London Beer The Travel Show

Now on BBC News, it's time for The Travel Show.

This week, I'm pulling pints in London.

We're seeing what's trending in Travel Online.

And Rajan's getting all presidential in Texas.

UPBEAT MUSIC

As summer approaches, London once again heaves with

tourists, some of whom want a taste of something iconically British.

The Japanese have their tea ceremonies,

the French have their fine wines, but we Brits have this...

The thing about real ale is it is an acquired taste.

I would thoroughly recommend it to anybody who comes here,

but you might want to have a plan B, just in case.

Oh, that looks lovely.

Would it be possible to have it in a hollowed-out coconut?

But has Britain's national drink had its day?

Well, its chief supporter thinks maybe.

The Campaign for Real Ale says traditional pubs are closing at

an alarming rate, around 30 week.

Not only that, but the great British pint is being challenged by a

fizzier and fruitier little number.

This is what I love about London.

There is always something exciting going on in the streets.

Now I am in Bermondsey in South East London, which has been

renamed Beermondsey because underneath these railway bridges

there's a revolution brewing.

In 2009 the first micro-brewery opened its doors here,

and since then five more have popped up following the railway line.

MUSIC

In fact, there are now said to be 1500 small breweries in the UK.

More than anywhere else per head in the world.

And many of these are not brewing traditional real ale.

They are making craft beer.

UBREW opened two years ago, and it claims to be the first

and only open brewery, where you can come along and make your own.

For a relative novice like me, what's the difference

between craft beer and real ale?

So craft beer is about innovation, quality, and trying new things.

Real ale is really about how it is stored.

It is stored inside a cask and re-fermented naturally inside

of the cask.

It is a Saison made with passion fruit, it is nice and chilled.

Give it a try.

OK, passion fruit beer!

There we go.

What do you think?

It's really nice.

That is really nice - it's tasty.

Absolutely.

It goes down really smooth as well.

It is a French yeast, being brewed by British brewers, then adding in

tropical fruits, from the tropics.

So it makes this incredible beer.

So is this, and all we see around us, is this the death of real ale?

It is probably... it is a challenge for real ale.

Beer is beer.

We are always going to be excited about beer, and some people are

still going to like those real ales, those cask ales, and you will still

meet those hard cores, for sure.

I wouldn't say it is the death, but it is a big challenge for them,

for sure.

The truth is, there's no fixed definition of craft beer.

It can be virtually indistinguishable from real ale.

Would you like to do a taste comparison between real ale

and some craft lager?

OK.

Yes?

Yes.

Oh, awful!

You don't like it?!

No!

Mmm.

That's an interesting face you're pulling there!

No.

Not really.

All right.

This is new craft beer, which everyone says is the future.

But it tends to be made on a small-scale, and bottled,

and it often comes with a younger, funkier image.

This is the real ale, this stuff in front.

So if you want to take a little bit each?

Oh, nice!

What do you say in Finland?

Kippis!

Kippis!

Yes.

It is quite good.

Quite good.

Definitely good.

You love that!

It is a really good, fresh beer.

Oh, good fresh beer, that's quintessentially British.

How does it taste, what do you think, would you like to try some?

Lovely!

There are still a lot of affection for real ale.

Even the Chinese Premier wanted a taste of real ale on his last visit.

Xi Jinping was photographed in a pub, drinking a pint,

after which exports of India Pale Ale to China soared by 1600%.

Sometimes what you want on your travels is authenticity.

There is nowhere more authentic than my next stop.

And specialist pubs like this one, here in north London, have become

a destination in their own right.

OK, it is time for a quick pint.

Lovely!

FUNKY MUSIC

It may not look like much, but The Bree Louise is

award-winning, and always busy with people who really know their beer.

Its future is currently in doubt as it is earmarked

for demolition when building work begins on the new HS2 high-speed

railway link to Birmingham.

Is there a craft beer revolution?

Is there something going on that is affecting you guys?

Absolutely.

Craft beer is a revolution and its making everyone evolve

and revolve with it.

Ale, isn't it just like bitter and very, like, stodgy?

Why would a young person want to drink that?

You've got everything from hockey, multi, stout, mild, Porter, the

caramel Malky Artur, a squid ink IPA, things with fruit, toffee, I've

got a honey mild on at the moment.

They are all over the place.

So we've got a little bit of a surprise for you.

Craig, meet Matt.

Matt, Craig.

Matt, sit down, this is Matt from UBrew in Bermondsey.

Hi, Matt. How are you?

Good to meet you. A little surprise for you guys.

So Matt has brought along some craft beer.

Yep?

We want you to have a little sample of it and see what

you think of the amber nectar.

OK, let's do that.

Up yours!

That is a professional.

That is absolutely fabulous, it really is fabulous.

That's really interesting to hear that you're not against it, or...?

No, not at all, I'll drink bottled craft beer where I can't

find good cask ale, absolutely.

Beer is beer, and passionate, innovative brewers, that is beer,

and this is made by the same people that made these.

Good beer will always prevail.

I think I'll leave them to bond.

You know what, there is nothing like a petition beer in a British

boozer to bring people together.

Now, if you are looking to wet your whistle on the road,

and you are old enough and you are happy to drink responsibly, here are

some trips to look out for.

The coolest vodka on the planet has to be

Iceberg Vodka, which is literally made from icebergs in Canada.

Take a boat along the Newfoundland coast and taste some

of the purest water on the planet.

Then, when you're back ashore, try a shot of something stronger.

The makers claim the iceberg water makes the vodka taste better.

Staying in Britain, where it's boom time for makers of boutique gins.

This company in West London will take you through the history of gin,

and the flavourings that go into its drinks, with a glass

in your hand, of course.

If that's not enough, you can follow it up with

a gin-themed meal at a nearby pub, with more gin tasting on the side.

Lovely!

Or take time in Paris to try absinthe, the traditional way.

There is a ritual to drinking it properly, dripping iced water over

a sugar cube and letting a trip into your glass.

Forget anything you have heard about absinthe giving you hallucinations,

it doesn't, but be careful.

It's still pretty potent stuff.

Still to come on the Travel Show, we round up some of the latest

virals, as we find out what's trending on Travel On The Web.

And Rajan is in Texas, finding out why JFK's final hours

are being immortalised in Opera.

So don't go away.

The Travel Show, your essential guide, wherever you're headed.

Hello and welcome to Trending Travel, where we explore what's

hot online in the world of travel.

I'll be bringing you through those essential apps, videos and blogs to

take with you when you leave home.

Our top social media stories this month begin in Iran.

Images of female tourist there removing

hijabs, where wearing one is a legal requirement, have been shared tens

of thousands of times online, after a controversial Facebook campaign.

When it was announced that Air France would begin flying into

Tehran after an 80 year hiatus, a number of the female crew called for

the right to opt out of working on the new route, due to an internal

memo asking them to wear a hijab when disembarking

the plane in the Iranian capital.

In support of their concerns, online movement, My Stealthy

Freedom, asked all female visitors to Iran to remove their headscarves

and send in photographs.

The crew members have since won their battle.

In the UK, an online vote on the name of a new vessel destined for

polar research has been the unlikely subject of attention, after one

suggestion was a clear favourite.

Royal research ship, Boaty McBoatface, was voted

for tens of thousands of times.

However, the choice was not binding, leaving science Minister Joe

Johnson to explain that they preferred a name that lasts longer

than a social media news cycle.

Good news now for a woman from Kenya, who edited herself

into a series of other people's holiday photographs on her Facebook

page, after being unable to afford a trip to Asia herself.

Seve Gats' photoshopped images were so unrealistic that they have been

liked thousands of times, during the attention of a Nairobi

businessman, who raised enough money for her to go on holiday.

Of course, people on social media couldn't help

editing Seve into other images from around the world, using

the hashtag #WhereIsSeveGatsNow.

And finally, could this be the future of travel?

Hoverboards have long been dreamed of, so when this test drive

of a new flyboard invention was released on YouTuber earlier this

month, millions of people watched it in action.

It is some way off hitting the shops so don't hold your breath just yet.

We love staying connected with you all online, and don't forget, we're

on Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail.

And you've been sending us some great stuff this month.

Especially via twitter, on Tuesday is, where you've been sending us

your photos from around the world, using the hashtag #TravelTuesday.

Check out our Twitter and Facebook pages for loads of exclusive

Travel Show content and top travel news stories to keep

you up-to-date and inspired for your next world-class adventure.

Now, let's look at the viral videos that have been

clocking up the views this month.

Northern Norway, sparsely populated, with beautiful characteristic

fishing villages, it may be more well-known to travellers

for its Northern lights, but in this video, Dennis Schmelz captures the

sprawling beauty of the Lofoten archipelago

in a majestic aerial film.

And finally, back to Iran, where Canadian resident Navid

Shahram's hyper-lapse video of the country he was born in uncovered a

less well-trodden traveller's path.

The reason I made a video, and it was very personal for me,

it was because there was never enough unique content coming out

of Isfahan, or Iran in general.

It is a beautiful country, it was basically the capital

of art and poetry, and it really saddened me that no one saw that.

# "In Love" - Kiyarash Sanjarani Vahed.

And don't forget to check out our website for all the ways that

you can get in touch, or if you have seen anything online that you

think we should be looking at.

See you next time.

Up next, we sent Rajan to trace the legacy left by a man who in life

transformed the American presidency, but whose death spawned an entire

industry of conspiracy theories.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do

for your country.

Those were the words uttered by John F.

Kennedy at his inauguration in 1961, before he took his chair

in the Oval Office.

Except this isn't the Oval Office in Washington, DC, it's a very good

replica in Dallas, Texas.

Nonetheless, here at the George W Bush

Presidential Museum you can get a sense of what it's like to be in the

driving seat of a world superpower.

But, of course, Dallas will forever be associated with one particular

president, and it's not George W.

Tourists, conspiracy theorists and American

citizens, still coming to terms with a momentous and dark moment in US

history, have been travelling here for more than half a century.

This is where you walk?

Yes.

And running, presumably?

Yes.

Newsman, Pierce Allman, was outside the book depository off

Dealey Plaza when President John F.

Kennedy was shot in November 1963.

He ran to call the story in, when he crossed paths with

a certain Lee Harvey Oswald.

There was a guy standing at the doorway, and I said,

"where's the phone?",

and he jerked his thumb, and he said, "in there",

and it never dawned on me that the man I had encountered was, in fact,

the assassin, leaving the building.

He was not in a hurry, he was not breathing hard,

he seemed, you know, very calm.

And now, 53 years later, people still travel from within

the US and from abroad to understand how it could have happened.

People are very willing to give you their theories as to why

JFK was really assassinated.

I've been given this piece of paper, for example,

which lists the reasons.

It just goes to show conspiracy theories are alive

and kicking round these parts.

A whole dark tourism industry has built up around this event, with

everything from bus tours, walking tours, vintage cars and a sixth

floor Museum at the site where Lee Harvey Oswald fired his three shots.

And then they turned the corner, and, boom!

One window down from the top.

OK.

It actually is the sixth floor.

On the fifth floor window, there were three guys literally

hanging out of the window and looking up and pointing up.

And there is an X that marks the spot where he was when he was shot.

In a sense, it put Dallas on the map, that event.

I'm not sure Dallas will ever, ever totally set aside

the event that happened here.

There will always be curiosity.

There will always be, I think, a sense of wanting to be a part

of the reality.

BLUES MUSIC.

This is big Jake, he weighs 2200 LB, or one metric tonne.

Rides like a Cadillac.

An hour down the road stands another Texas city called Fort Worth.

It's here that a different side to the Kennedy story is now being told.

Because the very morning before JFK was shot in Dallas, he was here,

in much happier circumstances, making an impromptu speech to

thousands of excited spectators, and it is that more positive memory

that is the subject of a new opera.

# Mr President, I'm lifting you from the floor, and we'll carry you...#.

Who knew that that this quick night in a Fort Worth hotel

would end up being his last?

In a way it was on special at all in that moment, and looking back

on it, the whole point of the opera is to explore what sort

of interpersonal relationships they might have discussed.

I think you can crawl even more, it can be like...

I think this opera is in many ways an antidote to

the fetishization of what happened in Dallas, and we can't always look

at history looking backwards.

I think it's really helpful to see a hope and optimism that can take

place before a tragedy.

So I think this opera really does speak to a richer interpretation

of their lives, and not sort of distilling it

down to one tragic moment.

One of the freeing things about this piece in particular is

that we are not doing a documentary of these people.

This evening that nobody really knows what transpired.

This is not a sad tale, this is a tale of the two of them,

and their strength, and their ability to overcome.

So, with the JFK offer of being premiered at Fort Worth Opera

Festival over half a century after his death, the story and myths

around JFK continue to fascinate, and looks set to fuel the tourist

economy in this part of the world for many years to come.

Well, sadly that is all we have got this week but don't worry,

because coming up next week...

Carmen is in Japan, finding out if she has got what it takes to become

a ninja, and we are joining this man, as he attempts to walk every

single street in New York City.

So make sure you join us for that, if you can, and, don't forget,

you can follow us on social media.

All the details are on the bottom of the screen, but for now,

from all of us here on London's Millennium Bridge, it's bye-bye.

UPBEAT MUSIC.

Hello once again.

The bank holiday will start on a pretty chilly note.