BREWERY TOUR: Sam Adams

Our first stop in Boston on our recent trip was to the Sam Adams brewery.  Sam Adams was the hubby's "gateway" to craft beer and we still enjoy them every once in a while. And I really enjoy brewery tours.  

This one was pretty easy to get into on a Friday afternoon (though we went around 12).  It is first come, first serve and it seems that there can be quite the wait.  The tour groups are pretty large (I'd guess somewhere around 50 people), but that didn't diminish from the tour at all.

The tour won't take you through a lot of the brewery, but it is informative and you will get to see some cool stuff.  The first stop on the tour is a room where you stand around and the guide educates you on the process of making beer.  In doing this, they pass around hops and such for people to try and explain the process of examining each piece.

After that you are walked into a room which you will have already passed through.  This room has their brewing equipment, which is not very remarkable since a large part of the brewing is done at regional places, and barrels of beer.  The beer being aged in the picture is Utiopia to be released in December 2013.  It was impressive to be in a room with that much Utopia in barrels.  They explain their brewing process (same as most) and some pieces about the brewery.

Lastly, you will visit a tasting room.  There are several benches with tables.  Your first sample, I presume always, will be the basic Boston Lager.  With this pour, you will learn how to taste beer and the importance of how you drink it.  

After that, two more samples will follow with information about their beers and options.  They also passed around a Utopia bottle so people could sniff since there was a lot interest on the tours since it was what was being aged and a lot of the people had never heard of it before.  Our two additional samples were the summer ale and Kreik American.  

Overall, it was a pretty good tour and not too long (or too short).  The tour ends, of course, in the gift shop.  After the tour, hop on the free trolley to Doyle's and get yourself a free Sam Adams glass!

Visit their website for more info.

BREWERY REVIEW: River North Brewery

The husband and I stopped in here on our beer tour of Denver upon the recommendation of a friend and several local bartenders and people we met at other breweries.  Since they were somewhat new, nobody was quite sure of their hours, but we decided to try anyway and luckily for us, they were open.  It was a warm day so the all the doors/windows were open and it was quite an open feel to the sidewalk.  The tasting room is somewhat small with maybe 20 seats, but that was plenty as there were only 2 other folks in there with us.  If it was a crowded day though, I could see this quickly becoming standing room only. 

The beers were listed up on a chalk board and the bartender was really well informed about the beers, the brewing process, and any other questions you may have about them.  He talked a lot of "shop" with my husband and used the big window to point out the brewing system and the changes they were doing.  The beers we sampled here were very good and both my husband and I were impressed for a newer brewery at the quality.  Overall, this is a great place to stop if you're in Denver and love beer.

Check out their website for hours and other information!

BREWERY REVIEW: Apocalypse Brew Works

The husband and I were on a cross country trip and spent an evening exploring the breweries Louisville had to offer.  Out of our stops, this was the most unexpected and possibly the favorite.  

Apocalypse is somewhat tucked away and I don't think I would have noticed it had we not been looking for it.  We came in and took two seats up at the bar.  The bartenders were quite friendly and willing to tell us all about their journey into getting this place going.  

We tried a few of their beers and were generally pleased with what they had to offer.  They seem to have a constant rotating tap selection of whatever they've come up with lately.  Watermelon Crack was an offering and it was great if you like sweet, fruit flavored beers (not my style, but I could still appreciate it).  Expect to find beers served in plastic glasses, no food, and a single uni-sex restroom in this small brewery location.  There was a food truck in the parking lot, but that was independent from the brewery.  

Overall, I definitely think if you're a beer lover in Louisville, or just traveling through, you should give this place a try.  It may be one of the best stops you can make on a beer tour of this city!

Check out their website for more info.

BREWERY REVIEW: Tasty Weasel Tap Room

Oskar Blues has several locations - this one is their brewery/tap room.  This brewery is puppy friendly.  A flight of  beers will run you about $9.  You can buy some merchandise here and it's different than what you'll find in the some of the other locations.  

They can here, so you can see their production line which is pretty neat.  Definitely a place to stop in if you're in the area.

Visit the Tasty Weasel's site for more info.

BREWERY REVIEW: Slippery Pig

Slippery Pig is a brewery located in Poulsbo, Washington.  If you're looking to go here, put the address in your GPS and follow it.  Don't be afraid that you are driving through woods on a dirt road.  You are headed in the right direction.  

This brewery is on a real, working farm.  The owner's family has owned the land for a while and he lives in the farmhouse here with his wife.  You will find dogs and occasionally a chicken wandering around the property.  As a result, parking is limited and the bathroom is a port-a-potty in the parking lot.  You can also expect to sit outside, rain or shine, and enjoy your brew with other locals.

A lot of their brews are made with things source off their farm.  It's pretty cool and as a result they do a lot of interesting beers (lemongrass, kale, rhubarb).  You can even buy farm fresh eggs here, probably laid by a chicken walking around your ankles.  Food items are limited to nuts and chips and salsa, but in the summer they make a BBQ available if you want to bring your meat.

The owner, who wears a kilt, is usually found behind the bar or working somewhere nearby.  The staff is knowledgeable and friendly.  The place is family friendly and they usually have one of their own sodas on tap as well.  

If you're in the area, this is definitely a brewery to check out.  They don't bottle and distribute limited in kegs so you won't find their beer many other places than at the brewery itself.  They do have growler fills available for most of their beers and occasionally a guest tap with another local beer.

Check out the beers I've reviewed by them by clicking here.

You can check out Slippery Pig's website but they are limited in their info.  You can also find them on facebook.

BREWERY REVIEW: Swans Brewery

Swan's is a brewery/brew pub in Victoria.  Their actual address is 506 Pandora Ave.  You can find their website here.

We were in Victoria to celebrate our anniversary and do some beer tourism.  This happened to be the first brewpub we stopped at during our trip and I think it was the best.  My review is based solely on the beer since that's all we had here.

We sat down here and bellied up to the bar.  Our bartender, whose name is escaping me, was awesome.  We decided to go for it and try one of each beer they had on tap.  What else is vacation for?  This produced quite the line of beers and we started in.  The beers were all pretty good.  Some either my husband and I didn't enjoy, but that was usually since the style wasn't our favorite.  

As we worked our way through the beers, the bartender explained the history of brew pub, special things about the different beers, and even poured us little samples of other things.  He gave us a sample of their root beer, which was also delicious.  And he made a little concoction of the root beer plus the stout.  OMG it was amazing!

Overall, it was a great experience and the hubby and I wished we had some more time in Victoria so we could have come back here!

BREWERY REVIEW: Georgetown Brewing

So as I said in my Lisa's Chocolate post, this brewery was the place my journey into craft beer really started.  It holds a fond place in my heart, so I may be a bit biased.  Georgetown used to be located in the old Rainier Brewing building along Airport Way S in funky neighborhood, aptly named Georgetown, in Seattle.  Georgetown is a somewhat industrial neighborhood that has been up and coming for quite some time.  When I was introduced to Georgetown's beer it was by visiting their brewery and getting beers in growlers.  They still pretty much don't bottle - you either make a journey to the brewery or find them on tap.  Manny's is by far their most popular beer you'll find.

In the past few years, they have moved into a new, impressive location in Georgetown.  It's a bit more tucked away (pull out your GPS to find it if you're not familiar with the area), but still keeps the same feel with the neighborhood.  A lot of the staff that works here have been around for years.  I know that Lisa and David have been around at least since 2007.  The new location has an awesome growler filling machine.  I didn't get to see it in action, but it's nice to see fridges of growlers filled recently.  Based on the crowds, it's a good thing they have that rather than having you wait while they fill it off the keg like in the old days.

They offer kegs, growler fills, free samples of their beers, and have an awesome merchandise section.  If you are in Seattle, I definitely think this is one of the breweries you need to visit.

Check out Georgetown's site for more info.

BREWERY REVIEW: Emerald City Beer Company

I came to Emerald City Beer Company for a private Yelp event.  I had never been before and it was a bit hard to find.  It's located in the old Rainier Brewery building along Airport Way S in Seattle.

The parking lot is awkward and the place is a bit hard to find if you're not 100% sure where in the building you're going.  Look for the small, round green sign about half way down the parking lot. The tasting room is everything you'd expect from this area of town.  It's quite industrial and not super big.  The floors are concrete and there is a nice bar set up with some taps behind the bar.  The staff seemed quite nice and were patient during this private event.

For the private event, they only had their Dottie Seattle Lager and Betty Black on tap.  The black was my choice for the evening and seemed to be a dark lager.  I am not sure too many details since I didn't have my glasses on and sadly couldn't read their info sheets behind the bar that well.  It was average.  Nothing remarkable and yet, still quite drinkable.  The Dottie was also on tap and I tried some of a friends.  They refer to it as a lager, but it was more amber in color.  Once again, average, drinkable but not remarkable.

On a side note, I love their font and graphics on everything.  I also love they're in the old Rainier building.  I think I'd like to come back here another time, during their regular business hours, and give some of their many other beers a try.

Visit their site to find out more about visiting this brewery and tasting room!