Charging for a brewery tour?

the brewmaster tour at anheuser busch in ST LOUIS is $35. include tasting, seeing the Clydesdales , and a random gift

 

Why do they charge for a tour of their brewery? Why do they make me pay 8.50 for a beer at Miller Park to watch a Brewer team that's like 70 games out of first place? Same answer to both questions, because they can.

 

I don't have any complaints about paying for a tour. It really just depends on the brewery and how they decide to respond to having people come into their space while they proceed to drink like fish and lean on things they should not be leaning against.
I know with the charged tours I gave. I made sure no glass was empty for longer than it needed to be. So, if the tour lasts a while and people get looser. Things can happen, so we spent most of the time near the taps. I also had to take time out of my day for a couple hours to do it. There are plenty of layers around the issue, and valid reasons why.
Some breweries use it to pay for the staff who has to come in on their day off, others because it's a manufacturing space and insurance for random people who are not connected to the brewery, etc. Others to pay for the beer you're going to drink, because more often than not you'll have far more than what $10 can get you at the bar.
It just depends. If its a production only facility, there are plenty of laws in place, and inviting people inside to tour it, it just kind of makes sense to charge people because of some of the risks involved with serving people inside a production facility with shiny objects and things people might want to touch that they really shouldn't be near with any kind of dutch courage involved.

 

Fixed that. It's $5 (plus tax) per person, not $15.

That's a great deal, really:
Sit at bar = $5 worth of beer (served in pint glass you leave)
Tour = $5 worth of beer (i.e., at least a pint) + pint glass to keep + entertainment

Pro tip: Go Saturdays with Bob*. Bring Bob a beer we don't get (at least regularly get) around here. If you don't have a good time, that's pretty much gonna be on you.

*To be clear, I am NOT Bob.

 

larger breweries pay one or multiple employees full time salaries for a tour guide position. Charging $5-$10 for a tour + beer tasters (+ souvenir) + beer knowledge doesn't even get close to covering the expense.

 

I'm fine paying ~$5 for a tour if it includes some samples and a knowledgable guide.

 

Troegs is $5.00 includes an etched pint glass. 4 to 5 samples including a green beer.

 

I am always surprised people want to go on a brewery tours,
I mean its basically all the same shit, you've seen a stainless tank once, you've seen them all,
Cantillon etc are pretty interesting and worth a look

Here in Australia tours are generally free, but no free pours at the end,

I have never understood why wineries don't charge for tastings, I think 80 % of tastes at wineries are just getting their drink on,and wont buy any wine

 

Just say no.

 

Ditto. Got a great tour with a wonderful and entertaining tour guide and at the end got 4-4 oz pours of their year rounds and got to keep the taster all for 3 bucks. No whining here and would do it again just to see what's changed.

 

I've only had one, they do it mostly for the tasting glasses they give out with each tour that you get to keep. I wouldn't mind paying for a tour if it went to charity or something like that, but just to see the same fermenters, mash tuns, etc as everyone else? Nah thanks.

 

I think I've paid for a few tours. Stone charges $5/tour/person. I think the tour I took at Brooklyn Brewery was free, but they do have a paid, specialty tour, too. Firestone Walker is free on weekdays, $3 on weekends. Sierra Nevada is free for their basic tour, but they also have a Beer Geek tour that's $30.

It's pretty common practice in my experience- It all depends on what all is involved in the tour (like the Beer Geek tour is something like 3 hours long) and if you get any souvenirs on your tour (Stone you get a branded taster glass).

 

horseshit

 

Dang next time I'm in Chicago I'm def checking that out.

I've always found that smaller breweries that charge a fee usually have a pretty personal interactive tour and tasting during. I would rather have a really up beat, one on one tour for a few bucks that barely covers the cost of beer and glassware to keep, than a free big brewery tour that has a very standardized basic tour. Obviously that doesn't always happen but from my experience it has held pretty true.

If its a big concern you can always just check out the reviews for it and go from there. I will say that I have been to some larger breweries that charge and I wasn't super impressed but hell its still a fun walk around and a check off from the brewery bucket list.

 

I don't know if we had Bob, but we did tour on a Saturday. We got the first one of the day. Thete were 4 people total (us and another couple we didn't know). He warned us it was going to be shorter than usual (45 minutes vs 1 hour), but he loaded us up on beer to make up for it. For $5, to get a pint glass, a fill, and plenty of right off the fermenter beer was well worth it.

 

Did you drink flights afterwards KevO? If so, you're bitching about $7. Really???

 

Pilsner Urquell was (roughly) $5 per person, with a unfiltered Pilsner Urquell included. No complaints on my side.

Generally speaking, paying $5 for an hour or two of entertainment is fairly common. And if a beer is included it is a slam dunk.

 

Cantillon charges 7 Euros and it was worth every bit and then same. For a good tour or a brewery I care about, I have no problem paying.

 

We offer free public tours every day that include a guided walking tour of the brewery and free samples in the Tasting Room. We also offer a couple of paid options:

http://www.boulevard.com/brewery/brewery-tours/the-smokestack-tour/

and

http://www.boulevard.com/brewery/brewery-tours/the-unfiltered-tour/

I'm admittedly not a part of the Tours & Rec department, but I've never seen any negative comments regarding folks not feeling that the two paid tours were worth it.

 

Wow, what do they do for two hours? I've done many tours, but none were anywhere near 2 hours. I would do it for sure next time I'm in Chicago.