I've got some friends coming in to town in St. Louis this Saturday, and I'm looking at doing a tour at one of the following breweries that I believe all offer Saturday tours: Perennial 4 Hands Schlafly Urban Chestnut I have heard that the Beermaster tour at AB is awesome, but unfortunately it's sold out. I haven't been able to find too much on the quality of the tours at other StL breweries and was wondering if anyone could share some info if you've been on any. I live in StL so I'm familiar with the beers of each, just more looking for the quality/value of their tours. Any input is appreciated!
You cannot go wrong with a tour at any of the above places. Just remember that the Bottleworks tours on Sat and Sunday, and the Taproom on Sunday. Make sure nobody wears sandals, closed toe shoes only!
Do the free tour at AB. It's worth the time. UCBC in the Grove has a self-guided tour. How many stainless tanks do you really want to look at?
Schlafly is decent with a guided tasting, but maybe call ahead and see if they will be brewing anything. When I took the tour it was during a Saturday tank cleaning, so we saw a dude with a hose and got about 5 feet inside the production area before going to the tasting.
I'm with you 100%. Most every brewery tour is about the same in my honest opinion. One can get a better brewery experience by sitting in their tasting room and having a few full pours and enjoying the atmosphere than walking around looking at a bunch and tanks and barrels hearing about how beer is made. And I agree about the AB tour
That's pretty much my take. I don't have a lot of interest in touring American craft breweries (at least smaller ones). They're all pretty much the same. Touring an old beautiful brewery in Europe is another matter.
