Best Brewery/Pub experience you've ever had.

Which location (Ybor or Oldsmar)? Or maybe both!

 

Ybor, Hoping to go to the new one soon!!

 

The only brewery that I have had bad experiences with is Prairie. I know most complain that they don't serve any of their big stouts there, but that's not their fault. You can blame Oklahoma's antiquated alcohol laws for that. No brewery is allowed to server anything above 4%. Prairie does have a new brewpub in downtown Tulsa now that is so much better than the taproom.

The problem I have with Prairie is the owner and the taproom. He's just not very likeable. The taproom is really out of the way, and a little hard to find for those not familiar with the area. The people they have servicing the taproom are generally clueless and seem uninterested about beer. There is no seating inside, so you'll get wet, freeze in the winter, or bake in the humidity of an Oklahoma summer.

On the other hand, I just did a four brewery tour of Rogers and Bentonville Arkansas. I went to Ozark, New Province, Bike Rack, and Bentonville Brewing all in one day. I had a great time at all four and would highly recommend them to anyone who is visiting the area.

 

Three come to mind:

Shorts - My then girlfriend, now wife were on our first vacation together, we'd spent the last few days with her family at their home in Petoskey MI. It was nice, but a lot of "family time". We left, spent a few days on our own, and drove out to Shorts, and I just remember having such a great time. Drinking delicious beers, eating delicious pizza, and being in love.

Russian River - Also with my wife, this one was interesting because I was a weird free trip to Napa I got to do through work. We were staying at this super fancy hotel that let you borrow a Mercedes if you needed to drive somewhere. It was super strange driving through this beautiful forested area in a 90k car. We split a sampler board of everything they had on draft, and again, ate a stupidly good pizza. (Note: We walked around the area for a while after leaving before driving back.)

Avery - Our Colorado vacation was a lot of hiking and a lot of beer. When we went to Avery the place was PACKED and we almost left, but two spots magically opened up at the bar. One of the bartenders was wearing a Cardinals hat, so I struck up a conversation. The dude was super friendly, and kept bringing tastes of the big beers (Tweak, Rumpkin, Etc). We got our check and he'd comped a few of the pints too. Reading back it sounds like I'm saying "This was cool because I got free shit" but really it was just a great time drinking dynamite beer in a friendly environment.

Honorable mention: As a St. Louisian, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Anheuser-Busch. I've probably been on that free brewery tour 12 times, and it's still fun. Clydesdales, giant vats, canning lines, and fresh beer with good friends. I live pretty close to the brewery and often times the neighborhood will smell like fermentation, and I absolutely love it. Reminds me of being 22 and just going up there with a buddy to kill an hour and neck a couple free brews.

 

Prohabition Pig in Waterbury Vt. A cold October night a light snow having my first HT on tap, with Carolina style BBQ for dinner. What a great night. Also love Blackback Pub, that same trip 4 guys at the bar, 3 are BAs, one from Chicago two from Eastern NC, one local. And me. What a great trip.

 

Creature Comforts See the Stars release this past September was truly a special experience for the 150 or so people who managed the tickets. A very chill vibe with many good "beer friends," with some smart ticketing to ensure that everyone got a pour of See the Stars and See the Sunrise. Oh, and those chocolates. Just a great time all around.

 

Sergios is wild as hell. We did a brewery tour in KY and hit that up while we were there.. Place smelled like rice and beans. Taps all over the place. No organization to any of it. About 385983275 pieces of glassware behind the bar of all shapes/sizes. It was a very....unique experience. I loved it.

 

I might catch hate for this but I'm saying Anheuser-Busch in Williamsburg VA. This was back in the '98 timeframe where you could ride the monorail in from Busch Gardens and do a tour (with 3 free full samples at the end, not the 3oz stuff). I was fresh outta college and wanted to sort of "meet the maker", I guess. Just the immensity/enormity/scale of that brewery at that point in time for me was awesome.

Then they ban-hammered it and made a "Beer School" in Ireland because of maybe 9/11 or some such crap. They need to bring it back... I know they occasionally offers some exclusive "craft" Ab-InBev stuff at Busch Gardens, maybe if they brought back the tour with those offerings it'd be a hit.

 

New Belgium about 10 years ago. I was working in Denver and my brother in law and his wife came up to visit. We did a hike in Boulder that morning and then drove down to Ft Collins for the afternoon. We decided to cap a great day off with some drinks at the brewery. Unfortunately we got there to find the door locked and One of the bartenders came out and told us they were closed for private party. After hearing our thick southern accents and seeing our dejected faces, he asked what brought us to the brewery. We told him of our long trek to Ft Collins and what big fans we were of the beer. He must have felt some pity on us because he let us come inside and drink by the bar. It ended up being a great night, and I'll always be loyal to New Belgium because of it.

 

The Paulaner Brewery in Munich. The tour starts in the hospitality room where we drank as much as we could for around an hour. Then touring a 500-something year old brewery including the old lagering caves and spring that ran under street. The tour ended where we "emerged" at their beer garden on top of a hill across the street from the brewery. Amazing experience.

 

Wait, I thought you couldn't tolerate other people's children being around while you were engaging in your adult past time? Your kids were ok, then???

Btw I don't expect a reply from Cavedave since he has me on ignore.

 

I'm going to say that although I have yet to have a bad experience at a brewery/brewpub, my best experience has been at Conclave. The owner Tim is such a good, friendly accommodating guy that you have to have a good time visiting.

As far as really big brewery visits go though, Allagash and DFH were a lot of fun tour-wise.

 

Russian River, great beer, great food, staff was attentive and my only complaint was waiting to get in but overall the staff made a great effort in customer service. Vinnie needs to expand to southern CA so I don't have to drive 8 hours north.

 

I have been to so many breweries and have had so great experiences that it's hard to narrow down. Here's a top 5.

1. St. Bernardus - we stayed overnight at the inn. #1 beer experience ever. I recommend every beer lover do this once in their life. There's a kind of help-yourself beer fridge in the lobby. We spent the night drinking, talking to new people, and causing some mischief.

2. Maine Beer Co - we did a Boston-Portland beercation a couple winters ago. On the way out of Boston on the way to Portland, our car broke down and we had to get in towed and rent a car. Due to this delay, we got to Maine after closing time (3:00; this was back in the old location by Allagash). They were generous enough to stay open and give us our own private tasting.

3. North Brewery - my local and may be a bit of a homer pick, but I've been to a lot of breweries and the energy here is incomparable. Always a great, friendly crowd of people. Bottle sharing is encouraged.

4. 3 Fonteinen - happened to stumble across this when they were doing an open house for their 60 year anniversary. Did a tour of the barrel room, had a special framboise only available there, and my friend bought an Armand Seasons box signed by Armand.

5. Fiddlehead - walked into this place before they blew up. They had cases of mastermind just sitting there. I had never heard of it, but bought a case. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Honorable mention - we did the Ommegang/Inn at Cooperstown beer weekend thing the first day that the new building was opened. Awesome time and highly recommended.

 

You know, I've watched this thread for awhile thinking about the topic. Unless there are negatives induced by the staff, atmosphere, beer quality etc., my best times at bars or breweries were the result of many circumstances just coming together. By that I mean my attitude before I even entered, circumstance of who I met there, great crowd or lack of crowd etc...
Really good times just happen.

 

Funky Buddha. Great staff, varied tap list and terrific food. Tap room is a nice place to hang out and it's well managed too.

 

Hanging with Donna and chatting up Tod at the Portsmouth Brewery years ago. The place that got me into craft.

 

+1 for FB, the place is amazing. Have a friend coming in from MI Wednesday to stay a week, and a brewery tour w/lunch is definitely on the agenda.

 

I don't think that AB-InBev has anything to do with Busch Gardens parks anymore (weren't the parks sold at least 7 years ago?).
So I seriously doubt that the old "hospitality tours" will be back any time soon.

 

The Modern Times tasting room in Point Loma. The bartender was really conversational, and he even showed me a book full of their beer recipes that included the meaning behind each beer's name. Very cool.