A beer club is one of the best ways to dive into the latest craft beer trends and be able to try new brews from across the United States and the rest of the globe. The bad news is, even with all the frequent flyer miles in the world, it’s likely impossible to visit all the best breweries in the U.S. alone. Awesome brewpubs have popped up in the most remote areas and smallest towns in each and every state. While some of them are definitely worth seeking out on trips to favorite regions and landscapes, there is a better way to get some of those tastings in without leaving the front door. Enter Brewvana.
How Does Brewvana Work?
The company Brewvana is taking the travel out of visiting breweries by curating boxes that show up on the front doorstep. Brewvana’s Brews Less Traveled Beer Club is a quick and easy way to sample a new beer scene every month. The best part about the club is it doesn’t hit the big beer cities of the U.S., Brewvana picks cities with smaller, lesser-known beer scenes. Some of the first selections have been Lexington, Kentucky; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Knoxville, Tennessee.
What Comes With the Club?
A basic Brewed Less Traveled membership includes eight different beers from the city selected. There is also the option to double the beer so each box could include two of each style of beer. Members also receive access to weekly virtual tastings with brewery representatives from the establishments the beers came from in the box. And for a limited time, new members can receive their first month free with a six-month membership. But there is also the option to avoid an ongoing commitment by paying month-to-month.
Restrictions
Of course, members do have to be 21 years old or older. An adult signature is also required when the box is delivered. The shipments are also geographically limited. The company cannot ship to Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Vermont. The boxes also cannot head to Alaska, Hawaii, or outside the U.S.
Our Brewvana Review
The box sent to The Manual included eight beers from Knoxville, Tennessee. Home to the University of Tennessee and the capital of the Volunteer State, it should not be a surprise the city appears to have a robust beer scene.
The beers included in the box were all excellent, including XUL Beer Co.’s Paper Crowns, a New England-style IPA that also rocked a streamlined black label with a simple folded paper crown. Also in the package was Next Level Brewing’s Viejo Norte Knox, a Mexican-style lager. Next Level’s co-founder and co-head brewer Rick Cox was part of one of the episodes featured during the month helping further shine a light on the company’s beer and the city’s growing brewing community.
The box of eight beers might be too limited a sample size to really get the full feel of a city. But when the Knoxville box opened, it revealed a few Mexican-style lagers, which could be a trend, or maybe the summer leftovers, or that’s just what they like in Knoxville.
One differential was Elst Brewing’s Brown. The Belgian Dubbel was a welcomed detour into a different side of Knoxville beer in the quick journey.
Should You Get Brewvana?
One of the best parts about traveling across the country trying beers is getting a feel for what local brewers in each region like to make. You find little grooves in each area, like Michigan’s apparent fondness for brown ales or the strange abundance of Scotch ales in Arizona.
While it truly is great to hit the ground running in a new city, sampling all the beers one can sample in a quick trip, the Brewed Less Traveled box is a great way to get down a quick venture into a new town, one that might otherwise stay off the radar.
