European Pub and Beer Guides: Links

European Beer Guide

Beer and Brewing Links

Introduction
Here are my links to other beer pages. I won't claim that this is a definitive list of the web's very best. It's just stuff that has interested, amused or informed me. I've tried to include only those which contain real information, i.e are not just a series of links to other pages. I know that I should update it more than I do. But I do have other demands on my time that prevent me from surfing 16 hours a day. If your life lacks such restrictions, feel free to email me the results of year research. Or if you think your own page is totally groovy. The links are ordered mostly, but not entirely, by country. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to work out which aren't. Usually, the country of origin determines where I place a link. Some pages concentrate exclusively on a single country. Others discuss more general beer-related topics, in varying degrees of depth and accuracy. (A word of warning: people, such as myself, writing about a country they may only have visited for 45 minutes while changing trains, are apt to talk utter bollocks.) I'm glad the time I spent commuting wasn't totally wasted. The languages I tought myself to read on crappy, slam-door Southern region trains and countless other forms of (mostly geriatric) public transport have started to come in dead handy. You may have missed out on a prestigious London Transport education yourself. Which is why I've marked links to pages not in English like this: In German only. (Though obviously if the page is in Swedish, it'll say "In Swedish only". At least if I remembered to add a warning. I may have missed a couple.) I assume that you can read English. If you can't, I admire your persistence in getting this far.		Index Beer and Brewing Resources General Collectors Beer books Beer tours Austria Benelux Canada Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Norway Spain Sweden UK Other Beer Consumer Organisations Brewers' Organisations Commercial Organisations

Beer and Brewing Resources

"The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1863: Scans of "The Brewer" are still available on this internet archive site. A detailed look at mid-19th century brewing, including chapters on IPA and Porter brewing. http://web.archive.org/web/20021216013241/ http://www.beerengineer.com/Historical/TheBrewer_1863/
http://web.archive.org/web/*sr_41nr_10/http://beerengineer.com/*
Only the individual page scans (not the zip files of 10 pages) seem to be available.
Transcripts from the History of Brewing: JB Sumner's very useful transcriptions of important brewing texts:
- Accum, FC (1820), A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, section “Adulteration of Beer” (69K).
- ‘Bickerdyke, John’ (1886), The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: an Entertaining History, chapter “Porter and Stout” (32K).
- Child, Samuel (1794?), Every Man His Own Brewer, complete, UNVERIFIED (47K).
- Cobbett, William (1850), Cottage Economy, sections relating to beer-brewing (78K).
- Rees’ Cyclopaedia (1819), entry “Porter” (55K). Includes a thorough and revealing description of operations at Whitbread’s colossal, steam-driven porter brewery. Thanks to Martyn Cornell, I now have a scan of the plate accompanying this entry (129K). It’s much larger than the average screen size, so you’ll probably need to make a print copy to refer to.
Accum has some very intersting analyses of samples of Porter and Stout from around 1810-1919. And a good explanation of the difference between Porter and Entire.
Encyclopedia Brittanica 1911: entry for Beer: A very informative article about British beer just before WW I. Has tables detailing the strengths of different British Ales and Continental Lagers.
The London and Country Brewer, 1736: A glimpse into brewing in the early 18th century. Fascinating that they were already using isinglass to fine beer.
"Oeconomischen Encyclopädie“ of 1773: A great source of information on a range of subjects, it has quite a lot about beer. They reckon the best beer comes from Bohemia and Britain, and gets worse the further away you get. Only in German, I'm afraid.
"American Handy Book of Brewing , Malting and Auxiliary Trades", by Wahl & Henius, Chicago 1902. I'm very pleased to see this book back on the web. It describes American, German and British brewing of the period in great detail. Packed full of useful information.
Die Entwicklung des bayerischen Braugewerbes im neunzehnten Jahrhundert by Emil Stuve, Leipzig, 1893. In German.
Kölsch-Datei: a mass of information about Kölsch and the history of brewing in Cologne, courtesy of the Kölner Brauerei Verband.
Internet Bibliothek über das Kölsch-Bier: yet more historical information about Kölsch and Cologne from the Kölner Brauerei Verband.
Brauerei Schmitz: a German homebrewer's site with a collection of good links to old brewing texts, some in German, some in English.
Lehrbuch der rationellen Praxis der landwirthschaftlichen Gewerbe. Enthaltend d. Bierbrauerei, Branntweinbrennerei, Hefefabrikation, Liqueurfabrikation, Essigfabrikation, Stärkefabrikation, Stärkezuckerfabrikation u. Runkelrübenzuckerfabrikation.: 1838, a fascinating look into German brewing before the lager revolution.
Bavarian Brewers' Journal (1891 - 1918) Scanned images of a technical brewing magazine. In German.
The Durden Park Beer Circle: "We are a group of dedicated beer makers. Originally our main activity was based on the research, production and appreciation of Old British Beers particularly from around 1840 - 1914 when a vast range of quality beers were brewed. We continue this tradition and our aim is to produce quality beers of any type." From the people who brought you "Old British beers and how to make them".
London & Essex Pubs History & Trade Directory: lots of historical information about London and Essex pubs.
Historical Directories: a searchable, digital version of trade directories 1750-1919.
Old brewing texts in electronic form a great resource.

General Beer Links

Passport to the Pub: A guide to British pub etiquette: A fascinating online book describe the unwritten rules of British pubs. Despite the book's claimed parochial scope, much of the behaviour described can be observed in Prague, Bamberg, Antwerp or Amsterdam.
Here's a piece of great advice :

"Whether you are male or female, and whatever the sex or social background of your native companions, the words “It’s my round – what are you having?” will always be appreciated as a friendly gesture. This line may not be in your phrase book, but it is one of the most useful sentences in the English language."
Published by the Social Issues Research Centre. (An impressive-sounding organisation I [sort of] hope is just a few blokes down a pub.)
Inside Beer Jeff Evan's new site. "Follow Jeff on his visits to the great breweries of the world, learn about the finest beers, find recommendations for the best pubs and bars, meet fascinating people involved in the business, have facts and figures at your fingertips."
Central Europe's New Breweries: Paul Harrop's excellent and comprehensive guide to brewpubs and micros in Europe's brewing heartland. It covers Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
Modern Drunkard Magazine: Hey, kids, try to drink responsibly.
Lose that Beer Gut without Giving up Beer: A complete homebrew guide to losing that beer gut without giving up beer. Wonderful concept. Brilliant Churchill quote.
Beer Tutor: beer ratings, beer forum, news articles and much more. I love the quotes from famous drunkards at the top of the page.
Real Beer Page: You've probably already seen 2,000 links to this, but it is an excellent online beer magazine. Lots of interesting stuff.
RateBeer An excellent site with descriptions - and ratings, of course - of hundreds of thousands of beers.
Celebrator Beer News: Homepage of the American magazine Celebrator Beer News. A very useful feature is the search of back issues, which they have online.
Beertown Homepage of the Association of Brewers, an organisation representing American home- and micro-brewers.
All About Beer Magazine: The website of one of the USA's leading beer publications. It has extensive links to other beer resources.
American Brewery History Page: All sorts of interesting historical information about American breweries.
BeerBooks.Com: An online shop specialising in beer books.
Regional Beer Guides. Pub guides to a variety of European towns and regions.
Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter Page: Beer travel, brewery and beer reviews, beer styles and articles about every aspect of beer from the world's leading writer on the subject.
The Beer Church: A page dedicated to Californian craft beer. It includes a page for ordering Californian beer online,
Global Beer Network Homepage The site of an American importer of Belgian beers. It contains some commercial blurbs about what they are flogging but, to its credit, does also include useful general information about Belgium and its beer.
World Pub Guide: as the name of the site says, a guide to pubs in various place around the world, including London, Cornwall, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Lille, New York, San Franciso, Portland and many more.
White Beer Travels: a site stuffed with useful information for beer drinkers who travel. It includes detailed guides to many beer destinations in Europe.
Beer 4 U: a site with hundreds of beer links.
Skol International: a list of all the breweries in Africa and some beer-related statistics.

Collectors' Pages

Beercoasters The beermat (coaster) page of collector Jurgen Van den Broeck.
British Beer Labels: The page of a collector who owns more than 19,000 beer labels. It contains a great selection of scanned images of old British beer labels.
Goudgele Rakker: The page of label and beermat collector Marc Jansen.
Use Labels: A site dedicated to labels of all kinds.
Antique Bar Stools: I think the page's title is self-explanatory.
Stain Glass Pub: The place for stained glass pub windows.
Classic Beer Pictures:The Lordprice Collection for vintage beer posters, prints, cartoons and photographs.

Beer Book Sellers

Beer Inn Print A UK site with hundreds of beer books, postcards and posters.
Beer Books An extensive American site selling beer books, magazines, T-shirts and posters.
Liquid Literature Beer, wine and whisky books. It has a selection of reprinted old brewing manuals.
Raudins Publishing An American publisher that issues reprints of 18th and 19th brewing texts.
De Bier Boom A Dutch site selling a range of beer books, with an emphasis on the Benelux.
Beer Literatuur Not so much a site selling books as one listing them An enormous catalogue of books about beer in the Dutch language.

Beer Tours

Bier-Mania! A beer tour company based close the Dutch/Belgian/German borders.
White Beer Travels John White offers tours to most of Europe´s interesting beer destinations. His site also provies much useful information for the independent beer traveller.
Czech Beer Tours Let Libor Vojácek guide you around some of the Czech Rpeublic´s smaller and more interesting breweries.
Amsterdam Beer Tours The easiest way to experience the best of Amsterdam's pubs: let someone guide you to them. It's a tough job, but one I'm prepared to undertake.

Austria

Biere und Brauereien Oberösterreichs Guide to the breweries in Oberösterreich. In German only.
Brauereiführer A guide to all the breweries in Austria. In German only.
Lokale in Wien Guide to pubs and restaurants in Vienna. Not particularly beer orientated, but has lots of places listed. In German only.
Conrad Seidl Homepage of Conrad Seidl, the foremost Austrian beer writer. Knows what he's talking about (unlike some).
Kampagne für Gutes Bier Homepage of an Austrian beer consumer's group.
Netbeer Austrian online beer magazine. It includes articles about the central European beer scene and plenty of links.
Brauereienverband Österrreich Homepage of the Austrian brewers' association. Lists all the Austrian breweries. In German only.
Bierführer Österreich Extensive listings of beer pubs and breweries in Austria. In German only.

Benelux

PINTernet Homepage of PINT, the Dutch beer consumers' organisation and full of useful information about the Dutch beer scene.
Benelux Biergids Guide to beer in Benelux by the legendary Peter Crombecq. Definitive, complete and accurate. One of the top sites.
Trappist Beer site Dedicated to the 6 Trappist monasteries - has very good images of old labels and beermats.
De Biersite Lots of stuff on Dutch breweries and beer pubs. In Dutch only.
Zeeuwse bierbrouwerijen info on breweries in Zeeland. In Dutch only.
Ed's BierpaginaMostly links, but a few homebrew recipes, too. In Dutch only.
Boersma's Beer PageA huge list of links to beer pages. Not a great deal of original content, but a good place to find links.
Zuipen in Utrecht Guide to pubs in Utrecht.
Amsterdamse Kroegen Encyclopedie! Homepage of the book which lists every pub in Amsterdam.In Dutch only.
Cheap Beer: A guide to the price of beer in Amsterdam pubs.

Canada

BiereMAGCanadian online beer magazine. In French only.
The Canadian Beer IndexThe Real Beer Page's Canadian Beer Index, the mostcomplete source of information about Canadian beer, breweries and brewpubs (or so they claim).

Czech Republic

Pivovary Info information about Czech breweries. Packed with fascinating information about the recent history of Czech breweries. If you can read Czech, that is. In Czech and English.
Beer from Czech Republic List of all breweries in the Czech Republic (and Slovakia, too).
Breweries in the Czech Republic: Radio Prague site with complete list of breweries and most of the beers they brew. In English.
Ceské Hospudky: A guide to pubs throughout the Czech Republic. In Czech.
Hospody a Hostince: Another catlogue of Czech pubs. In Czech.
Svet piva (World of Beer): A site about all aspects of Cech beer, It includes a very useful guide to Prague pubs selling beer from small breweries. In Czech.
Pivni Info information about Czech breweries. In Czech.
Pratel Piva: Czech beer consumers organisation ("Friends of Beer"). In Czech.
Czech Beer Guide: "Everything about Czech Beer. Pubs, history, tradition, small breweries and microbrews".

Denmark

Net Etiket Scans of old labels and Danish brewery history.
Labels from Danish Breweries The title is pretty descriptive, but there's also brewery history info, too.
Peder Olsen's Homepage Danish beer label collector's site.
Bryggerihistorie ("Brewery History") A site with brewery history information and old Danish beer label scans.
Jo Hansen Beer and Brewery News More Danish labels and brewery history information.
Skandinavisk Bryggerisouvenir Samlerforening "Scandinavian Breweriana Collectors" A Danish page dedicated to Scandinavian breweriana.
Guide to Beers A Danish beer and brewery guide that covers the world to some extent, but Denmark in great detail.

Finland

Beer Tourist - FinlandVaried information about beer and pubs in Finland.
Salhojankadun PubHomepage of a beer pub in Tampere.
Perinteisen Oluen Seura (The Finnish Society for Traditional Beers) A beer organisation whose site has good information ("Real Ale Watch") on what real ale is currently available in Finland..

France

French Beer. The web version of "The Beers of France" and "The Beers of Wallonia" books. Up-to-date and very informative. An excellent site.
le Monde de la BIEREA French beer page which currently seems to be mostly under construction.
The Paris Beer GuideA fairly extensive guide to beer pubs in Paris. Has most of the information necessary for a pub crawl: except the opening times.
Brasseries Franciases - details of all the breweries currently active in France. In French only.

Germany

German-Breweries.com The website to accompany Steve Thomas's excellent and definitive Good Beer Guide Germany.
Zoiglbier in Windischeschenbach und Neuhaus Website of the Zoigl brewers in Windischeschenbach and Neuhaus. It includes details of when and where Zoigl beers are available. In German only.
Zoigl-Heimat Everything you need to know about the elusive Zoigl Bier. This site might even help you find some. Never had it myself. High on my list of things to try when the Good Fairy waves her wand and I have infinite amounts of cash.
Bier aus Deutschland - Beer from Germany German beer site with lots of handy information, including a fairly complete list of German breweries.
Bierfeste in der Fränkischen Schweiz Guide to beer festivals in part of Frankenland, the area with the world's largest concentration of breweries. In German only.
Good Beer Guide to South West GermanyA guide to breweries, pubs and beer styles in Baden Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland and Hessen.
Getränke-Fachverlag Hans Carl Homepage of a German publisher specialising in the drinks (mostly beer) field. In German only.
DBB - Die Deutschen Brauer German brewers' society - lots of stats.
Deutsche Brau-Kooperation Mitgliedsbrauereien a co-operative organisation of small German breweries. It has details of the member breweries)
Erlebnis- und Gasthaus- Brauereien in Deutschland A list of new German homebrew pubs.
Deutschlands Brauereien A site listing pretty well all the breweries in Germany. In German only.
Bierostalgie A site dedicated to beer in the DDR. In German only.
Thüringer Etiketten Beer labels from the DDR period from Thüringen. In German only.
Bier Etiketten An incredible collection of beer label images, mostly from German breweries. In German only.
1516 Bier in Deutschland All sorts of information about German breweries and beer. In German only.
(Deutsches) Bier im Internet Long list of links to German brewery homepages. In German only.
Online guide to Bamberg and the Breweries of Franconia As the title says says, a guide to Bamberg and Franconia.
Bicycle Germany A guide to Germany from a cyclists point of view.
Beer in Bohemia and Bavaria An essay on the social and economic aspects of the brewing industry in these two regions and the role they played in the devlopment of modern lager.

Norway

The Beer Page Guide to beers from the North of Norway
The Norwegian BeerPage Pretty good page about Norwegian beer.
Bergen guided night-life tour Guide to Bergen pubs and clubs
Velkommen til Ringnes Homepage of Ringnes, Norway's largest brewery.

Spain

Cerveza: un placer para los sentidos Personal page with a handy list of beer pubs in Spain. In Spanish only.

Sweden

Beer World Sweden A site with extensive coverage of the beer scene in Sweden. Includes beers news, tastings and all sorts of handy links. In Swedish only.
Ohhh... My Head... HomepageAnother list of beer ratings. Slagging off someone's favourite beer is a sure way to get a reaction. It has a list of beer pubs in Stockholm.
BARGUIDEN Excellent Swedish pub guide covering around 100 towns.
Akkurat RestaurangDetails, including the full beer list of a Stockholm restaurant. Interesting in that it sells British and also Swedish cask-conditioned beer. In Swedish only.
A Guide to Pubs, Bars and Beer in Lund, Sweden.The title says it all.
SYSTEMBOLAGETS Price list.Price list from the Swedish State Alcohol Monopoly. Lists all the beers on sale in Sweden. In Swedish only.
Alun's Beer Tasting NotesTasting notes on Swedish and other beers.
Partymasters Beer PageLong list of links to brewery hoepages.

United Kingdom

Great British Beer Someone has spent an awful lot of time putting together this page. It's a searchable database of British breweries and their beers.
Beer Gutter Press The site of CAMRA Newark (my hometown) branch. Ha s a useful list of all the pubs ever to have existed in the town.
London's Virtual Real Ale Pub GuideAs the title says, a guide to real ale pubs in London.

Other Countries

Dublin Pub Scene An excellent guide to Dublin pubs which allows you to search on area and type of pub.
Italian Beer PageOne of the very few beer pages about Italy. Its contents include: home brewing in Italy; a guide to Italian brewpubs and specialist beer pubs and beer ratings. In English and Italian.
Malá encyklopédia piva Slovak site with lots of info, including a list of all the Slovak breweries. In Slovak only.
Slovak Association of Brewing History Lots of stuff about Slovak breweries. In Slovak and English.
Browar Biz: An extensive site on Polish beer, including a full list of breweries. In Polish.
CyBeerSite Hungarian beer page - excellent site with lots of brewery and beer details. In English and Hungarian.
Beer Tourist - Russia Short list of Russian breweries.
St. Petersburg: A guide to the Russian city that includes a fair bit of info about Russian beer.
Estonian Beer Guide Everything you need to know about beer in Estonia.
Central Europe's New Breweries Paul Harrop's excellent guide to microbreweries and brewpubs in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
The Bulgarian Brewers Union : The professional association of Bulgarian brewers. In English.
Asociación de Cerveceros Artesanales de la República Argentina : The association of Argentinian microbrewers. In Spanish.
Associação de Incentivo à Cultura de Cervejas Artesanais : A Brazilian beer consumers' group. In Portuguese.
Latvian Beer portal: information and news about beer in Latvia. In Latvian and Enfglish.

Beer Consumer Organisations

ATPUB (Association Pour l'Union des Biérophiles) A new French beer consumers organisation. It has replaced Les Amis de la Bière as the French representative in the EBCU. (Associate EBCU member.) In French only.
Les Amis de la Bière French beer consumers organisation (no longer an EBCU member). In French only.
L'Association Des Buveurs D'Orges (EBCU member). The Swiss beer consumers' organisation (EBCU member). In French and German only.
FINNLIBS Association of Finnish Beer Societies (EBCU member).
Svenska Ölfrämjandet Swedish beer organisation (EBCU member). In Swedish only.
CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale, Europe's largest beer consumer organisation (EBCU member).
Danske Ølentusiaster Danish beer enthusiasts (EBCU member). In Danish only.
NOROL (Norske Olvenners Landsforbund) Norwegian Beer Friends. (EBCU member). In Norwegian only.
PINT (Promotie Informatie Traditioneel Bier): Dutch beer consumers' organisation (EBCU member).
Zythos): a Belgian beer consumers' organisation that is the successor to the OBP (Objectieve Bierproevers). EBCU member.
Bractwo Piwne A Polish beer consumers' group, an associate member of the EBCU. In Polish only.
UnionBirrai An Italian beer consumers' group, which recently became an associate member of the EBCU.
Pratel Piva: Czech beer consumers organisation ("Friends of Beer"). An associate member of the EBCU. In Czech.

Brewer's Organisations

Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) The homepage of the trade organisation for Britain's small brewers.
The British Beer & Pub Association: The successor to the Brewers' Society. The exit from brewing of many of its larger mnembers prompted the change of name. It will be interesting to see how long the current name lasts. It's last incarnation, the Brewers & Licensed Retailers Association (BLRA), wasn't around for long. The new name manages to be even vaguer and crappier than the last.
CBB - Confederation Des Brasseurs Belges Homepage of the Belgian brewers' organisation.
Bier Brauer Swiss brewers' association homepage - it has the addresses of all the member breweries.
DBB - Die Deutschen Brauer German brewers' society - lots of stats.
Deutsche Brau-Kooperation Mitgliedsbrauereien a co-operative organisation of small German breweries. It has details of the member breweries)
Brauereienverband Österrreich Homepage of the Austrian brewers' association. Lists all the Austrian breweries. In German only.
Sverige Bryggareföreningen Homepage of the Swedish brewers' association. Lists all the Swedish breweries. In Swedish only.
Bryggeriforeningen Homepage of the Danish brewers' association. Includes loads of stats.
Bryggeri- og mineralvannforeningen Homepage of the Norwegian brewers' association. Includes loads of stats.
The Czech Union of Breweries and Malt-Houses The organisation representing established Czech breweries.
The Czech Union of Small Independent BreweriesThe organisation representing new Czech breweries.
Schweizerischer Bierbrauerverein - Société Suisse des Brasseurs The organisation representing established Swiss breweries.
Interessengemeinschaft unabhängiger Klein- und Mittelbrauereien The organisation representing new Swiss breweries.
Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor The Dutch brewers' organisation.
Brasseries De France The French brewers' organisation.

Commercial Organisations

Thirstys The homepage of a specialist beermat and coaster manufacturer.
BestBeer will deliver Belgian beer to your door.

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© Ron Pattinson 1996 - 2011

All articles and photos on these pages (unless otherwise stated) are property of Ron Pattinson. If you would like permission to reproduce either on your own site or in a book, please contact me first.