All Star Beers for the Summer: Beer of the Day>>>

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field.  (20190714)

Late June to Mid July, 2019:   San Francisco Stars.  We spent a week in San Francisco and found two weeks worth of Beers of the Day.     See our “Beer of the Day.”   >>>>>

We recently spent a week in San Francisco sampling over 60 really interesting beers.  Ellie worked for her publishing company at a massive convention while I got to spend the day figuring out where to take her to drink in the evening.  Decades ago in the first craft revolution California had far more breweries than the east, but the average brewery in the east brewed better beer than the average brewery in the west.   That’s changed.  Beers in the east are vastly more numerous and reflect a broad range of tastes and skills.   West coast breweries, at least our sample of a couple of dozen in the Bay Area show that same range but the mid point is far higher than it was a few decades ago.  See our Beers of the Day for 14 of the best out of more than five dozen that we found.

Surprising Wilmington: Three Breweries and a classic hotel.  Beers of the Day: April 8 through April 14.

Wilmington, Delaware, is the city that is perhaps best known as the urban area you have to avoid on a trip from Washington to Philadelphia.   For beer tourists, though, it’s worth a stop.   Three breweries, plus a few others on the periphery, give plenty of opportunities for beer hunting and there are fun things to see and do.

The DuPont Hotel helps make the city a destination.

Several breweries tried and failed to change the face of Wilmington breweries during the 90s and early 21st Century. Iron Hill brewery was the first to stick, opening up a branch more than 10 years ago in a waterfront area that also hosts the Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball field.  Today a high rise Hyatt so you can catch a game, a  few beers and sleep it off without disturbing your car.

The City’s newest brewery is located not quite two miles from the city center.   It’s a good sized beer hall with a wide range of beers and if the location isn’t very central, it does have plenty of parking.

The DuPont Hotel is a gem.  Opened in 1913, it is a masterpiece of French and Italian craftsmanship.  The theater, a short interior walk from the lobby is a $40 million attraction in its own right and claims the fourth largest stage in the country.

From the Dupont Hotel, the industrial-themed Stitch House is a short and safe walk–if you stay on market Street.  Menu is above average– prices run a bit over $10 bucks on average, but vary widely in size from massive sandwiches to a more modest pair of scallops.

Weekend Ale Trails:  Virginia Beach, Virginia

For the next several weeks we’ll feature fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.

This week’s beers are from Virginia Beach, Virginia.   You can stay on the beach and walk to several of the town’s breweries; other’s will require a ride sharing service.  Be warned — while some of these breweries are easily reached by walking or ride share, others are a fair distance from the center and Virginia Beach is, by area, larger than either New Orleans or Philadelphia.

The main attraction of Virginia Beach is, of course, the beach and its three-mile-long boardwalk.  The statue of Neptune is iconic.  There’s also an aquarium, an historic lighthouse, and a huge pile of trash that has been landscaped into a tourist attraction (Mount Trashmore).

We’ve tended to stay at the north end of the beach more or less near 32nd street.   There are good bars in addition to the two easily walkable breweries and a number of chains to choose from if you’re using or stockpiling points.  A Hilton Garden Inn is a bit more affordable than the full scale Hilton nearby.   A Courtyard was one of the best of that brand if you’ve got Marriott status.  An impressive buffet breakfast is around the corner from the dreary “Bistro” on weekends and in season.

There are many dozens of hotels up and down the beach and reaching up to five miles inland. The number of new hotels dropped like a stone during the Great Recession and recent growth has still left the number of rooms in season well short of demand.  Off season is a great time to explore if you can live without an ocean dip.   Rates drop like a stone, but most businesses stay open most of the year.

A dazzling array of breweries await you if your quest includes all within the massive city limits.   We’ll start with three that are walkable from the beach.    Home Republic and Smartmouth’s Pilot are an easy walk back from the boardwalk on either side of 32nd Street.   Back Bay is a longer walk west on 9th, then continuing as it turns into Norfolk Avenue.

The nearly one dozen breweries run from fairly small local favorites to the much more ambitious New Realm which took over the space built for Green Flash’s failed east coast project.  Check out our Beer of the Day feature each day this week for some of our favorites.

*Featured Image By Jason Pratt (FishSpeaker) – self-made; also on Flickr as Virginia Beach, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3652496

In February, we present Beers for your Beer Vault: well aged beers that aged well.  Read on for the links to these beers as well as Pennsylvania weekend trips and great beers for the new year.  Click on “read more” to find easy links that take you to these beers.

February:  Beers from our Vault:   #12 is Stone Master of Disguise, then scroll down for “more beer reviews” to see the rest of February’s offerings.

January featured small town brewery trips.   In February we lay down beers for interest or improvement.  We started the New Year with a series of big beers for winter.   Read on for the links for all these beers and more.    The first of the Pennsylvania Brewery weekend finds was here.   Scroll back for the others in the series.  Our aged beers begin here .   Scroll up for the others.  Find a set of links to Great Beers for the New Year here – scroll down to find the dozen links.

Here are direct links to some of the aged beers:  Stone Porter with Chipotle; Lost Rhino Wandering Belgian IPA; Magic Hat Wee Heavy Champ; Samuel Adams Norse Legend Sahti;