If you read The Globe and Mail newspaper, you may have noticed this morning a full page ad on the back of the front section for Scenic Tours, promoting a river cruise in October from Amsterdam to Basel. It’s certainly an attractive trip, all the more so because the company is offering two-for-one pricing! But it’s about to get even better…

Because yours truly is coming along to add beer to the equation!

That’s right, in addition to a relaxing cruise down the beautiful Rhine, complete with plenty of culture and tourism stops, we’ll also be featuring numerous beer-oriented side trips, including a visit to Amsterdam’s terrific Brouwerij ‘t Ij, a pub crawl through Köln, tours and tastings at Belgian, German, French, Luxembourg and Swiss breweries large and small, and even floating tutored beer tastings. All for only a few dollars more than the book price for the cruise.

The beer portion of the trip is all very new – so new it hasn’t yet been included in any of the promotional materials for the trip – and so several details are still being worked out, but I can guarantee that it will be an experience no beer aficionado will soon forget. And the Scenic Tours “Space Ship,” with balconies attached to almost every suite and plenty of room in both the public and private areas, makes the whole thing just that much more appealing.

For a basic outline of the cruise, stop by the Scenic Tours website and have a look at the itinerary departing October 11 from Amsterdam and sailing for 13 days to Basel. And if you like that idea, give CruiseShipCenters Rosedale a call at 866-355-7447 or 416-962-7447 for more info and booking details.