Web buzz: Guide to European beers

EuropeanBeerGuide.net is a vast website that takes you into Ron Pattinson’s love affair with the history and stats of European brews and breweries.

What’s hot: You can gain a huge amount of cultural knowledge by spending time on the site. The language is easy to read, but it was the storefront photos that drew me in as a curious traveler and amateur beer drinker. Scroll down the home page to find a pub and brewery guide to the country you’re traveling to, then dig into the regional guides. You can also buy this in book format (PDF is cheapest, then black and white version, with color copies being most expensive).

What’s not: The website’s format is dated and not as easy to navigate as it would be after a makeover. The sources are mildly out of date as well. The occasional red lettering that marked some breweries “closed” and other sections “new made me think the site was still credible. Just in case, double-check phone numbers and addresses before whisking off to sample a brew in a place you don’t know well.