International Beer Day | Where to go, what to drink in the world’s top 7 beer cities

3. Moon Dog World: Essentially a converted warehouse with sun loungers, a beer garden, a tiki bar and a lagoon and a waterfall, it serves exceptional locally brewed Moon Dog brews from the taps.

4. Hop Nation: The backstreet Footscray brewery is busy making beer all week, but it calls in the food trucks and throws open its doors on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for beer lovers to congregate. Sample the core beers, seasonal brews and guest beers.

5. Two Birds: Australia’s first female-owned brewery, The Nest, has a range of Two Birds beers brewed on site and take home brewery-fresh beer in growlers and squealers.

Best Pubs

1. The Local Taphouse: A neighbourhood tavern that taps more than 400 different beers every year and has a rotating and curated bottle list.

2. The Royston Hotel: In 2005, it became the first pub in Melbourne to turn all its taps away from the major brands in favour of small, independent breweries.

3. The Terminus Hotel: Operating for almost 150 years, North Fitzroy’s Terminus Hotel offers a thoroughly modern beer garden experience with 16 rotating craft beer taps.

4. Garden State Hotel: A pub for all occasions, this is a luxe beer garden.

5. The Imperial Bourke Street: With stunning views of Parliament House, the Imperial Rooftop is a large relaxed space with 20 beers on tap and the rooftop’s own kitchen. Average price of a pint of beer: $10 - 12

6. Good Beer Week: Check 2022 Good Beer Week dates and details on https://goodbeerweek.com.au/

Dublin (Ireland)

Best Beer

Top 3 Irish beers awarded by Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland:

1. Around the Clock Imperial Stout Porterhouse

2. Lineman Astral Grains Foreign Extra Stout

3. Kinnegar Thumper Double India Pale Ale

Some notable Seasonal Stouts:

1. Irish Craft Imperial Stout, Boyne Brewhouse, Drogheda, Co. Louth

2. Leann Folláin, Extra Irish Stout, O’Hara’s Independent Craft Beer

Best Beer Pubs:

Here are the top 5 beer pubs picked from 751 pubs in the city.

1. John Kavanagh’s aka The Gravediggers: Established 1833

2. The Long Hall: Established 1766

3. Johnny Fox’s: Established 1798

4. The Brazen Head: Established 1198

5. Kehoe’s Pub: Established 1803

Average price of a pint of beer: Between 5-6 euros.  Some popular venues attract higher prices, e.g. Dublin’s Temple Bar area.

Beer Festivals:

1. The Big Grill Beer Festival Dublin, August 12-15, 2021

2. Craft Beer & Spirits Expo: November 4, 2021 @ Citywest, Dublin

Munich (Germany)

Famous beer brands that originated in Munich are:

1. Paulaner

2. Hacker-Pschorr

3. Erdinger

4. Löwenbräu

Best beer pubs/breweries:

1. Augustiner-Bräu: Dating back to 1328, Augustiner-Bräu is Munich’s oldest independent brewery, and its Edelstoff helles is one of the most popular beers.

2. Hofbräuhaus: A state-owned brewery’s beer garden founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria, this offers plenty of Helles, a pale malty lager, and Dunkel, the darker and more traditional Munich brew.

3. Paulaner: Paulaner, a beer hall and brewery on Kapuzinerstrasse is a local favourite.

4. Seehaus: One of the prettiest outdoor beer gardens in the city.

5. Hofbrau: A global cultural icon known around the world, here you’ll find locals dressed in their traditional Sunday best drinking from ancient beer steins.

6. Gluten-free beer: Gasthaus Obermeier serves a full gluten-free menu, including gluten-free beer.

7. AirBraü: The world’s first and only airport brewery, AirBrü is known for its craft beer.

8. Weihenstephen: You can tour the world’s oldest brewery. Dating back to 750 AD, Weihenstephen started as a monastery brewery and is now state-owned. A two-hour tour costs 11 euros and includes tour, tasting, pretzel, and a gift voucher.

Average price of a pint of beer: 1.50-2.50 euros in a kiosk; 4-5 euros in restaurants; and 8–10 euros in a beer garden.

Beer Festival:

1. Oktoberfest: Munich is home to the annual Oktoberfest, a drinking festival that originated as a wedding party in the early 19th century. Six million beer lovers attend the festival over two-and-a-half weeks.

2. Starkbierfest: Takes place during Lent, and celebrates the dark Doppelbock lager known as Starkbier.

3. Frühlingsfest: An early spring festival that takes place in the same location as Oktoberfest.

Prague/Pilsen (Czech Republic)

The beer capital of the Czech Republic is the city of Pilsen (Plzeň in Czech) where Pilsner Urquell beer was born as was the pilsner-type beer in general (now brewed all around the world). In the Czech Republic, beer is actually cheaper than water. In Prague, restaurant servers sometimes plop a beer down before even asking what you’d like.

Best beer:

1. Pilsner Urquell

2. Budweiser Budwar

3. Kozel

4. Krušovice

5. Staropramen (Prague brewery)

Best beer spots:

1. Prague Craft Beer Spot

2. Permanent Beer Fest

3. Hostomická nalévárna

4. Dva Kohouti Brewery

Beer spa experience:

You can find beer spa experiences across the Czech Republic. For details, visit: https://www.visitczechrepublic.com/en-US/Things-to-Do/Category-Group-Pages/Wellness-and-Spa/Wellness-In-Out-of-Spas/Beer-and-Wine-spa

Tokyo, Japan

Best Beer:

1. Asahi beer: Originating in Osaka in 1889, Asahi is the name to reckon with. Launched in 1987 as Japan’s first dry draft beer, Asahi Super Dry is Japan’s most popular beer (Price: Supermarket or liquor store: ¥185, Vending machine: ¥240)

2. Kirin Beer: Released first in 1888, Kirin has a wide variety of beers. Kirin Ichiban Beer is a very light bodied and aromatic beer (Price: Supermarket: ¥185- 200; Vending machine: ¥200-240)

3. Sapporo beer: The oldest beer brewery in Japan, its most popular product is Sapporo Draft Black Label (Price: ￥200 for a can)

4. Suntory Beer: Though the company is known more for its whiskey globally, in the domestic Japanese market, its Premium Malt's beer is popular for its deep taste.

Best Pubs:

1. Popeye: The oldest craft beer bar in Tokyo, it has a range of Japanese, American and international beers, and is also an izakaya (a traditional eatery and drinking joint).

2. Baird Harajuku Tap Room: An izakaya-and-beer combination, it has a tasting room for Japanese craft brewing mainstay Baird Beer.

3. Two Dogs Taproom: Located three minutes from Roppongi Station, Two Dogs is an industrial-themed restaurant and bar that boasts an impressive craft beer menu.

4. Hitachino Brewing Lab: A tasting room devoted to the offerings of Kiuchi Brewery’s Hitachino Nest beers, it also has limited-edition brews from one of the 10 rotating taps.

Average cost: In an Izakaya, a Japanese traditional style eatery and drinking joint, the average cost is usually 500 yen each (about 338 INR). If you go to a bar, it's 700 yen (473 INR). Find a cheap Izakaya that serves for 100 to 300 yen (67 to 202 INR).

Cape Town (South Africa)

Best Local Beer:

1. Bonecrusher Witbier from Darling Brew

2. Jungle Paradise IPA from Afro Caribbean Brewing Co.

3. Lager from Devil’s Peak Brewing Company

4. Lumberjack Amber Ale by Jack Black Brewing Company

5. Cochoqua Red Ale from Indie Ale Craft Brewery

Other popular South African beers are Castle Lager, Carling Black Label, Carlsberg and Amstel.

Best Beer Pubs:

1. Banana Jam Café: With 30 beers on tap and more than 80 bottled, the Caribbean-themed Banana Jam in Kenilworth is a must-visit for beer lovers.

2. Beerhouse: Not only does the Beerhouse have more than 99 varieties of bottled beers from 13 different countries and 26 taps, it also does beer and food pairings.

3. Devil’s Peak Taproom: Devil's Peak Taproom is home to a range of limited edition barrel beers. The taproom is also the creator of the Devil’s Peak lager and the award winning King’s Blockhouse IPA beer.

4. Urban Brewing Company: Steeped in traditional brewing methods, Urban Brewing Co. represents a blend of old-fashioned and new-drawn techniques. All beers are made using Hout Bay spring water and there are four beers on tap – a Weiss, a Blonde ale, Pilsner and a stout.

5. The Brewers Co-op: The brewery has 14 talented brewers, each with their own tap at the bar. There are 16 different types of beers, including various IPAs, golden and summer ales.

Average price of a pint of beer: 35 ZAR or INR 176

Beer Festival: Cape Town Festival of Beer in November 2021 (exact dates to be confirmed)

Vienna (Austria)

(Photo: ALBA Communications)

Best beers/breweries:

1. Ottakringer Brewery: Vienna’s oldest brewery, Ottakringer has offered an extraordinary diversity of flavours for over 180 years.

2. Stöckl im Park Restaurant and Brewery at Belvedere Garden: Historic pavilion and modern brewery.

3. 7Stern Bräu: 7Sternbräu has been brewing a range of beer specialties since 1994, using fine malts, hops and spring water.

4. 1516 Brewing Company: 1516 Brewing Company brews ales and beers from malted barley but also uses malted and unmalted wheat, rye and rice.

Average price of a pint of beer: 300mL: 3.40 euros; 500mL:  4.40 euros.

Beer Festival: The Ottakringer Beer Festival is on until September 3, 2021.

Guinness Beer Basics

• Guinness Draught, the most famous beer from Guinness brewery, is not black. The colour is ruby red.


• The perfect pour: According to Guinness, for the perfect pour you must: keep the glass at a 45-degree angle, fill the pint glass three-quarters of the way. Let everything settle for 119.5 seconds and then top it off by pushing the tap backwards. The two-part pour is supposed to create a thick head that domes over the top, but does not spill.


• In every pint of Guinness, there are 300,000 super small bubbles filled with carbon dioxide and nitrogen.


• One 12-ounce serving of Guinness is 125 calories.


• Drinkers with moustaches waste an estimated 162,719 pints—or a pint and a half per 'stache—annually because it gets trapped in their facial hair.


• Guinness is brewed in 49 countries and sold in more than 150.


• In the early 20th century, new mothers in Irish hospitals were reportedly given Guinness after childbirth because the beer’s high iron content was deemed useful for recovery.


• In 2017, Guinness changed its filtration process, doing away with the use of isinglass, a byproduct of fish. Hence, Guinness is now vegan.