I don't get to travel all that much so whenever I do it's usually a well thought out vacation planned months in advance. However this Sunday I received a phone call from my brother that kind of threw me for a loop. He had a grand vacation in mind that was anything but planned out. "Let's go to Chicago" he said. I've only been to Chicago once, and it was threw a connecting flight to God knows where. Since I've never explored the city and I have a friend who I haven't seen in ages that lives there I decided to dive head first into this idea. Sometimes you just gotta go with it.

I've gotten to travel to some amazing beer destinations in the US over the past 2 years (Colorado, California, Asheville, and Maine) mostly family vacations, but this will be the first time I'll be going with the strict intentions of having fun with just the guys and just enjoying beer. A "beer-cation" if you will.

With this "beer-cation" happening in just  a mere two weeks it  got me thinking about about beer destinations I'd like to check off the list. I did a little research and found a few cities that are packed with beer goodies, from bars to breweries/brewpubs. Here's a short list

1. San Diego, CA.
Bar that is a must visit : 1. Toronado
Brewery/Brewpub that is a must visit : 1. Ballast Point 2. Alesmith

2. New York City
Bar that is a must visit : 1. Rattle N' Hum
Brewery/Brewpub that is a must visit : 1. Brooklyn Brewery

3. Portland, OR
Bar that is a must  visit : 1. Bailey's Taproom
Brewery/Brewpub that is a must visit : 1. Hair of the  Dog Brewing Company 2. Cascade Brewing

Hopefully when I get back from Chicago I'll have a ton of stories to share. Cheers everyone.