CVB Kicks Off 2nd Annual Craft Beer Tour

The official start of the summer travel season is celebrated in May during National Travel and Tourism Week.

The tradition traces its heritage all the way back to 1984, when it began as a way to recognize the impact tourism has on the overall economy of the United States. According to the U.S. Travel Association, travel is America’s number one services export generating a total of $2.1 trillion for the U.S. economy.

Lincoln’s tourism season mirrors that of the United States, with a general upswing in travel numbers starting around the first week in May and continuing through the fall. We are excited to kick-off the 2nd annual Craft Beer Tour, a replacement for the Be A Tourist Passport program that has been a part of our summer travel promotion in Lincoln.

The campaign is designed to highlight the city’s burgeoning craft beer industry. The microbrew craze has been sweeping the nation for some time now and Lincoln is no exception. According to the Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild and the Brewers Association, our state now has 33 craft breweries (34th nationally); with 2.5 breweries per 100,000 residents (16th nationally); producing 1,250,000 gallons of craft beer annually; with a $424 million economic impact (32nd nationally).

Our goal with this program is to encourage local residents and their visiting friends and family to stop by the nearly one dozen Lincoln breweries, learn about their unique beers, their brewing processes and most of all the taste of these great craft beers.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick up your Craft Beer Tour booklet at the Lincoln Visitors Center (located at the corner of 7th & P streets in the Haymarket).

2. Get your souvenir t-shirt (while supplies last) with the tour booklet.

3. Participants must provide contact information including name, address, email and age (participants must be at least 21).

4. Only one booklet per person; participants must pick up their own booklet.

5. Visit all ten locations to have your beer guide validated and receive your free pint of beer, compliments of each participating brewery.

6. Complete your tour before December 31, 2018.

7. Return your booklet to the Lincoln Visitors Center.

8. Receive your free traditional “shaker” pint glass (while supplies last).

The ten local Craft Beer Tour participants are: Backswing Brewing Co., Blue Blood Brewing Co., Empyrean Brewing Co., Zipline Brewing Co., White Elm Brewing Co., Code Beer Company, Green Flash, LOCAL, SchillingBridge Cork & Tap and Granite City.

You can visit the Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.lincoln.org for more information on this program and several others happening around the city this summer.

I hope you will take a moment to be a tourist, experience the joy of craft brewing in your own home town and be sure to spread the word with any friends and family visiting Lincoln this summer.


Lincoln Chamber of Commerce - Joining Organizations LogoThe Chamber’s mission is to improve the lives of Lincoln residents by providing increased economic opportunity and can only be accomplished together. For more information on the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, (www.lcoc.com) please contact Jaime Henning at jaimehenning@lcoc.com.