Bad brewery tour stories.

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by RochefortChris, Jan 18, 2013.

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  1. RochefortChris

    RochefortChris Grand Pooh-Bah (3,017) Oct 2, 2012 North Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm just wondering if anyone has gone on a tour of a brewery and it turned out to be disappointing or even flat out terrible.
    I'll share my story:
    I went on a "tour and taste" of RJ Rockers brewery in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina (for those of you who know anything about South Carolina, that's a problem within itself.) with high expectations of an informative evening with some half-way decent samples of beer. All it turned out to be was a bunch of people gathering around to get a free pint glass and four "tasting tickets" which got your four half pours of what they had on tap. As for the tour, it was a volunteer kind of thing or you could stand around and socialize.
    As for the tour itself, it was led by a guy who I could tell knew next to nothing about the brewing process and was told what to say. He showed us the tanks and a few other components with vague descriptions of how they worked. He was then asked how an IPA got its name by a gentleman from India. He didn't know so I told the story then someone said they liked the Chimay shirt I was wearing and the tour guide then said he had never heard of Chimay and asked what it was....
     
  2. Duff27

    Duff27 Pooh-Bah (2,468) Feb 10, 2010 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Nailed it with the thread title.
     
  3. OneDropSoup

    OneDropSoup Pooh-Bah (2,213) Dec 9, 2008 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I was really excited to tour Three Floyds' brewery for the first time, & two minutes into the tour, it burned down.

    <----(jackass)
     
  4. slacker79

    slacker79 Initiate (0) Mar 27, 2011 Ohio

    Staropramen in Prague. Great city, and good bier, but the brewery tour was just some rooms and video/hologram stuff. Nothing too impressive. The ticket included a drink token, but you could get a cheaper ticket if you didn't want a drink. I did the "tour" with 1 other guy who spoke mostly spanish. He disappeared quickly, as he couldn't really understand what was going on. I didn't want to finish the video about bottling at the end of the tour and got crap from the bartender about it! I just wanted to get to the biers at that point.
     
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  5. MADhombrewer

    MADhombrewer Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2008 Oregon

  6. carteravebrew

    carteravebrew Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2010 Colorado

    Actually, when my wife and I were in Myrtle Beach back in May, we went on a tour of New South Brewing Co and I was very impressed with the tour guide. There were 10-12 of us on the tour, and the guide was very informative, probably borderline over the heads of people who aren't familiar with the brewing process. He wasn't the head brewer, but I think he helps the brewers here and there, runs the canning machine, and serves the beer.

    The beer wasn't so great, but overall it was a good experience.
     
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  7. otispdriftwood

    otispdriftwood Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Colorado

    My $.02.
    1. If you've seen one tank and one bottling line, you've seen them all.
    2. The only bad brewery tour is one that you don't get free samples.
    3. The OP saw some tanks and got samples, what's the problem?
     
  8. Domingo

    Domingo Grand Pooh-Bah (4,206) Apr 23, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    The Coors tour used to be something I'd recommend to anyone who had any interest in beer. You got to see their operations in great detail, try some super-fresh Banquet, and the tour guides even knew what they were talking about. It was cool to see how an operation that large actually ran and they took a fair amount of pride in it, too. The tours used to be 20-30 minutes long and culminated with 3 half-glasses of anything they brewed in Golden (contract stuff included). Macro or not, it was a modern marvel just to see an operation like that.
    Now it's "self-guided" and you only get to see a tiny corner of the place before being whisked away to the tasting room where a bunch of people are trying to receive too many free samples of Coors Light.
     
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  9. Jerktookmyname

    Jerktookmyname Initiate (0) May 31, 2007 Wisconsin

    A few years back I had a horrible host on the Sprecher tour. He was completely attached to his note cards to the point where he literally said, "My favorite beer is (flips note card) Special Amber."

    I've been on their tour a few times and had some decent tour guides, but this guy must've been the owner's nephew or kid or something. He had no clue.
     
  10. marquis

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

    Bass brewery around 30 years ago when it was still a major player.
    We arrived on time and were met by somebody who said "We aren't ready for you yet, can you come back in an hour?" so we explored some of the pubs in Burton on Trent before returning. Our guide was a lady of indeterminate age who had no interest in the subject ; we were led round a large building which happened to be the brewery, catching an occasional glimpse of pipework through portholes in the wall. The only aroma was lavender floor polish. We then went to the "brewing centre" which was a large console with two bored looking workers sat in front of it.Eventually we got to the sample room , we had time for one pint , no food and it was time we went as it was closing for the night!
    Fortunately in those days at least breweries didn't charge for tours but it was disappointing to say the least.
     
  11. checktherhyme

    checktherhyme Pundit (890) Apr 8, 2008 Washington

    I have found that most brewery tours leave much to be desired. That being said, I really liked the Sam Adams tour. My friend even had Jim Koch give the tour himself when he went last summer. Pretty damn cool
     
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  12. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I always like tours. I have seen many tanks and brewhouses. Often I see something of note and might find a nugget of information. It is also informative to see any grains being used, bags of brewer's salts for water adjustment, RO systems, the hops storage room, and any other little thing you can see and make a mental note of.

    The guides can be anything from the head brewer to someone that has the job for the day and is not too up on the process.

    Edit - the tour experience is often a reflection on the total brewery experience.
     
  13. daysinthewake

    daysinthewake Initiate (0) Nov 13, 2010 California

    Maybe this counts. Before my last trip to the Bruery I emailed them to ask how a tour works and try to schedule one if possible. Never got a response back. Fuck them.
     
  14. jbertsch

    jbertsch Pooh-Bah (2,710) Dec 14, 2008 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Heineken. So over-the-top with glitz and multi-media. I felt I was being brainwashed. Then the tasting just fell flat. I gave them a chance and thought, "ok Heinken, here's your chance to show me your beer is alright super fresh straight from the source". But between the bartenders acting like drones as they recited a speech without any emotion or personality telling me how to enjoy my tasting, etc.....it was just sad.

    Also, Harpoon. I've heard the tour is great, but when I went there was no tour, just a tasting. You get a lot of beer, but it was uncomfortably packed and you had to fight for samples. Plus, in the end I left not really liking much of what I tasted.
     
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  15. premierpro

    premierpro Savant (1,060) Mar 21, 2009 Michigan

    I was disapointed with theSam Adams tour. What was realy bad was the offerings at there tasting after the tour. I would expect that they could serve somthing other then what I drink all the time. I love Sam Adams beers and will continue to buy them but my tour could have finished better with somthing better.
     
  16. Greenplastic615

    Greenplastic615 Savant (1,068) Nov 4, 2008 Pennsylvania
    Trader

    I've done both the tour and the tasting there. I think the actual tour is only given on Saturday, and the tasting is the other days, since they won't bring people into the brew-house while they're running their day-to-day production. I definitely recommend the actual tour - I got several samples from holding tanks at various stages of the beer being "done" and it was really cool to see and taste the beer from ingredients, to immediately post-fermentation, to bright tanks, to on-tap. The tasting immediately following was also way less packed than the weekday tasting is (which is free beer for an hour, but they let in 100 people or so with two bartenders, and it's a struggle, at least for the first 20-30 minutes to get anything).
     
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  17. frazbri

    frazbri Initiate (0) Oct 29, 2003 Ohio

    The only tour-gone-wrong story I have is from a few years ago. The Michigan Brewers Guild was doing a series of tours for enthusiast members. We drove up to Detroit in not so good winter driving conditions to tour Fort Street and arrived along with 4 or 5 other die-hards. Problem was the Guild planned it without contacting the brewery, and the brewer was out of town. Still, it was a fun group. We ate, drank, and had a good time, just didn't get to meet and tour with the brewer we were expecting.
     
  18. Longstaff

    Longstaff Initiate (0) May 23, 2002 Massachusetts


    I thought the tour was fascinating based on the scale of the place. Cool to check out the malting room too. But the kool aid the tour guide was serving was a bit much.

    At the end I gave away my drink tickets to someone else and the tour guide asked "you don't like beer?" I replied, "no I love beer, just not yours".
     
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  19. jbertsch

    jbertsch Pooh-Bah (2,710) Dec 14, 2008 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Hilarious. I can't imagine what kind of stares you got from everyone after saying that.
     
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  20. 4kbrianb

    4kbrianb Initiate (0) Jan 2, 2013 California

    dont leave things to a technology like email.... Shoulda called them, they run a rad business. I have never had issues speaking with someone at The Bruery. That being said... maybe they're better at responding to calls and email now!
     
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