Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special (15-18 June 2008) Tour Photos

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special
PM-080615
Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008
Another great tour!

The Tour Photos are now online, See Tour Photos


Day 1-Sunday
Frankfurt-Grain d'Orge Brasserie-Hautes Fagnes-La Vieille Forge (Belgium Beer Night)

Day 2-Monday
Achouffe Brasserie-Mardasson Memorial-Millevertus
Brasserie-Frites!-Orval-Bouillon



Day 3-Tuesday
Sedan Castle-European Beer Museum/Stenay-Chateau Charmois-Vauquois Hill, WW1-Rarecourt Farm Brasserie-L'estaminet Microbrewery-Le Lapin qui Fume* (who can't smoke)-La Clapier/Verdun

Day 4-Wednesday
Verdun Station END TOUR

*By the way, France has banned smoking in pubs and restaurants, Le Lapin qui Fume (in Verdun) which in English means the 'Rabbit who Smokes' has now been renamed by locals as the 'Rabbit who can't Smoke'! Who said the French had no humour!

Cheers,
Andy

Bruges and Flanders Special™ (08-09 August 2008)

Bruges & Flanders Special beer tour
(BF-080808)
6 PLACES LEFT
This amazing beer tour takes you both sides of Flanders, both Belgium Vlaanderen and the Biere de Garde region of French Flandre, awesome!
A short tour with an overnight in Mont Cassel in France, straight out of a scene from Chocolate, the movie (ring a bell?!).
We also visit the (now) world famous Westvleteren Trappiste monastery for a beer or 2 as well as seeing some WW1 history when we visit Ypres.

Where
West Vlaanderen, Belgium
Flandre, France
Another incredible tour.

Dates
Friday 08-Saturday 09 August 2008

Pick-up
0945/9.45am
Bruges (please contact us for your hotel).

Drop-off
1730/7.30pm
Bruges

Tour Itinerary
Download Tour Itinerary
Email for password
Day 1-Friday
West Vlaanderen & into France

• Strubbe Brouwerij, Echtegem (B)
  
• Diksmuide, Lo...
• Westvleteren Trappiste (B)
  
• In der Vrede cafe, Westvleteren (B)
• 't Rohardushof, Roesbrugge (B)
• Watou
• Mont Cassel (F)
• Kasteelhof Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Trois Moulin Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Kerelshof Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Overnight-Mont Cassel (F)

Day 2-Saturday
Bière de Garde , Ypres & WW1

• Thiriez Brasserie, Esquelbecq (F)
• Het Blauwershof, Godewaersvelde (F)
• In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres (B)
• Ypres town
• Hill 62, Ypres (B)
• Drop-off Bruges

Tour Map
Map

Cheers,
Bier-Mania!™

Annafest/Franconia and Bamberg Special™ (Summer 2008)

Annafest/Franconia and Bamberg Special™
Tour 1 SB-080726
Tour 2 SB-080802
This July and August we have 2 Franconia tours combining Forchheim's Annafest with the German regions of the Oberpfalz (Palatinate) and Franken (Franconia).
Both tours Saturday till Thursday.

8 PLACES (each tour)

Dates
Tour 1
Saturday 26-Thursday 31 July 2008
Tour 2
Saturday 02-Thursday 07 August 2008

Pick-up/drop-off is Nuremberg Airport.

Itinerary
The itinerary for the tour can be found be clicking on Proposed Itinerary
(Please email for password). Enjoy!

Highlights

• Regensburg Altstadt on the Danube
• OR
  
• Zoigl beers, 15 pubs with over-night in the Oberpfalz, Bavaria TBC NEW.
  
• Annafest 2008 & 23 Cellar 'bars'!
  
• Forchheim's 4 breweries, and the beer-cellars of the Kellerwald !
• Fränkische Schweiz and Pottenstein.
  
• Maisels Steam Brewery Museum, Bayreuth.
  
• Historic Bamberg (UNESCO World Heritage Centre).
• Bamberg's Smoked Beers and 10 breweries.
  
• And much much more.......

All enquiries and further details contact Andy by email andy@bier-mania.com or phone us here in Germany.
Cheers!

Oktoberfest 2008 Tours

BOOKINGS NOW BEING TAKEN
Tour Itinerary

The Format
Day 1-Neuschwanstein & Bavarian Alps

• Pick-up Munich airport (or speak to us)
• Neuschwanstein castle & lunch stop
• Austrian Alps
• Ettaler monastery (time permitting)
• Overnight-Oberammergau, Bavarian Alps

Day 2-Munich Walkabout

• Walkabout in München then a selection from-
• Augustiner bierhalle
• Hofbräuhaus
• Englishergarten
• Schneider Weisse
• Oktoberfest grounds
• Overnight-München
  

Day 3-Oktoberfest!

• Oktoberfest (around 11am/midday) with a tent reservation
• Evening-free time Oktoberfest/Munich
• Overnight-München

Day 4-Byebye till next year!

• End tour in München. This year we now have up to 16 people per tour.

The Dates
Tour 1 MB-080919 Friday 19-Monday 22 September 2008
Tour 2 MB-080923 Tuesday 23-Friday 26 September 2008
Tour 3 MB-080926 Friday 26-Monday 29 September 2008
Tour 4 MB-080930 Tuesday 30 September-Friday 03 October 2008
Tour 5 MB-081003 Friday 03-Monday 06 October 2008

The Cost
€525.00 pp

What's Included

• All transport within tour
• Leader/guide/driver
• Hotels x 3 nights
• Breakfasts x 3
• Oktoberfest tent reservation x 1 (includes 2 litres of beer and half Hend'l=spit roasted chicken)
• A whole lot of fun!

Prost!
Bier-Mania!

Bruges and Flanders Special™ (18-19 May 2008)-Tour Photos

Bruges and Flanders Special™
BF-080519
Photos from the from the Bruges & Flanders Special™ last month from 19-20 May are now online.

See BF-080519 Tour Photos

Great to have you along ladies and hope you had a great time!
Cheers,
Andy

London's German Bier Fest (15-18 May 2008)

London's German Bier Fest (15-18 May 2008)

Hello everyone,
On behalf of Zeitgeist, Stonch and Bier-Mania!™, we want to say a belated thank you to all of you who turned up last month in Lambeth for our 1st German Bier Fest at Zeitgeist@Jolly Gardeners.

For all those who turned up on Saturday to find all our beer had been consumed, again thanks for coming and we can only say one thing, we only have so much beer so it is '1st come-1st serve'!

Photos from the fest can be seen here.

We were actually completely overwhelmed with the response to the Fest and managed to get through 370 litres (yep, over 740 pints) of beer in just 19 hours after the 1st barrel was tapped! And that was just the Bier-Mania! bar!


Will we bring more next time? We will up it to 400 litres next time! Thursday, Friday and Saturday again, 1st come-1st serve!

Please remember that Bier-Mania! is a tour company and not an importer/exporter. The beers are hand-picked 'real lagers' from small breweries during our beer tours and have a shelf life of only 3-4 weeks.

We are also planning to do these Fests 4 times a year, so watch the blogs for latest news.

Beer tours-Should you wish to consume these beers in the setting they come from then please contact us for our next tours to Bavaria in July and August.

Cheers,
Andy

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ (22-31 May 2009)

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™
GBBT-090522
Bookings for next year's May 2009 Great Belgium Beer Tour are now being taken.
Only 6 places available.

See the downloadable Example Itinerary.
Contact us for the password.

Cheers,
Andy
Bier-Mania!

The Brewers and Bier-cafés of Belgium and France-Thank You!

Having just returned from over 12 days of Belgium and France beer tours, I think the Brewers and bier-cafés of Belgium and northern France deserve a BIG THANK YOU!

Special thanks goes to the guys and girls of the small artisanale breweries and the small specialist bier-cafés/Estaminets (you know who you are) who put in some seriously long hours and hard work for us beer lovers!

So next time you pour a glass of beer, say a à santé/Prost to those people that make it happen!

Cheers to you all!
Bier-Mania!

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ Photos (23 May-01 June 2008)

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™
GBBT-080523
Hello everyone,
Finally recovered from a crazy 3 weeks which took us all the way from London to West Flanders then back to Belgium and another epic Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ (GBBT), 10-days in the beer nervana of Belgium and France, awesome!

Thanks to those six of you who came all the way from the States and a big thanks to the Aussies whose female contribution added a pleasing glamour element to the 3 days you were on the tour across West Flanders!

Tour photos are now online, have a look, Tour Photos

Tour Summary
The tour started off in Düsseldorf on Thursday 22 May 2008 with a meal in Schumacher brewery pub washed down with copious amounts of Altbier. Early to bed!
We then travelled around Belgium and France in a anti-clockwise direction, join up the dots marking the Trappiste monasteries of Belgium and you have in essence a GBBT tour!
So, then, here goes......if you get exhausted reading about it then think about doing it!

Day 1
Achel Trappiste-Westmalle Trappiste-Antwerpen.
Day 2
Bosteels-Bruges-Den Dyver beer dinner-Bruges Beetjes.
Day 3
Ypres-In Flanders Fields Museum-Westvleteren Trappiste-Rohardus Hof-Watou-Thiriez (France)-Cassel-Kasteelhof-Trois Moulin-Kerelshof
Day 4
Dupont-Rodenbach-Bruxelles-Delirium
Day 5
Bruxelles-La Villette beer dinner
Day 6
Drie Fonteinen-Chimay Trappiste-Bouillon-Bouillon Chateau Fort-L'Estaminet bier-cafe
Day 7
France-Brasserie de Chateau Fort de Sedan-European Musee de Biere (Stenay)-Brasserie de Chateau Charmois-Verdun-Citadelle-L'Estaminet brasserie-Le Lapin qui Fume
Day 8
Ossuaire-Douaument Fort-Belgium-Orval Trappiste-Mardasson Memorial-La Vieille Forge beer dinner
Day 9
La Roche-en-Ardenne-Musee de la Bateille Ardennes-Rochefort Trappiste-Brasserie d'Achouffe-la Vieille Forge beer dinner
Day 10
Hautes Fagnes-Mont Rigi/Signal de Botrange (Belgium's highest point)-Germany-German meal and beer!
Prost!


Next Great Belgium Beer Tour™
Friday 29 August-Sunday 07 September 2008.
Or check our calendar at www.bier-mania.com for other dates this year.

Cheers,
Andy

Ardennes Special Itinerary (04-06 July 2008)

Ardennes Special AS-080704
5 Places Left

Where
Namur and Luxembourg Province, Belgium
Transit France.
Another incredible tour.
Dates
Friday 04-Sunday 06 July 2008
Pick-up
1445/2.30am
Namur railway station (please contact us for other pick-up points).
Drop-off
0900/9.00am
Eupen station/Belgium.
This is just 20km SW of Aachen in Germany and is should beincluded within Eurostar tickets.

Tour Itinerary
Download Tour Itinerary
Email for password
Day 1-Friday
Trappiste Chimay and into the Ardennes

• Chimay Trappiste
• Bouillon Crusader Castle (if time)
  
• Bouillon town
• La Vieille Ardenne (bier-cafe & restaurant)
• L'Estaminet (bier-cafe)
  
• Overnight-Bouillon (B)

Day 2-Saturday
Ardennes, Trappiste & Belgium Beer Night

• Orval Abbey, Villers-devant-Orval
• Millevertus Brewery, Toernich (B)
  
• Brasserie d'Achouffe (B)
• Belgium Beer Night
• Beer dinner
• Overnight-La Vieille Forge, Mont (B)

Day 3-Sunday
Hautes Fagnes & Drop-off

• Hautes Fagnes
  
• Signal de Botrange/Mont Rigi (Belgium's highest point)
• Grain d'Orge brewery
  
• Drop-off Eupen station

Map

Cheers,
Bier-Mania!

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special (15-18 June 2008) Tour Itinerary

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special PM-080615
4 PLACES LEFT
When?
Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008

The Tour Itinerary for the Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special tour from Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008 is now out.

See Tour Itinerary.
Email andy@bier-mania.com for password.
Looking forward to an excellent tour!
Cheers,
Andy

Classic Tour-May 2009

Please see the following Example Itinerary for the Düsseldorf Classic tour.
Example Itinerary

Cheers,
Andy