Hey guys, I'm visiting the Ommegang brewery next Thursday, August 1, while I come home to RI from Rochester. I just have a few questions about the brewery to those who may be familiar. Are cameras allowed inside the brewery? I've seen pictures of the picturesque landscape outside, but I've never seen any pictures of the inside. I know they do tastings for 3 bucks or so, but do they have bottles for sale on the premises or growler fills? Lastly, they don't say they're closed on the Ommegang website, but the American festival is the next night (Aug 2nd) and I was just wondering if anyone knew for sure that they will be open? Thanks in advance, guys! Oh, one more question, next week is apparently Hall of Fame week at the Baseball Hall of Fame, will it even be worth passing through the Hall of Fame, especially if I don't feel like spending 6 hours there?
I can answer some of these Q's. I love Ommegang. I can't imagine someone would tell you to put a camera away. It's beautiful in there, but it's not Disney. They sell bottles, for sure. I never tried to fill a growler, but why not? I'm sure you could call and ask. I'm guessing they keep their regular hours regardless of a festival coming up. My hunch is that it's different staff working the restaurant/tap room than the ones who organize events. Baseball Hall of Fame? If you're a baseball fan, you might as well go. Much of it is chronological, so go to the time periods that appeal to you most.
If you're a baseball fan, the Hall is worth a stop. IF you look at every exhibit and read every single description of every single artifact, you can be there for quite a long time. But if you can have a great time just glancing at the exhibits, walking through the Gallery with the placques of the inductees and only spending a lot of time on the things that actually interest you. I've had people tell me that they need at least two days there but I got my fill in less than a day.
Yes you can take pics inside. Not for nothing, it looks like every brewery you've ever been to, although it was smaller than I thought it was going to be. Bottles for sale yes. Growlers I'm not sure about. Lastly I would just call them to ensure that they're open. Ask the growler question as well.
Thanks guys, I'll probably send them a tweet before I call. 2 days is a long time to spend at the Hall Of Fame. I'm a baseball fan who would like to see the history, but not enough to stop and read every single plaque and trophy. I'm not as worried about growlers as I am about possibly buying some nice limited stuff at the brewery.
Cameras are certainly allowed inside the brewery. We do have bottles for sale as well as growlers and growler fills. We will be closed on 7/25 as we set up for the Grace Potter concert. We will reopen at 11am on Friday 7/26. We will also be closed during our BCTC festival on Friday 8/2 and Saturday 8/3. Its all hands on deck to run BCTC as over 3,000 people come.
if they still have the open fermenter and yeast cultivation stuff, that's different than most breweries I've been to. It's been a few years since I was there. I also recommend checking out the Cooperstown Bewery just down the street, again, if still there.
Plan on spending some time in their Café too... It isn't cheap, but you can get some good food there. I was there a few weeks ago and they had a duck confit crepe that was awesome. My wife had a roasted red pepper/spinach/gouda crepe and liked it as well.
