Walkabout
Walkabout is an Australian pidgin (or perhaps quasi-pidgin) term referring to the belief that Australian Aborigines “go walkabout” at the age of thirteen in the wilderness for six months as a rite of passage. They then trace the path of the ceremonial ancestors of their tribe, following the exact route that those ancestors took, and imitating in a fashion, their heroic deeds. The term is used in the film Crocodile Dundee among others. It is also a main theme in the book Mutant Message Down Under. (source: Wikipedia)

So, a “beer walkabout” would be wandering the country for up to four months, traveling 10,000 miles, and visiting upwards of 70 craft brewers along the way?

Well, that’s what Teri Fahrendorf is doing.

From the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard:

The former brewmaster at Steelhead Brewing Company, Fahrendorf, 47, is packing up her brewing uniform (including a special pink pair of brewing boots), pointing her 1996 Chevy Astro van in the direction of Bend’s Deschutes Brewery and heading off on a 10,000-mile journey across the country and back. Along the way, she hopes to find brewing knowledge, new friends, old relatives and of course, beer.

Lots and lots of beer.

She plans to chronicle her trip on www.roadbrewer.com. I for one will be following her travels and travails.

“So many people have said, ‘I am so jealous, I am going to be watching the blog and living the trip vicariously (through you),’ ” Fahrendorf says. “This is every brewer’s dream trip to be visiting other brewers and putting on rubber boots.”

No kidding.

What do you think? Should I quit my job, leave my wife and children behind, and tour the country visiting, and working at, craft breweries? I can count on our Hop Talk readers to fund me, right?

Thought so. I guess I’ll live vicariously through Teri as well.

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