Oliver Dawson, President & Tour Host About Oliver: Oliver Dawson, is a multi-lingual beer & travel aficionado and is the designer and host of Beer Lovers' Tours. His weekly "Beer Chat" was heard on "MOJO RADIO" AM 640 in the Toronto area. He also happens to be a professional opera singer, a corporate trainer, beer writer and lecturer, as well as a food, audio and classic car fanatic. Having spent fourteen years working for Toronto's original micro-brewery, The Upper Canada Brewing Co., he developed a passion for beer and over the years became very knowledgeable about the world of brewing. In 1998, Oliver's lifelong love of travel came together with his extensive beer background, and in a flash of inspiration, one of the world's first beer tours was born,  The Beer Lovers' Tour of Europe! Starting in Amsterdam, it wound through Belgium, the Rhineland and Bavaria, the Czech Republic and finished off in Franconia, Germany.  The tour was a great success and seemed to point to a future, wherein beer lovers continue the journey and travel to other untapped regions in the wonderful world of beer.

Mirella Amato, Tour Host and Beer Consultant About Mirella: Mirella Amato is very happy to be a part of the Beer Lovers’ Tour Co team. Like Oliver, she is a multi-lingual beer & travel aficionado, and is operatically trained. She loves to talk about beer and is always looking for new ways to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for beer with the people around her. The Beer Lovers’ Tour Co. combines two of Mirella’s passions: beer and travel. When she is not at the pub, you will find her in contemporary art galleries, or at the theatre. She really enjoys re-discovering various cities from a beer history perspective, and sharing her discoveries with other beer enthusiasts. You can also find her online at Legourmet.tv interviewing craft brewers and discussing and beer with food, or read her work in TAPS, Canada’s beer magazine.

What do we do?

We design and host international and local specialty tours for those people with a passion for scenic travel, great beer, food, history, culture and other fine things in life.

The story of brewing begins over 5000 years ago, pre-dating even the earliest cultivation of grapes for the purposes of wine making. Although different peoples have fermented various grains to make primitive beers throughout human history, it was not until the Middle Ages in Northern Europe that the knowledge of beer making as we know it became an art.

Beer became as important to the people of Northern European as wine in the South. It is the nectar of life that bound people together. As language, music, food and art evolved to form distinct cultures, so too did the many diverse beer styles that still reflect the special qualities characterizing the different cities and regions from which they originated. In Northern Europe, the local beer style became an integral part of the cultural tapestry. And the local brewery was a special place that belonged to the whole community. (It is said that after the Church, the local brewery had an importance second only to the Bakery). Today, whether you fancy a Stout from Dublin, a Pilsner from Bohemia, a Rauchbier from Franconia or a Lambic Beer from Brussels, you are actually enjoying a unique bi-product of local culture and history. Visit any of the great historic breweries of Northern Europe, and you encounter a veritable living history, revealed through the ancient art of brewing.

Luckily, "interesting" beer is no longer only to be found in Europe. The last three decades in North America have witnessed a return to more traditional ways of beer making and a rebirth of the small, local brewery. A cultural revival of sorts, the so-called "Renaissance of craft-brewing", has spawned -- in places like California and Oregon, British Columbia, Southern Ontario and Quebec -- a concentration of small breweries rivaling some of the great brewing areas of Europe! Australia and New Zealand have also experienced a similar resurgence of interest in the small local brewery and different brewing styles.

So what is a Beer Lovers' Tour?

A Beer Lovers' Tour is an experience of wonderful scenery and great architecture...it is an encounter with history...and it is a discovery of local culture with the very people who live it as a part of daily life. Because the brewery is a touchstone of the community, every historic brewery visit allows us to gain new insight into the culture of the people for whom these local beers were crafted. So then, as we pass time in a local tavern, pub or restaurant that pours the local brew, we are no longer travelers watching from afar - we begin to experience and understand the place more as the people themselves do - we start to belong. Finally, since one of the main topics of interest on the Beer Lovers' Tour is beer, we are coincidentally sampling some of the world's finest brews at their absolute freshest - right where they are made! This is pure fun!! The end result is an experience that resonates with collegial feeling and the knowledge that one actually learned something new. On a Beer Lovers' Tour, we travel globally, and enjoy the very best beer just as it should be, locally!

Cheers!

For more information, please call 905-850-9570 or send an email to: beerloverstour.com@sympatico.ca