By car or train, it takes about four or five hours to get from Toronto to Montréal. By the VIA Rail train that transported me on my most recent trip—which actually stops and sits for a time en route, allowing its passengers to sleep and arrive fully rested in the morning—the journey lasts eight hours... View Article
Life awakens before dawn in Bangkok, along the Chao Phraya River—the River of Kings—that bisects the city. Bridges hum with automobile traffic that will turn into a modern jam once morning comes. The passenger ferries are quiet, waiting for first light to bring commuters from the older quarter of Thonburi on the west side to... View Article
The “Fish” cafes Juho Lehto, a leading figure in the craft beer movement, operates a string of six beer cafes all with fish names. Lehto started the trend for Helsinki bars with welcoming atmospheres, ranging in feel from “grand cafe” to homey sitting room, with daily papers, board games to play, and a great selection... View Article
The Nordic countries seem to fall too far north of the European “beer belt” to be known for great beer. The region’s distilled spirits are more common on American retail shelves than any of its beers, except those of the Danish brewing giant Carlsberg. And a history of prohibition movements and tight government control of... View Article
In a country where you can buy beer from vending machines, it’s seldom difficult to find a cold brew when you want one. And if you’re content with well-made, but fairly uniform mass-market lagers, you’ll have no trouble quenching your thirst in Japan.
For the English-speaking tourist, trying to track down microbrews in Japan can produce headaches worse than any hangover has ever caused. The obvious language barrier is compounded by the sometimes confusing system of assigning addresses in a country where most streets have no name. What’s more, although many people have heard of jibiiru, as microbrews... View Article
Ostrich Colnbrook, Berkshire (close to Heathrow airport) Courage Best Bitter, Directors Bitter, Marston’s Pedigree George & Dragon West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire Courage Best Bitter and guest beers Hardwick Arms Arrington, Cambridgeshire Greene King IPA and guest beers Olde Custom House Chester, Cheshire Bank’s Original, Marston’s Bitter and Pedigree Black Bull Inn Coniston, Cumbria Coniston Bluebird Bitter,... View Article
Until the arrival of the “iron way”⎯the railroad network⎯in the 19th century, people traveled by horse-drawn coaches that also carried the mail. Journeys were long and tiring, so a vast network of “coaching inns” offering food, drink and accommodations sprang up all over England. Many survive in all their half-timbered glory, as Ted Bruning discovered... View Article
Bill Bell, owner of Bell’s Hotel, Melbourne’s only brewpub, inherited the place from his parents, who purchased the pub in 1933. He vividly remembers the bad old days of Australian drinking—when pubs (until the early 1960s) were forced to close at 6:00 p.m. and customers would chug four or five pints before being required to... View Article
