Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Connecticut Beer Trail

Three days in and already two of my topics regard a lovely, bottled craft that folk like me will never stray far from. What can I say, it's "Social Media Day" and I aim to draw a little attention towards a fine organization called the Connecticut Beer Trail.

Let's start simple. Many states, places, areas, counties and probably even municipalities have great focus on another fine beverage: wine. There are wine trails, literally trails of vineyards, wineries, fine wine sellers and makers in many of the aforementioned, most even stamped out on maps for the curiosity seeker or aficionado. A lot of these wine trails are funded by federal grants or state monies to assist in the possible added income from out-of-area vacationers. Basically, your tax bucks at work. Some places have gone a bit further in this idea, in that some people just Don't Like Wine. For these DLW'ers, they've created trails that are more to their liking, such as bourbon trails or candy trails or moonshine trails (well, maybe not moonshine). Then of course, is that elusive Beer Trail. Beer. The "working man's drink." I'm not sure if I subscribe to that particular description, I just know that Beer = Good.

So Connecticut has a wine trail. It shouldn't be a surprise, there are a rising amount of vineyards and wineries all across the U.S. Why then, as there is a great amount of small label beer companies, home brewers and beer lovers of all walks of life, should there not be a beer trail in the Nutmeg State? Bryon Turner thought so, going as far as to create a fantastic website for all of us beer lovers and makers, beer sellers and tappers. Over at the CT Beer Trail (http://ctbeertrail.net/) you can link in to great events, tales of woe, tales of success, brewmaking excellence, pubs with extremely good beers, fun chats and occasionally, notes regarding the State of Connecticut recognizing the CT Beer Trail as a potential draw to the state itself. Oh, revenue and the almight dollar, curse your inevitible focus on good beer! Success is a many armed beast! The beer drinking Connecticut masses will... drink with you and welcome you with open arms!

In all seriousness (with a smirk) the CT Beer Trail is a great organization with many fine points. It is good to know most of the representatives of the state agree and want to make the trail as actualized as the wine trails have become. I can heartily recommend to all fans of good beer to head on over, join up and become a trailblazer of a new type. You'll like it, have fun and probably discover a good new beer or five.

Consider this the first Public Service Message of A Leaf on the Wind. It won't be the last.

1 comment:

  1. I will have to check this out,as I love beer and DLW

    ReplyDelete