I love brewery tours.
What's not to love, you get to see your favorite drink being processed while gather free swag (the noun and not the verb) and beer (hopefully.) Oregon is crazy for it's Mircobrews. In fact there is more breweries in Oregon than anywhere in the world. Anywhere. Oregon outshines Germany and Czech Republic (the country that gave us Budweiser.) And it seems mircobrewers love to share their craft to passing tourist who love beer. I don't bore you with the details of how beer is processed; after all that is what a tour is all about.
I've given you what I think are the best brewery tours based on overall tour experience, swag and what kind of swag.
Without further ado, here is sample of tours in the State of Oregon.
Rogue Ale, Newport Bay Front.
Famous for it's dead guy ale, Rogue Ale has a great free membership plan (see other blogs) and plenty of beers for a wide assortment of tastes.
The beer tours at the bay front are often, three times a day and they are usually packed. What you get for standing in a massive crowd of tourist in a tiny gift shop waiting for the tour to start is.......wait for it......nothing.
The tour is unimpressive. Oh sure, you get to the see the original beer making vessels that are converted milkers (serious) and it's kind of neat to see stacks and stacks of beer just waiting for shipment (if you consider that fun) but that's it. The tour guide does not give a complete picture of how Wort is made into beer or any other sort of science based fact on the beer making process. What the tour guide does give you is the complete history of Rogue Ale, the brewmeister and all the locations you can buy Rogue Ale (including Japan.)
The tour is about 45 minutes and no swag, no beer given out as tasters at the end. Not even a drop. The tour ends back at the gift shop. There you get your name on the list to get into pub. If everyone in your party is over 21 go straight to the bar. Either sit at the bar or at the bay front window and watch fisherman hard at work. To them, raise a toast.
Deschutes, Bend Oregon.
It's a beer making machine and they are serious about their beer. Following your google maps, the building is impressive and you can see the silos in which is made. (You'll learn later those were purchased in Germany and the freeways had to closed at night to move them to this site. Yes, the are impressive and huge.)
You first walk into a bar. Yeap, a bar. The bartender will tell you the next tour time and then get you started on your first of five samples of beer. He (or she) will describe each beer, IBU and profile. If you are still drinking your free beer when the tour starts, no worry you can take it with you.
The tour guide then shows you the complete steps and process for making beer, and you even get to see the bottling part. You walk past the taster room, oops I mean quality control where employees can sign up for additional duties of tasting beer to ensure quality. (Sounds like my career path has taken me in all the wrong places when I could be tasting beer and get paid for it.) Anyway.
The tour ends back at the bar about an 75 minutes later where you can either finish your free samples or fill your growler for later. No swag but the beer tasting and the atmosphere makes up for it. The pub is about 1/2 mile away. So I highly recommend you fill your growler to take the beer with you on your great outdoor Bend area adventure. I recommend the Pauline Lake area. (Just in case you needed to know.)
Widmer, Portland Oregon
Tours are Friday and Saturdays only by appointment. You will not get a tour a few days beforehand. I highly suggest you call more than week to make your arrangements.
The tour starts above the bar in a big room. The tour guide brings up four pitchers of beer and the participants line up for a free sample of a beer. You sit back at your table, make new friends and then stand in line for another beer. (Heck, you need to try them all.) You then watch a video about Widmer and the tour starts about 20 minutes later. No drinking on this tour so bottoms up.
The Widmer tour is the most comprehensive of the tours I'm profiling today. You get the complete history of Widmer, how beer is made and a complete visual process of how that works. You walk around all the equipment and wind up at the bottling process. About an hour later you get swag (Yea! Finally) which includes a plastic cup and a choice of key chains.
Walk across the street back to the pub, drink another beer and order the pretzel and beer cheese soup. The best beer cheese soup around. Trust me, I've tried them all.
Full Sail, Hood River, Oregon
Tours are almost daily and you just show up and wait in a long-skinny hallway that always serves as the entrance to the pub.
The tour guide promptly takes the group to a table with visual aides....all the ingredients needed to make beer. You get to touch, taste hops and make jokes with the entertaining and funny tour guide. He talks about the process and also how Full Sail recycles what they can from the process. (The left over wort goes to the cows to eat. Lucky cows.) You walk a few feet, see some of the equipment and that's it. The guide then takes you back to where you start and gives you a free pint glass. (Yea Swag) but no beer.
The tour ends about 40 minutes later. Don't worry, you won't feel cheated. The tour guide has such a quick wit and vast knowledge of beer you will feel as he's your long lost beer drinking buddy.
Afterwards, walk a few feet to the crowded pub. Drink more beer and have a burger. I recommend you sit on the outdoor patio and watch wind surfers.
Prost.
