Best brewery tours?

Don't know if I lucked out with a small group, but I really enjoyed the DFH tour. There were only about 15 people in the group and everyone that worked there seemed to really enjoy their job.

 

Red hook in Woodinville WA was really fun!

 

Matt Brewing (Saranac) has a really nice tour. Great amount of history in the building and they bring you through the brewing process start to finish all through their facility. You get 2 full pints of your choosing at the end at their speakeasy type bar, though can usually manage a couple more. Great ambiance, though beer is generally average with a couple good offerings.

 

another one for new belgium

it was so much fun

 

Lakefront in Milwaukee. Fun! Fun! Fun! Oh and great beer too!

 

The best one I've been on was at an old Kronenbourg brewery in Strasbourg, France. It was partly the circumstances, but it was a good tour. I think I was on the tour with a co-owner of Innis and Gunn or some other British Isles brewery, our tour guide was (obviously) French and spoke very poor English...It was all very strange, but still quite informative, but the best part (and this is the main thing that set it apart from other tours) is that there was a video presentation on the history of the brewery's advertising campaign, and there were some really entertaining ads playing on all sorts of stereotypes from the last 80 or whatever years. Not easy to get to, but a good tour.

I'll also add a vote for Lakefront, that was probably my favorite domestic tour. Though, I overheard a couple of "beer fans" talking shop: "Have you ever had Left Hand? They're in New York" is the only quote I remember...but yeah...

 

Ones given by the brewer.

 

I really liked Samuel Adams' tour. It's free (2 dollar donation to a charity is encouraged) you get 3 pours of their Boston Lager, the seasonal beer and another seasonal type beer. The tour guides are quite comical and they're very informative. It's a cool experience and I highly recommend it.

 

Sierra Nevada! They take you ALL OVER the place. Places like Stone and Lagunitas have you walk about 30 yards total, show from a distance and just talk about the history that you probably already know. Oh well, they're usually free.

 

I really enjoyed Capital Brewery, outside Madison, WI - very informative. But my all time fave has to be Lakefront Brewery as this was part of my bachelor party weekend in Milwaukee.

 

Enjoyed Lagunitas tour, the history and attitude of the brewery in unparallelled, so many good stories.

 

Guinness in Dublin was my favorite... history, fantastic presentation, fun tour people, and a beautiful tap room. Next place goes to AB in St. Louis.

Going to New Belgium (and a few others), hopefully in May... so that sounds like it might be up there when we come back!

How is Odell's tour?

 

Though can't argue with the history, presentation, people and tap room, that tour really felt more like a museum tour rather than a brewery tour. I enjoyed it all the same. And now that I think of it, considering how many breweries I've been to, it was a welcome change.

 

Couldnt believe it took this long for someone to say Sierra Nevada. Its at least an hour long and you get to go in the hop cooler and see everything basically. Plus you get 8 tasters at the end all for the low cost of 0.00!!.

 

Surly - Omar usually gives the tours - and when I went before Christmas, they had plenty of special/rarities on tap for all to try: Smoke, Abrasive, Damien, Bandwagon, etc. It's a great tour and different every time.

 

NOLA Brewery has, in my humble opinion, the best brewery tour you could possibly have. It's 2 hours long, all the beer you can drink, all of their beers on tap, plus special one offs. The brew master is there and loves to talk shop. There's an actual tour, but you can choose to just stand around and drink beer or you can drink beer while you take the tour. There's usually a food truck there too.

 

Deschutes basically does the same exact tour that Sierra Nevada does, with the whole hop cooler and bottling line and everything, but you get that whole cloudy/ depressing Bend, OR thing going on instead of the warm sun of Chico, CA.

 

The Temple Bar Tour, Dublin, Ireland.

P.S., we made this up ourselves.

 

Guinness tour in Dublin, nothing even comes close to it!

 

I second the motion to Ommegang. All for the same reasons as Zeke.