TexasDroughtBrewery
Well-Known Member
Who has "That guy" stories when touring a brewery? I'm in for a good laugh today.
.... One comment was "*sharp whistle* aye! Special ed! I need you here!"
In New Jersey a tour is required before drinking, hopefully all of the state's residents know the process end to end now!
The one asking all the "difficult" but very genuine questions.
I have a doozy actually...I was at a local tour and THAT GUY decided he wanted to fill up his beer glass by opening the fermenter and then..AND THEN...didn't know how to close it. It spilled quite a bit before anyone noticed the ground getting more soaked with beer than normal and letting someone at brewery know that there fermenter is open and leaking beer.
I can't make this up....I was pissed for them.
Yeah, I was that guy at Rogue. Before the tour started, I asked if we'd get to meet John Maier, and the guide said no, he's working today but he's shy and doesn't interact with the tours. Part way through the tour, I saw John in his boots and overalls, standing with some of the other brewers. I tried to get his attention, but he was working hard to ignore the tour. After we moved on the next part of the tour, the guide asked the crowd, looking at me, "Did you see John?" Big grin on my face.
I'm also the guy who, when at Mendocino Brewing, chatted up the server about beer history, and got excited when she brought out a New Albion tap handle that they used back in the day.
So he responded with an answer that sounded like a lot of BS. I said, "Sounds a lot like Safale 05".
He gets a huge grin, laughs, and says, "Tour's over!"
I'm usually very behaved. But I was at a brewery, getting a tour from the owner, and he was talking a lot about their yeast. Big secret. Locked up in a vault. Etc.
At the end he said, "any questions?" I said, "What kind of yeast do you use?"
He had a smirk and said, "well it's a secret". So I said, "Well I like your stuff, and I'm just curious if you are mixing yeasts or if it's a simple strain."
So he responded with an answer that sounded like a lot of BS. I said, "Sounds a lot like Safale 05".
He gets a huge grin, laughs, and says, "Tour's over!"
I saw "THAT GUY" during a tour at DFH Summer of 2015.
The one asking all the "difficult" but very genuine questions. The one who went out "exploring" on his own as far as he could. The tour guide was very disappointing, a summer aid of course, and he didn't know much more about the brewery than could be found online.
After the tour, I don't think many in the group actually understood beer was brewed with grain and hops and how things fit together to make that awesome beer everyone had tasted in the sample arena for several hours before.
We all stood for what seemed an eternity on top of the brew house, in front of an old 10 gallon "pilot" system listening to a lot of talk from the guide, 3/4 of that being missed because of high ambient noise.
The group must have gathered yeast was involved somehow, from walking past their yeast injection room. At least the group walked away knowing a lot of trivia about the owners, Sam and Maria and their dedication to the brewery.
Yep, I know that guy very well!
I've heard of a guy who actually poured a bit of hot wort in his glass and took a drink before realizing what he did. Wish I had more details.
On the Dogfish Head tour, there were three guys who were pretty drunk. The tour guide kept having to remind them to keep their safety glasses on and I could tell she was getting fed up. When she said that the spent grains go to a pig farm, one of them blurted out "do the pigs get drunk?" Clearly had no clue of the brewing process, despite it being described to them moments before.
I totally agree. For the most part, I have zero desire to ever take a brewery tour again. If you've toured one, you've toured a thousand.Unless there's some special tasting involved, like brewer's private stock or sampling some barrels, I'm not taking any more tours. The beer is cooked, the beer is cooled, the beer is fermented, packaged and sold; not a whole lot new to see. The only exception would be super small nano breweries, each one seems to have a twist on a process that is somewhat interesting. The tours don't take long and the brewer is usually more approachable.
I totally agree. For the most part, I have zero desire to ever take a brewery tour again. If you've toured one, you've toured a thousand.
Except Cantillon. THAT is a tour I'd like to take.
Funny you mention Cantillon. I was there just a few months ago and it was the coolest brewery. They chill their beer in an open vat with the windows open so the air blows through. Crazy.
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