I am going to be in CA from May 5th - 12th, and during that time I'll be in the LA, Anaheim and briefly San Diego areas. I'm hoping to get at least a couple brewery tours in. Stone is a no-brainer, but which other ones are recommended? Let me know if any require tickets purchased well in advance, or sell out really quickly. Any insider tips you can share would be awesome! Thanks for everyone's help!
Some breweries charge for tours?!?! Last tour i went on was at The Bruery, it was free, and for the 6 people on the tour they opened a bottle of Loakal Red, Sour in the Rye and Melange 3.
Hit up (email) Jade at Societe. She took just my father and I around for about a hour in the brewery.
Ballast Point (the new giant one in the middle of Miramar, not the one on the east end of Miramar) has a pretty neat tour.
i'm probably in the minority here, but Sierra Nevada is probably the only brewery in California worth touring. Lagunitas, Stone, BP, and FW may be a nice tour as well. Almost all other breweries in the state can be "toured" by standing in a single location.
Yeah but you have to turn around at times. That is a lot to ask while I am drinking a nice pint. I mean, a whole TWO things. I got to drink AND turn? Like wtf....too many things.
I totally agree with @01Ryan10 that Sierra Nevada's tour is one of the best around.. I have really enjoyed Lagunitas too
Pretty sure you've been to Stone escondido. That garden is way too pretty to ever want to do more than just drink beer. Stone knows what's up. Plus movie nights during the summer. Only then will I do two things..watch..and drink....maybe a third if they are doing a MST3K night with Princess Bride, Big Lebowski or Space Balls.
no more movies here in Escondido! only at liberty now which is logistically way better since there is a bar in the movie area. just not as secluded like the garden here but Wednesdays now there is live music, which also happens at the farm on Wednesday and Fridays!
Holy crap that sounds amazing! Beer + MST3K?!? Wait...pretty sure I already overindulge in the combination of the two as it is.
When you got about 30 "sober" guys roughly saying the same thing back to an inanimate screen during Princess Bride...it is a glorious time.
Lost Abbey/Port is kind of interesting. Stone is worth the trip. aside from that just go to the places you like to buy from so you can get it straight from the source. The Scripps Ballast Point tour wasn't terrible but they've also expanded since I was down there. IMO Lagunitas tour while nice was kind of what you'd expect from a brewery that has a well known love of the green stuff, and I'm not talking about hops... Sierra Nevada's tour is the shit but you're in the wrong part of the state to pay them a visit.
so from my experience if you go to the tap room for most places, you are in the middle of the brewery. As previously mentioned as soon as you turn around from getting your beer you pretty much get the tour.
