Brewery visits

[JohnALt20]

Just wondering if anyone has visited any breweries in the UK and any recommendations or things they have learnt that may be useful. I’m really close to 7 brothers and Pamona island. I’ve visited cloudwater but sadly didn’t get to do the tour. I had a tour booked for ABC but this pesky COVID-19 hit.

 

[Kveik Freak]

The Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh is interesting to visit. They're using traditional open fermentation methods and their coppers are made to the same 19th century pattern they were when the place opened. Nice tasting room too.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I did the Greene King brewery tour in Bury-st-Edmunds. Was pretty good, a mix of a bit of history of the city and the abbey, the brewery, and their brewing process and equipment which probably wouldn't be anything new to people on here. Also had a supposedly unlimited tasting session at the end, a shame I had to leave early and didn't make the most of that part as I like their ales. Had to pay of course but I can't remember how much.

 

[ppsmith]

The Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh is interesting to visit.

I used to live 2 mins walk from there and never thought to go for a visit. Will have to see what the state of play is at the minute and maybe pop back.

 

[jceg316]

Where about are you based? There are some tours in London: Camden brewery tour was quite good and in Bermondsey you can do a tour of several breweries with tastings at each one.

I know Fuller's does tours but have never been. I went around London Fields in East London which was quite fun but not sure if they do tours anymore.

Most breweries offer tours, although right now they might be on hold.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Bermondsey beer mile is excellent went last year, also been to Drygate brewery in Glasgow and 7 Brothers in Salford both good.
In my working trips whilst at Coca Cola I visited:

Carlsberg Copenhagen
Grolsch Holland
Peroni Rome
Whitbread Salmesbury
Ind Coope Burton

 

[Horners]

Only ever done one brewery tour in the UK and that was Mitchells in Lancaster. That was 1992 as part of a sixth for trip (lots of people sick on minibus back to Carlisle). I'm willing to bet it is long gone.

Doesnt address the OP but have done a couple abroad - really enjoyed the Haave Man in Bruges. Also a walking tour of loads of distilleries in Dufftown (Speyside) was a great day out

 

[JohnALt20]

I’m near Manchester. Really fancy northern monk and beavertown then on to Scandinavia. Iceland and Norway have some really interesting ideas

 

[Edison]

We recently did a tour of the Hook Norton Brewery in the Cotswolds. Fascinating tour getting up close to a historical brew house, meeting the shire horses and (at least before lock-down) the last part of the tour is the tasting session where you have a set time in the private bar and can ‘sample’ as much as you like from over a dozen draft beers and could pour your own beer if you wanted to. Highly recommend this one, good restaurant and can spend the rest of the day looking round the nearby towns and villages.
https://www.hooky.co.uk/visit-us/book-a-brewery-tour/

 

[JohnALt20]

We recently did a tour of the Hook Norton Brewery in the Cotswolds. Fascinating tour getting up close to a historical brew house, meeting the shire horses and (at least before lock-down) the last part of the tour is the tasting session where you have a set time in the private bar and can ‘sample’ as much as you like from over a dozen draft beers and could pour your own beer if you wanted to. Highly recommend this one, good restaurant and can spend the rest of the day looking round the nearby towns and villages.
https://www.hooky.co.uk/visit-us/book-a-brewery-tour/

This sounds like a fantastic day out. Will have to book something in when things get back to normal

 

[phildo79]

I visited Kinnegar Brewery a few years ago. It's in Ireland but it was really interesting to see the difference between a small local brewery and something like the Guinness Brewery. Talk about chalk and cheese. The Guinness tour is like walking through a fancy museum. Kinnegar is basically a big farmhouse where the owner brings you around and explains what it's like trying to get started in the business and then stay in the business.

 

[Clint]

I been to Brew York...not looked round the brewery but you can see it from the tap room.
Many years ago...Black Isle brewery in Scotland.
Glenfiddich distillery...

 

[MickDundee]

I’ve only been to my local ones - 71 Brewing in Dundee and Eden Mill just outside St Andrews.

My dad got a couple of free tours for Mor Brewing on the outskirts of Dundee (about 200yards from my parents old house but about 2 miles from where they live now) for buying a 24 pack from them over lockdown and he said he’ll take me with him so I have that to look forward to in the coming months.

My son also went to nursery with the son of one of the directors of Redcastle Brewery between Carnoustie and Arbroath and I was told I could be shown around at a birthday party just before lockdown. It’s been so long now and the boys are at different schools that I don’t like to ask now.

 

[PhilBrew]

I enjoyed the Titanic Brewery (link) tour .. they're big enough to produce some beers that you are likely to be familiar with, but small enough to still recognisably be (just) a BIG version of what you do at home ... when you go to a larger brewery, with all the (permanently plumbed in) stainless steel pipes everywhere and the dawning realisations that vessels you are looking at are like icebergs (with the majority of their volume being hidden from you, on the other side of a wall/floor) then you can easily find yourself wondering whether a tour around an oil refinery would be any different ... I particularly liked how, at Titanic the tour begins and ends in the tasting room, and the safety advice includes all the usual warnings of slippy surfaces and possible trip-hazards, but then they point out how, they find, that people holding pint glasses whilst touring tend to be far more careful when walking around ... so you're actively encouraged to take a pint to sample while you're moving around :small

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Saisonator]

I did a bit of a tour around the Czech Republic 25 years ago and visited the Budvar Brewery in České Budějovice and the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Plzeň.

 

[Falco]

I can recommend Black Sheep and Theakstons for brewery visits if you’re ever in the vicinity of Masham in North Yorkshire especially given the historical and family rivalry between the two of them. They’re both traditional British type breweries and once you’ve seen one of the type then there’s no real surprises when you visit another.

Masham is a great little old market town well worth a visit in itself and also has a small gin producer which does make your own gin sessions, which is a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours or so.

Think it would be interesting for me to visit one of the newer smaller breweries producing some of the current beer styles such as NEIPA’s etc, might be able to pick up some knowledge relevant to us homebrewers wanting to produce similar beers.

 

[Hoddy]

A few guys have picked up exclusive brew days on our crowd funding campaign. But early/mid next year i hope to think we will be able to start offering brewery tours and brew days so keep in touch with us and as we originated from home brewing and this forum we are more than happy to share everything we have learnt to help the HB community.

 

[Shatfield]

I've done a number of tours and have enjoyed them all to some degree.
My favourite was the Meantime brewery in Greenwich but the Fuller's tour was a close second.
The guide plays a major role in how much you get out of the tour and we were lucky enough to have a guide who had worked at Whitbread and Fuller's for his whole life (and added to the fact he had friends in common with my dad which gave us lots to taste that others didn't) made for a great day.

 

[LesTom]

This is stretching it a bit, but if your lucky enough to be in the Paphos region of Cyprus then give Aphrodite's Rock Microbrewery - Paphos a visit. The owners are very knowledgeable and friendly, their beers and ciders are top quality and they also served my wife and me the best BBQ we've ever had. Absolutely excellent it was.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I've also been to a very small micro brewery in Lyme Regis not a tour just walked in off the street asked a few questions and bought some beer. Perhaps someone on here who is local would recall its name.