San Diego Beer Tour Buses

I hate it. I don't go in. Luckily there other places!!! Ballast Point and Alesmith are the usual places I see those rolling abortions.

 

Then the bus goes back to the meeting spot - and everyone drives home drunk. I don't get the point.

 

more customers = more money = more successful breweries. if you owned a business, i think you'd learn to appreciate the buses. drunks are an inconvenient side effect of trying to make money in the beer business

 

they are customers...if they are drunk, they shouldnt be served. when you sell beer for a living you take on the responsibility of knowing who to serve.

 

There are certain breweries that I almost never go to on Fridays and Saturdays just so I can avoid the buses. Or if I do go during the weekend I generally know what time of day I need to hit to avoid them.

There's one touring company that actually seems to be run really well - they're usually in SUVs and the tour guide is this teeny little lady. She handles her clientele well though and always orders for them so that everybody isn't clogging up the register and also so she can cut people off if necessary. If all the other tours worked like that I'd be a lot less annoyed.

 

I've given thought to doing this for my birthday, this company seems awesome. Got a name or any info?

 

we went on one with her...she was very nice and professional. i forget which company she was with tho

 

The thriving wine tour industry of Sonoma and Napa would disagree with you. There are a lot of wineries that get a huge portion of their annual income from tasting groups (including buses and limos.)

That doesn't mean I like it - I think the fundamental system is flawed/dangerous unless the people are picked up from and returned to a hotel, or there's a DD in the group (unlikely.) And those tour buses are usually full of annoying and drunk idiots. Usually. I do what you do - finish my beer, close my tab, and run.

Bottom line is that the tour buses add tons of exposure and revenue, especially if there are to go bottles. I applaud that bartender in your example for refusing service, but I'm sure they bring in a lot of revenue like they do in the wine industry.

 

i dont know of a single brewery that doesn't want these buses showing up. so i'm not sure what else there is to say on it. you don't like having to wait to get pours or there being a crowd of rubble-rousers...the breweries do

 

[edit]: Ah, couldn't remember it earlier but just found it: http://www.yelp.com/biz/brew-hop-san-diego

 

I love/hate these tours. I like them because they are bringing in business, awareness, and money to the breweries. I hate them because it is mainly a clusterfuck of drunk middle aged people who want to relive their frat party days. I stay away from these places whenever a tour is around.

I made the mistake of going to Alesmith to pick up some special release bottles. Next time if I go to pick up bottles a tour bus is outside, I am turning around and will just make the trip another day.

 

Quite of few breweries ask them to stay away!!

 

I have done exactly this. That being said, I wasn't there to spend (additional) money, only pick up previously-purchased bottles. The breweries love them, so I just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and move along. My bottles of barleywine can wait.

 

i need names!!!

 

I like the buses, nothing better than to be able to hit 4 breweries around the city and not have to drive.

I don't really get annoyed by other people either, so when a tour bus shows up and i'm having a beer at a brewery, I find the people watching to be high quality. It does suck if you can't get a seat or it takes 15 minutes to get a beer though.

 

The lady's name is Summer, and she's been conducting this business for a while. She seems well liked and respected by the breweries where I've seen her roll in (Ballast Point, Lost Abbey, Stone), and I would imagine that's because she does a good job running the tours from the brewery's prespective.