Brewery Tours Actually About Brewing

The few brewery tours I've taken here in the PNW have mostly been about the brewery's approach and philosophy toward beer and brewing, and also how they use different techniques to achieve certain objectives (flavor, aroma, body etc.). What you have described sounds pretty horrible and pointless.

 

Loved the Allagash tour

 

To me, there's a definite association with size. Here are my 'three' tiers:
(1)Small and very regional places like Keegan in NY... you'll get a real good perspective on the process of brewing and it's likely that the owners/head brewmasters will be the ones stepping out of their waiters to answer your questions personally. Their emphasis is to cultivate homebrewing; it's very grassroots, and they want you to be inspired.
(2)Large craft brewers like Sam Adams and Brooklyn. They like to focus on their history when you go on their tours, and like to establish their role as trailblazer. You'll still catch that bearded guy if you go to Sam Adams; they even point out his office. Even here the brew making process is less emphasized. They cover the basics, but generally the people are your novice drinkers. Thus, they emphasize on 'how to taste beer' properly at these venues before shuttling you to the tasting rooms.
(3)Mass brewers like Heineken. They had an 'amusement park' ride where the ground shakes and a 4-D theater...enough said.

 

Coors was a bit like that... sadly at the end of the tour they expected you to drink their beer.

 

The Ballast Point tour I took was very open to questions about the process. Stone? Not so much, since the group was much larger and the guide was more "scripty".

 

Sam Adams is pretty hands-on. Literally.

Side note: Avoid Shipyard. They stick in a weird room and make you watch a short vid, then hand out samples. The people that work there are nice, but for a tour? Do it for the samples if anything.

 

I thought Great Lakes does quite a nice job. Especially showing and explaining the computer technology they incorporate. Also they talk a lot about their seasonals and the reasoning behind them etc. Our tour guide seemed like an old dufus at the start but pleasantly surprised me.

 

I did both of those as well. Funny thing is our Ballast Point guide said he used to work as a Stone guide. He seemed to be the more personable and insightful of the two guides.

 

About 2 months ago I was lucky enough to go on an Anchor Brewery VIP tour and it was excellent. The guide was very personable and knowledgeable and answered any and all questions we had. Oh, and the beer was really good too!

 

I enjoyed the blue point tour, it was very personal and they spoke very much to the brewing approach and why they chose certain places to contract brew such as Troegs and two roads.

 

This is what I was going to add when I opened this thread.

I do think it is worth while to tour one of the macro to get an idea of the different scales of breweries even if they do make you drink their beer at the end of the tour

 

We got to drink before AND after the tour. It was rough but I made it through. I think they had all but 2 of their beers on tap. The freshness is undeniable and there are no doubts about tasting what the brewer intended. The whole experience got me excited about Anchor again to where I was picking up their beer more than I might have. I guess you could call it a win - win!

 

I've only been to two tours and they were a day apart. First, I went to DFH with a few friends (none of whom are craft drinkers). It was under construction but it was still good enough (sadly the bottling line was also not underway due it being Easter or something I believe). My tour guide was good enough and she went into what goes into beer, followed by the history of DFH. She asked the group some questions and I think I answered most of them (I can be quite loquacious and like answering/asking questions when I think I have a good one). Anyways, it was just fun going to my first tour and all. My group got there an hour early and I'm glad that we did, so that we could get the tastings out of the way (thankfully due to that high ABV). I was super excited for the tastings because I figured I would finally be able to sample some of their 750ml stuff that I hadn't bought yet, but it was limited to whatever they had on tap that day (120, 90, Chateau Jiahu, Positive Contact, 60, another one I think and their Root Beer). Since my friends don't really drink they gave me their extra tokens (I think you get about 4).

The next day I went to Burley Oak by myself and that was much more nonchalant. I thought I was the only one going on the tour and probably kind of stood out, because everyone else was just drinking at the small bar. It ran on "beer time". I bought an Aboriginal Gangster (dat absolute freshness) and brought it on tour. I learned a bit more about beer in general that I didn't know about, the history of the brewery (the land it is on), and had a great time (it was only about 20 minutes compared to the hour and a half event that was DFH).

I guess none of this really answers your question, but I thought I would share. You probably have to aim for the smaller more regional breweries to get what you want.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Mystic Brewing. It wasn't a big day for attendance, so I had the good fortune to chat with Mr. Greenhagen about yeast, fermentation technique, and cranberries. While not much to see in terms of equipment, the opportunity to talk to someone who is so completely passionate about the fermentation process was amazing. I love the physical process and I have a thing for stainless steel...I've giggled like a schoolgirl when I look at nice stainless fabrication. But at the end of the day, a tank is a tank and a pipe is a pipe - as a pro in the food business it certainly gets my attention (good and bad), but once you've seen one...and frankly a walk through tour doesn't cut it for me. I know my way around a plant and I want to wander, look at things up close, and ask the how and why questions. I want to get behind the scenes.

What makes it tick as an organic, living process is much more fascinating to me, and talking with Mr. Greenhagen about these aspects of brewing is something I will not soon forget. He was a gracious host and his enthusiasm was infectious. Enjoyed every minute. The beer being great was a bonus...

 

Sadly Alaskan is like that too. That being said, you get to try 8-12 4oz samples and I tried freeride apa when it was a pilot brew (only avaialble in taproom)

 

I went on the CCB tour twice, both times with Ian as the guide. While he was quite humorous, the tour kind of lacks. I want to see more than the 15 bbl pilot system in brewhouse 1. I understand thats where it all started but the techniques have advanced so much in 5 years I couldn't help but feel like we were just being given the most basic of information. The highlight was drinking fresh beer from the fermentor.

 

Ommegang and Keegan Ales both give highly detailed tours about their brewing process and what goes in them. Highly recommend both.

 

Good tours.
Sierra Nevada, Stone, Deschutes, Firestone Walker, Odell, Fuller's, Young's (closed) and a few more I can't remember before coffee this morning. A long time ago I was one a tour with a group of home brewers in Kalamazoo, and the guide was Larry Bell, which was memorable.

Poor tours.
Brooklyn - it was lame.

They all are similar after you see a couple of them. There are small details in equipment, layout, materials and process that

 

Ommegang's was thoroughly brewing-centric.