren House Brewing, PHX Beer Co, and OHSO Brewery and Distillery
- Book Review: Revenge of She-Punks (Vivien Goldman)
- Beer Heists: Stealing and Dealing Your Beer
- Three Questions and a Pint: with Joel Gaier
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