When I take business trips I try to find a nice restaurant that my employer can pay for. I like to relax in a new and different place with exotic new foods. On top of all that, I like to enjoy a tasty brew or two - on the companies dime of course. I would say this type of behavior is par for the course for most traveling businessmen. But there are some beer connoisseurs out there that like to take things to the next level. Yes, there are men and women who actually seek out a local brewery whenever they are in a new city. To these men and women I say (in the vein of the famous Guinness duo), “Brilliant.”

But how do you find these breweries that offer fresh, delicious beer the likes of which our palates have never enjoyed? Well, many cities offer “beer trail” Web sites, not dissimilar from “wine trail” Web sites. But can you be sure that every brewery will be attached to these sites? Or can you even be sure that the city you are visiting even has such a site? The answer of course is “No”. So again, how do you find these breweries?

That’s where the Beer Bible, or more accurately The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands (DBBB), comes in. This baby has 570 pages of reviews, maps and guides to this country’s breweries. Traveling to Chicago? Check out the local breweries. Off to Sarasota, Florida for the week? Why not try some of Florida’s tastiest craft brews. The book has indexed more than 3,000 brands and rates them according to color, bitterness and other criteria. For a measly 60 bucks, I say its worth it.

Check it out at www.beerbible.com