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What's the best Brewery Tour you've been on?

Basso

Chimp
Mar 3, 2009
5
0
I love to take tours of brewery's. It's fun to see where it's made and taste the fresh beer. I've been to probably a dozen brewery's in my day, and two really stand out in my mind - Shiner Brewery & Saint Arnold Brewery (Houston).

What's your favorite?

:cheers:
 

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
Mangatainoka Brewery, where Tui, the greatest beer in the world is made.

I have never seen so much beer in my life and they want you to get absolutely pissed at the end of the tour.

Magical.

 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
best one i ever took was in '90 or so, at Sam Adams...Jim Koch led the tour. he was really funny and we all had plenty of different beers @ the end of the tour.
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
I'll second the Sam Adams brewery tour. We had a great time and sampled plenty of beers.
I'll be touring their new facility in PA at the end of the month, but I'd love to get up to their New England digs.

My best tour was either the drunken midnight stumble through Victory with one of their brewers or the DFH tour with some other brewers, followed by bocci with Garrett Oliver and steaks, courtesy of Sam.
 

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,452
1,980
Front Range, dude...
Heineken braueri tour, in A-Dam, with Partsy back in the day. 10 Euro, 1 free beer at 3 different bars, but by the time that you reach the third, the bar guys just dont care and give you what you want anyway!

Didnt learn anything about brewing beer tho...
 

macko

Turbo Monkey
Jul 12, 2002
1,191
0
THE Palouse
New Belgium for sure. When my girlfriend and I were in Colorado a few months ago we visited New Belgium, Left Hand, Twisted Pine, and Oskar Blues. OB is a sweet place to go drink and eat...but New Belgium has the best tour.
 

Arutha

Monkey
Nov 26, 2002
113
0
Western PA
Personal tour with Dany from Fantome but might not count since it wasn't a "normal tour." Most tours, although are nice, are just too impersonal. The really small breweries seem to do the best, I need to have a tour of Jolly Pumpkin, I would expect it to be good.
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
New Belgium for sure. When my girlfriend and I were in Colorado a few months ago we visited New Belgium, Left Hand, Twisted Pine, and Oskar Blues. OB is a sweet place to go drink and eat...but New Belgium has the best tour.
Dude...I love Oskar Blues (the beers not the brewery...never been). Only thing I can get out here that's 8.5% in a can. The only other way to do that is to drink half a fifth of Everclear and piss in a can.

I'd say the Rogue Brewery is probably the best tour I've been on (Washington). Although I'm drawing on pretty limited experience.

My bro-in-law said his favorite was Anchor (S.F.) and second best was Deschutes.

Arutha said:
Personal tour with Dany from Fantome...
Fantome rules.

That is all.
 

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
Heinekin but not cuz of the beer. :D

We did the Lakefront tour a couple of weeks ago & it was awesome Laura was dubbed the official Bung Queen & she has the bung to prove it.

Of the big sex-in-a-canoe breweries I have done Buweiser in St. Louis, a partial Miller tour & a tour of Coors in Golden.

I much prefer the beer & tours at micro breweries.
 

valve bouncer

Master Dildoist
Feb 11, 2002
7,843
114
Japan
Best beer tour would be one that goes something like this;
1.00- 1.05pm-- Look at the vats and sh*t.
1.05- 6.00pm-- Drink your bodyweight in brewery product.
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
Short tour at Coors. Straight to the tasting room. Hey, we were college students and IIRC it was free, too.

They don't do this any more.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,102
1,153
NC
Best beer tour would be one that goes something like this;
1.00- 1.05pm-- Look at the vats and sh*t.
1.05- 6.00pm-- Drink your bodyweight in brewery product.
That was exactly the tour we got of the Duck Rabbit brewery down here. They did a sampling of all of their barley wines plus some other random brews. No charge.

We showed up, looked at the vats, then got a glass of beer. And another beer. And a dozen more. And free bratwurst and wings. And more beer.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
Swung by the New Glarus Brewery and wasn't that impressed. The self-guided tour was ok (story of how they bought the brewing equipment from a company in Germany, or the processes used), but the tasting room was a disappointment. Only 3 beers to try, two of which I've already had. Was hoping for something different, or at the very least one of the new seasonals that are just coming out to market, but no dice. Looks like my current method will have to still be "buy 6 pack, and if not thrilled give to wife to make beer bread."
 

BikeLuvR904

Monkey
Jun 8, 2009
111
0
If anyone is ever in NW Montana theres Lang Creek Brewery. Never been there for a tour. But I was at their tasting room and that was an hour of fun.
 
Aug 12, 2009
8
0
Asheville, NC
I have a tie....Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, VT and French Broad Brewery in Asheviile, NC. I have toured the Magic Hat Brewery three times and love it! Some of my favorite beers! :thumb:
My first tour (I have done two) of the French Broad Brewery was one of their very first tours and they were so excited to have people to see them I had to cut off the flow of beer(free of course!), and trust me that is almost impossible! Plus their beer is pretty great too!
So these are the two best of about 15 breweries I have toured!
Hmmmm...1/2 hour to go at work then time for some riding and beer! :D
 

DamienC

Turbo Monkey
Jun 6, 2002
1,165
0
DC
Recently toured the Cantillon brewery in Brussels, the only remaining active brewery inside the city limits.



One of my favorite parts was checking out this copper cooling tun:



7500 liter capacity and a fine piece of copper smithing - no welds, it's all riveted. This cooling vessel is in the attic of the brewery where the wort is pumped after boiling to cool down. The attic is vented to the air outside and the wort is imbued with airborne, wild yeasts whereupon the beer begins the process of spontaneous fermentation. No additional yeast is added.

This tour was part of a self-guided beer crawl through Belgium that my wife and I went on in May. We also hit up the Abbaye de Scourmont in Chimay and the Abbaye de Notre Dame de Leffe (birthplace of Leffe beer) in Dinant.

A copper brew kettle in the middle of a traffic circle in Chimay:


Door at the Abbaye de Notre Dame de Leffe in Dinant:
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
As always I'm partial to Yuengling.


The brewery tour of the original brewery was interesting. They still have the original stained glass ceiling over the kettles.



The coolest part of the trip which has been recently opened was the tour of the caves under the brewery. The caves were dug to house the beer in since it stays cool.
In this photo you can see part of the brick wall that was erected during prohibition to restrict the use of the caves.



This photo is the shaft that was dug to the underground aquifer that originally supplied the water for the beer.




My wife and I still say the best beer we ever had was at the end of the tour.








This is an image painted on the brewery room wall of the president drinking the first bottle of beer in the white house after prohibition. Yuengling of course and the batch was called Winner Beer.

 

-BB-

I broke all the rules, but somehow still became mo
Sep 6, 2001
4,254
28
Livin it up in the O.C.
As always I'm partial to Yuengling.
Maybe it was just me, but when you went on the tour did they talk about how they used the same yeast for all of their brews?

Something aint right there. Either she was wrong or they are mis-naming hteir beers. How do you use the same yeast for Chesterfield ALE that you also use for the traditional Lager?
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
Maybe it was just me, but when you went on the tour did they talk about how they used the same yeast for all of their brews?

Something aint right there. Either she was wrong or they are mis-naming hteir beers. How do you use the same yeast for Chesterfield ALE that you also use for the traditional Lager?
Could be why chesterfield tastes just like the lager to me, with the exception of some ale-like esters. I'd be surprised if they aren't the same recipe and they're just fermented at different temperatures. There are strains of lager yeast that ferment cleanly in the mid-60s. There are also ale yeasts that will ferment in the mid-50s.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Mangatainoka Brewery, where Tui, the greatest beer in the world is made.
:rofl:

I don't think too many people will get it...

A broken bottle of Monteith (forget which kind) got my thumb. Still have a scar there...
 
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RUFUS

e-douche of the year
Dec 1, 2006
3,480
1
Denver, CO
Ommegang brewery in Copperstown,NY

Very small brewery, very personal and a lot of fun. Plus you are sampling beers up to 18%. Make sure you have some food before going to that one.

Magic Hat has a good tour but their beer still sucks balls.