Best Brewery Tour Experiences

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by 1009, Jun 8, 2020.

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  1. Budlum

    Budlum Pooh-Bah (2,121) Mar 23, 2006 Maryland
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Yes. Beer, staff, brewery, and experience above all others.
     
  2. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    Sierra Nevada in Mills River NC was the best industrial tour of any kind I have ever taken. The most fun I had on a brewery tour was the self guided tour at Magic Hat in Burlington VE . The fun had little to do with tour itself. It had everything to do with the 2 girls touring ahead of me. They seemed to think the tour was best taken a bit drunk and wearing as little clothing as passible.
     
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  3. Cubatobaco

    Cubatobaco Pooh-Bah (2,057) Jan 27, 2013 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Only have done a handful, but New Glarus was very cool! Beautiful facility and grounds! DFH is always fun. Stone's new facility is Richmond, VA is cool too!
     
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  4. zac16125

    zac16125 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,358) Jan 26, 2010 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    As others have said, Sierra Nevada Mills River (Asheville) is awesome. I’m not much into tours but the facility is amazing, just incredibly impressive and in a beautiful location.
     
  5. OK_Denise

    OK_Denise Zealot (641) Apr 10, 2020 Oklahoma

    Iron Monk Brewery in Stillwater, OK does a great tour. I learned a ton about the brewing process and also some about the business side of the craft beer industry. Very interesting.
     
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  6. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I really hated the Pilsner Urquell tour. Other than the bit at the end where you get to taste beer directly out of one of the wooden lagering vats.
     
  7. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Harvey's of Lewes would be my standout. A wonderful old brewery with a wonderful gentleman of a head brewer in Miles Jenner. Where else would you get to see yeast being stored in open buckets?
     
  8. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Schell's was pretty damn cool, too. They even have a van Linde ice machine.
     
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  9. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Only been to Stone out of the top ten. Though I can't comment on the usual tour there as I just had Mitch Steel show me around.
     
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  10. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Best thing about Fuller's are the old bits of brewing kit which they've left in situ. Like the dropping fermenters.
     
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  11. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    How could I have forgotten FX Matt? The weirdest brewery I've been around. The Lincoln tanks just blew my mind.
     
  12. PGHPABeerdrinker

    PGHPABeerdrinker Initiate (183) Aug 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    I've been on the Troegs general tour multiple times, and it's great. I finally was able to get a reservation for the Splinter tour in April, but then Covid happens. I was able to reschedule in July, so I'm crossing my fingers that it happens.
     
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  13. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Yeah, that was great!:slight_smile:

    Here is Jakub pouring me my beer:

    [​IMG]

    Na Zdravi!
     
  14. HattedClassic

    HattedClassic Pooh-Bah (2,433) Nov 23, 2009 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Best Ones I've Been to:
    Sierra Nevada Chico: I went on their Beer Geek Tour of their Chico facility. It was great learning about the history of the brewery and walking through almost every new addition since its beginning.

    Allagash: Solid AF. Plus the house beer that you can't get anywhere else (at least you couldn't when I went ages ago) at the end was delicious.

    Ommegang: It's a beautiful facility. I don't remember the tour because of how long ago it was but I do remember the game of stickball that was going while I was there.
     
  15. JonB25

    JonB25 Pooh-Bah (1,780) Jun 2, 2013 Delaware
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Are you sure it wasn't townball at Ommegang
     
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  16. patto1ro

    patto1ro Pooh-Bah (1,998) Apr 26, 2004 Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I really enjoyed that bit. I'm noticing now that the ends of the staves are painted green. In the UK and Germany it's almost always red.
     
  17. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Because green means "Go!".:stuck_out_tongue:

    Na Zdravi!
     
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  18. John123will

    John123will Initiate (0) Jun 27, 2018 Indiana

    In my experience brewery tours are highly dependent on the people on the tour and the guide. I’ve been on smaller tours with tour guides that are not knowledgeable or just not enthusiastic and hurts my tour experience. I’ve also had tour guides that are enthusiastic but because there was a large group of people unfamiliar with beer the tour was rather boring for me. My best experiences have been from small tours with my close friends and an enthusiastic guide. There are plenty of amazing breweries out there so in my opinion the brewery itself has less of an effect on the tour experience as the people on the tour.
     
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  19. ClemsonMike

    ClemsonMike Devotee (306) Aug 13, 2010 South Carolina
    Trader

    New Belgium in Asheville is very good. Be prepared to take a little nap afterwards (plenty of free samples).
     
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  20. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,301) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah Society

    My visit to Bass was like that. We were met by a middle aged lady who told us that they were not ready yet, could we return in an hour or so. On our return she took us along miles of vinyl floor with the occasional porthole to view some stainless steel pipes, she did not even know what was being brewed. We arrived at the hospitality room a few minutes before it closed, we managed a pint each.
    For that we had hired a coach and wasted a whole afternoon.
     
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