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!
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.
