Best brewery tours?

De Dolle, hands down. Being shown the ropes by a 95-year old lady that still does 2 tours every Sunday is awesome. She's incredibly passionate for the whole thing.

 

Flying Dog in Frederick, MD had to be the best tour I've been on so far. I have toured breweries like Dogfish Head, 16 Mile and Tröegs – but the thing that sets Flying Dog aside was how they let the group try their Snake Dog IPA from kettle-to-keg throughout the tour. I also noticed how they kept the tour attendance level down around 20 people, which really helped make the experience more genuine, and the overall brewing facility and staff more accessible.

 

I agree with AB, I've done Jacksonville and Columbus and they're both great.

Great Lakes Brewing is my favorite though.

 

I love New Belgium's. Beyond getting to see their operations and having good guides, it's really interesting to see how a craft operation of that size operates.

While not quite the same, in Bamberg you can actually stay at a few of the breweries. I stayed at Faessla and had a key to the front door and freedom to pretty much wander wherever I wanted to. Can't beat that.

 

I'm only about 15 minutes from them and still haven't taken a tour. I'm going to have to fix that soon.

 

I also had the pleasure of being in a group that Ed Stoudt gave a personal tour to. That man had some stories!

 

Depends on what you are looking for. Scenery, History, Lots of beer, etc.

Some of my favorites:
Cantillon - The history and beer are great.
Anchor - Free. Lots of samples. The copper kettles are cool.
Lakefront - Most entertaining tour by a large margin
New Belgium - Really nice tap room and the overall "vibe" was great.

 

I've been on quite a few in my day... Two have really stood out from the rest.

NOLA Brewing in New Orleans and Terrapin in Athens, GA. If you are in the area at the times either of these two breweries are giving tours, you OWE it to yourself to go. You won't regret it. Both are only held in two hour sessions though, so be aware of that.

 

Duvel was great. The women who gave the tour was very nice, and the facilities are top notch. And for 8 euro's per person, you get two beers of your choosing (Duvel Tripel Hop is a must try for any IPA fan), and a free glass.

Delirium (Brewery Huyghe) was great, as they gave us Infinite samples (although we only had around 3 beers each, as it was 11:30 am when we got to the tasting part, we have another tour later that day, can't remember which).

Also, while I haven't gone, I here sweet water is great, as they supposedly give you six beer tokens, which is too much for the average person doing the tour, so people give you there spares on the way out, so you can drink forever

 

I love me some Stoudt's - they have one of the best Double IPAs around here in SE PA. And great food too!

 

AB is pretty informative, although there was a boilover the day I was there and I didn't get to see the actual brewing. I was pretty shocked to find out that a giant commercial brewery could still have boilovers, but that goes to show just how unpredictable the science of brewing can be.

Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA gives a great tour. They are a tiny brewery, and there's not much to the operation, but they let you get as up close and personal as you want with every part of it. They also pull a pitcher off of one of the dry-hopping tanks to pass around for everyone, and require everyone to start the tour with a beer. For $7 you get the tour, plus 5 tickets each good for a 6 oz. pour of whatever you like, and they have every beer they make available in the tasting room. They also have food trucks come by on the weekends. Great place, I've gone 3 times now and done the tour twice.

 

Agreed. Very entertaining and very good beer!

 

I had no idea where it was, thanks for saying the city. My cousin lives 20 minutes away - I know where I'm going next time I visit.

 

He sure does. One of the most hilarious parts for me was that he was nearing the end of his spiel about the fermenters and he stopped to ask someone what time is was. Finding out it was almost 4, he cut the tour short saying something along the lines of - go buy some of my daughter's cheese, her shop is about to close.

(the cheese shop is on the same grounds)

 

Half Acre is also pretty cool. It's $10 and all the people over there are great. Included you get a pint glass a nice history about the brewery and some beer to sip.

 

I would have to give a lot of love to my two favorite Vermont breweries. That being Long Trail, whose self-guided tour is small, but they have great food at the integrated brewpub. The second is Magic Hat. They have a very cool and ecclectic approach to their tour. Cheers!

 

Another vote for Anchor Brewing Co. Speaking of which It's been quite a few years-need to schedule another tour

 

Outside of Bud and Coors, cleanest brewery I have seen. You could eat off the floor.

 

I have toured several breweries and I would say that the original Yuengling tour was the best. There was a lot of historical things to see, plus you got a couple of free samples after the tour. My wife who isn't a beer drinker loved the tour.

 

Surly has great beer and a great tour!