So I had the brilliant idea of doing the Beers and Bites Tour with all my Canadian friends who had arrived the weekend before the wedding in Milan, I thought it would be the perfect low-key pseudo-bachelorette/welcome to Italy shindig, and I did I ever hit the nail on the head! We ended having a private tour, in the sense that there was no one else except my girlfriends and I that had signed-up. This was ideal for us, but I can definitely say a shame for everyone else. The Beers and Bites option is new and hasn't quite got up to speed in popularity with the traditional food tour but it should not be overlooked. I think it's a fantastic way to spend a non-traditional evening in Milan if you're not overly familiar with the city. It's essentially a great way to get a buzz and have someone to hold your hand, guiding you through the maze of Italy's up-and-coming craft beer scene (while also supervising you so no one ends up in the canal from one too many!).
The tour starts off as all tours do, with a meet and greet with the guide and as you'll see in the first photo above, the girls were all stoked about ours. I feel terrible, but I've completely drawn a blank on his name during the moment of writing this. I really want to say that it was Marcello or Luca, but then again, I think every Italian man is named Marcello thanks to the million times I've watched "Under the Tuscan Sun". Anyways, names aside, ours was STELLAR. He did the tour in English, naturally, and just had a wonderfully laid-back nature about him. He wasn't overly oppressive like some guides can be, nor annoyed or condescending when we asked for the umpteenth selfie or photo of the evening or when we asked a hundred non-beer-related questions. My friends visiting from Canada commented on this afterwards and particularly appreciated the fact that he was conscious of letting us girls catch-up with each other during the tour.