Best Brewery Experience?

Hands down it was my visit to Sierra Nevada in Mills River, NC (last fall).

The facility is absolutely gorgeous!! They have a large taproom/restaurant where there are lots of beer choices beyond the SN beers we can buy at the store. I ate two meals there and they were excellent. There is an outdoor area with a bandstand. It was cool/cold at the time I was there so no real activity at the time but I was told they bring in bands in the warm times of the year (weekends).

I took a 90 minute tour of the brewery. The brewery is beautiful and this was the best brewery tour I have ever attended.

There are many acres of land surrounding the building that will soon be open for some short hiking.

I would encourage y'all to visit!!

Cheers!

@SierraTerence

 

One of my favorites is always Mystic Brewery in MA. I always head there during EBF weekend, usually the night before the session I am attending. Always a comfortable atmosphere, excellent delivery pizzas available and great beer. They typically open up some nice stuff for guests to try (including little tastes of Entropy a few years ago at various stages of aging).

The crowd is never too large, some games to play for extra entertainment including old school Atari. Plenty of seating, etc.

I have been back dozens of times and have never been disappointed.

 

My wife and I went there for lunch during a trip to Asheville about 2 years ago. Was definitely one of the nicest facilities I have seen. Overall great quality for food and brews including some interesting tap room only options.

 

Cantillon happened to be brewing the day the wife and I visited. Seeing their ancient brewing equipment chugging away in a tiny, steam-filled brewing room was a site to behold. Not roped off or railinged off or anything, We also got to see down into the basement where someone was busy cleaning a barrel, and also got to see some barrels in the fruiting area that had just been topped off with freshly macerated fruit in a device which could have served as a medieval torture device at one point.

Also the dog is quite friendly.

 

Coolest brewery that I've ever visited? Probably New Belgium in Fort Collins. Truth be told, I really haven't been into going to breweries for about 10 years. Mostly a pub guy.

 

The other aspect that I forgot to mention above is the quality of the people that work there. Across the board they are top notch - they were all friendly and knowledgeable.

Cheers!

@SierraTerence

 

I'll write another since I just remembered it.

For my 40th birthday my wife, bro+sis-in law took a trip to Austin, TX. It was my trip so I got to make it involve a lot of breweries/etc.

Jester King was an awesome experience. It was a beautiful day and their set up is great. Big open outdoor space with tons of tables to spread out on. Inside bar and outside bar pouring tons of amazing options. Just a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere to hang out and sip on great farmhouse style brews all day. Tour was fun and full of interesting information. Got to buy a Snorkel glass that I had been coveting on the WBAYDN threads. All around a great trip.

 

If you ever make it back to Austin and you are a fan of Barbecue I would recommend a visit to Uncle Billy's in South Austin (near Barton Springs). They have a nice outdoor picnic area, very good Barbecue and the beer is very good as well. A trifecta!!

Cheers!

 

See post #2. The second best was the Sierra Nevada tour in Chico.

 

I toured the Paulaner brewery in Munich a few years ago. Although it was 8 or 10 euro a person for the English tour, it was well worth it. We probably spent an hour in their hospitality before the tour started drinking as much as we wanted and chatting with the tour guides--whom I believe were just regular brewery workers finishing the end of their shift. Then seeing the original lagering caves and spring water source that dated back to the 1600s--you just don't get that experience touring the modern breweries in the U.S.

I remember one of the tour guides mentioning that Paulaner was considering building a new brewery outside Munich and that the old brewery was going was going to close or be repurposed. I'm not sure if that ever happened, but it would definitely be a shame.

 

It's a tie. Fogbelt Brewing in Santa Rosa, CA and Troegs in Hershey, PA.

 

Surprised this hasn't come up yet, and I've mentioned it before - but the first time I went up to Hill Farmstead was amazing:

1. Unseasonably warm for May in VT
2. Beautiful scenery (reminded me more of the part of Scotland I'm from than anywhere else I've been in the US)
3. Great setting and vibe (was their second anniversary party - I'm actually on the cover shot for the photo album for that event on their website)
4. Rented a great house on Caspian Lake and stayed for a few days after the event
5. And obviously amazing beers - I'd had them on tap a couple times in NYC prior, but this was my first time at the source - was blown away

 

I've been to Bell's Eccentric Café, Saranac's West End Brewery, Shmaltz Brewery and the now closed Saratoga Brewing. Bell's was the nicest, the café had a regular barroom feel and the food was good. We sat outside in the hop garden. At that time I believe the brewing was done around the corner and I didn't take a tour. My visit was around ten years ago so I have no idea what the place is like now, but it was a great experience.

The Saranac Brewery has a really nice tour that ends in the tasting room on the top floor. You get a sense of history when you visit this location. Shmaltz and Saratoga brewing are located in light industrial areas. The people at Shmaltz are super nice and they have various events during the week and periodically run festivals during the year. Saratoga Brewing had a very informative small brewery tour and samples were given from the pigtail sampling valve during the tour. The bar was nice, but it was hangout for people who wanted to drink cheap/free samples all day. As I recall they were once briefly shut down by the SLA due to their liberal sampling policies.

My Grandfather told me about a brewery in PA that had an outside tap, glasses and a sink to wash the glasses. He said they ended that arrangement when the drunks started hanging out all day to drink free beer. That's what thought of when I was at Saratoga Brewing.

 

I'd have to say Maui Brewing Co. when my wife and I were on our honeymoon. It was a brand new facility. I think they'd been open less than a year. The beer itself wasn't what made it the best experience for me though. Although the imperial coconut porter, that is only available at the brewery, was outstanding! It was just an awesome open air space, in one of the most beautiful places on earth with my new bride. I can't wait to go back!

 

My favorite brewery experience is also one of my first days drinking ever, and put me on the path of craft. That brewery experience is New Belgium. A couple friends and I managed to get the last 3 tour tickets for the day after getting rained out from disc golf on the one day I was in town.

Every New Belgium employee was incredibly helpful and kind in answering my zillion questions. They ended up giving us something like 6 samples throughout the tour. La Folie both pre-aged and aged (soured) being my favorites for the day and the first beers I actually enjoyed. Since then I've always tried to fit in a trip to New Belgium anytime I'm in Fort Collins (and I haven't been disappointed since, even though I've tried hundreds and hundreds of beers since my first visit).

The local Boulevard Brewery has offered up some fond memories. I toured it twice before the beer hall and once since the beer hall was built. The tours pre-beer hall were top notch, unfortunately, it feels like it has slipped a bit since then (they also got bought out between those tours). While the tour is largely the same, the free beers offered at the end have changed. Prior to the beer hall and tour specific tap room, you could get any beers for free including the smokestack series. It was the first time I tried rye-on-rye-on-rye and immediately fell in love. Perhaps I should tour again with the new beer hall and see if they have put up any smokestack.

 

In the US I'm still a huge fan of New Belgium's facility in Ft. Collins. It's a terrific tour and a great way to experience where small and large breweries meet. Most small to mid sized craft breweries are basically the same. At least the ones that are brewing normal lagers and ales. The places doing the mixed stuff are mostly just barrel rooms for what it's worth. Casey's facility in Glenwood isn't exactly beautiful (yet), but the surrounding areas are, though.

Abroad, it's tough to go wrong with Cantillon's facility. The fact that it's a pseudo museum doesn't hurt, too. Drie Fonteinen is also a neat detour that's more rustic and more modern at the same time. The Bamberg breweries that operate as inns (Faessla and Spezial) are also very cool to experience. They're run entirely by a single family that do everything from brewing operations, running the hotel, operating the kitchen, etc. It's a throwback in the best possible way.

In terms of scenery, I think the Germans have that down pat. Andechs, Greifenklau, and to a lesser extent Weihenstephan. There's something romantic about the area around Westvleteren, but it's a bit plain by comparison. I still need to visit Orval at some point.

 

Wild Friendship at Allagash will forever be my measuring stick of how good a special event at a brewery can be.

 

My favourite brewery to visit has got to be Trailway Brewing Company (Fredericton, New Brunswick). Very modern but cozy aesthetic, small enough to facilitate conversation with strangers but large enough to not be cramped. Best of all? They have a ton of top notch beers on at all time and they sell cans and growlers to go (plus lots of merch and glassware).