If you like a good brew, what's better than free beer?
How about learning how the brew is made, to give a better appreciation for the finished product?
Why to Take a Brewery Tour
The stereotype of a brewery tour is schlepping through a factory to get the free samples at the end.
While it is true there usually are free samples, one can actually learn a lot about the whole brewing process. It's interesting to learn how the ingredients are blended together, how the product ferments and how the brew reaches the final drinking product.
Learning how a beer becomes what it is gives one a greater appreciation for the actual beverage.
Some brewery tours are also interesting in that they give quite a bit of information on the history of the area and how the brewery played into it.
Costs for Brewery Tours
One of the reasons brewery tours are great for budget travelers, is that they are often free or very low cost. Granted, there are the exceptions, like the Anheuser Busch tour in St. Louis, Missouri, which charges $25 a person. But for the most part, if any fee is charged, it's under $10.
Finding Brewery Tours
Local Convention and Visitor Bureaus will have information on any brewery tours in the area. Web searches using the terms "brewery tours" and the location name will also yield suggestions.
There are quite a few tours to choose from in North America. Some of the best are
- Stone Brewing (Escondido, CA),
- Samuel Adams Brewery (Boston, MA),
- Coors Brewery (Golden, CO),
- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. (Chippewa Falls, WI), and
- Keith's Brewery (Halifax, NS), one the continent's oldest breweries.
- Sprecher Brewery (Milwaukee, WI) is great for all ages, as it also brews sodas.
There's no shortage of European breweries to tour either. In Ireland, try the Guiness Brewery tour. In Belgium, visit the monastery where Chimay is brewed. Switzerland is home to the Monsteiner Bier brewery. Germany is famous for its beer, so it has many breweries to choose from, including Erdinger (Munich) and Beck's (Bremen).
Other international breweries to try include Buller Pub and Brewery in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Kiuchi Brewery in Japan.
Keep in mind the country's legal drinking age as most brewery tours are not open to those who are not of that age.
So next time travel plans take one to an area where there are great beers, consider taking a brewery tour as part of the itinerary. Tours can be educational, fun and low cost.
Michelle Snow - Michelle Snow been a freelance journalist and photographer for over twenty years, specializing in travel and entertainment. She got her ...
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