# Favorite Brewery Tour



## gundaroo (24/5/07)

not sure if its been done before and i cant find it on this site but i wonder how many of the worlds brewerys have been haunted by AHB members?
i have done the budweiser brewery in fort collins colorado,linenkugells in the northwoods of wisconsin,a few small brew pubs in the glenwood springs area of colorado and a whiskey distillery in scotland.
on my hit list-speights in dunedin,cascade in tassie and if i can get a shirt the gulf brewery in S.A.
i may have missed one or two,went through a blurry period when a younger gent.
gundaroo


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## mckenry (24/5/07)

I toured the Carlsberg Brewery in Denmark, Heineken in Amsterdam, Pilsner Urquell in Plsn, Czech Republic, The *ORIGINAL* Budweiser in Budvar, Czech Republic, but by far the best was the Eggenberg in Czesky Kromlov, also in the Czech Republic. Small brewery, fabulous beer and the homeless people are given 3 square meals a day plus accommodation to work there. Anyone else been to the Eggenberg? I think thats the correct spelling :huh:


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## petesbrew (24/5/07)

The Cantillon Gueze Brewery in Brussels was interesting. Wasn't into tasty beers back then in my backpacking days but belgium was my first eye opener. 

It was fun tasting them and watching SWMBO try to look pleased in front of the guide, after sampling the rather sour framboise!

Three more memorable ones are Brouwerij Gouden Boom in Brugge, and the compulsory Guinness Factory, where I "had" to finish my wife's & sister in laws complimentary half pints. What a chore. And the Strathisla distillery in Scotland. My first single malt scotch on the rocks. Heaven.

Other than that... one brewery tour turned into another distillery tour into another vineyard tour... yawn, please fill my glass now.


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## bennyc (24/5/07)

mckenry said:


> I toured the Carlsberg Brewery in Denmark, Heineken in Amsterdam, Pilsner Urquell in Plsn, Czech Republic, The *ORIGINAL* Budweiser in Budvar, Czech Republic, but by far the best was the Eggenberg in Czesky Kromlov, also in the Czech Republic. Small brewery, fabulous beer and the homeless people are given 3 square meals a day plus accommodation to work there. Anyone else been to the Eggenberg? I think thats the correct spelling :huh:



Yep, I've done the Czech triple as well. Had one of the best afternoons of my travels at Eggenberg sitting in the afternoon sun and drinking their beer  

I did enjoy sampling the beer at Pilsner Urquell tapped straight from the cask though...pretty special!


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## Malnourished (24/5/07)

mckenry said:


> Anyone else been to the Eggenberg? I think thats the correct spelling :huh:


Yeah, that's how you spell it and yeah I've been there. Brilliant place. I was dragged to Česk Krumlov against my will because I didn't think there'd be any good beer there - boy was I wrong! I never did do a tour, but spent a few great nights at the bar there watching ultimate fighting. Those wacky Czechs and their ultimate fighting! I particularly liked the tmavy and the kvasnice. 

For the most part I think brewery tours are fairly pointless unless you get to talk to the actual brewer, but far and away the best tour I've ever had was at De Dolle Brouwers. The tours are run by Kris Herteleer's 80-something (maybe 90 now) mother and she's an absolute dynamo. She's full of multi-lingual filthy jokes and can get up a ladder in no time flat. Sensational stuff.


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## warrenlw63 (24/5/07)

Staropramen in Prague 5.... Beautiful. :beerbang: :beer: 

The ticket gets you a free pint straight from the tanks. The great part was my Wife, Daughter and Father in Law didn't want their tickets. What a shame.  

Warren -


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## Whistlingjack (24/5/07)

We haven't had any time to get around to the brewery tours but that is about to change. Heading off on a roadtrip through central and western Germany with some tours arranged.

On our last trip we visited Einbecker - the birthplace of bock bier. 

Not really a brewery tour, but the Guinness storehouse in Dublin is worth a look.

I am planning a trip down through Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland in a few weeks so I will hopefully add to the list, especially the "Czech triple" mentioned above. Missed the tour of Urquell last time we were in Plzen.

WJ


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## leeboy (24/5/07)

Murrays - Taylors arms
Brewbakers - Visalia, California
Deschutes - Bend, Oregon
Potters - Nulkabar??? Spelling sucks
Little Creatures - Perth
Lord Nelson - the rocks
Wig and Pen - Canberra.

Should of done more in the states when i was there. still haven't made continental europe to get into the old ones. American micro's are pretty sweet though. Great atmosphere


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## mckenry (24/5/07)

quote name='Whistlingjack' date='May 24 2007, 03:57 PM' post='211536']
We haven't had any time to get around to the brewery tours but that is about to change. Heading off on a roadtrip through central and western Germany with some tours arranged.

On our last trip we visited Einbecker - the birthplace of bock bier. 

Not really a brewery tour, but the Guinness storehouse in Dublin is worth a look.

I am planning a trip down through Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland in a few weeks so I will hopefully add to the list, especially the "Czech triple" mentioned above. Missed the tour of Urquell last time we were in Plzen.

WJ
[/quote]

Yep, definitely do the Czech 'triple' The Budweiser brewery has a funny take (but genuine as you will learn purely from the meaning of the word budweiser - nobody spoil it now - if you dont already know whistling jack) on how the Americans stole the name. But do yourself a favour, get down to Czesky Kromlov, about 4 days I reckon would be enough. See the eggenberg, and if youre in a small enough group, you can beer on all afternoon for basically nothing. The freebies from the tour and the ones they 'forget' to charge you for. Good, matching meals also. Even if you have to pay for the odd beer here or there, geez, soooo cheap.
Here's a pic of Czesky Kromlov to whet the appetitie.


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## scrogster (24/5/07)

This one http://www.panimoravintolahuvila.fi/yritys/index_e.html in Savonlinna, Finland was great. Tiny brewery in a restaurant/pub. Friendly brewers who broke out some bottles of their special Sahti (Finnish unboiled, unhopped rye-ale, fermented with bread yeast) to share.

Monteith's brewery in Greymouth, NZ was great too. Open fermentation vessels ("don't fall in!") and whole brewery is coal-fired!


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## glennheinzel (24/5/07)

* Guinness brewery in Dublin. Awesome big money experience.

* Cantillon brewery in Brussels. Awesome low tech experience.

* Hall & Woodhouse brewery in Dorset, England. Brewers of Badgers beers (including Tanglefoot) and King & Barnes beers as well as Hofbrau kegged beers in the UK. 

* Murrays in Taylors Arms. I caught the last 5 min of it anyway.

Also visited a hop farm with oast houses in Kent.


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## spog (24/5/07)

spieghts / dunedin 
emersons/dunedin
beerworks/wanaka
christiansands/kristiansand ..where the locals claim the beer is good due to the unique filltration process (most of the brewery is under ground with an old cemetery above it) :huh: ...cheers...spog..


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## Gerard_M (24/5/07)

OK so not including places that I have worked

Carlsberg (Den)
Guinness (Ire)
Bachmeyer (Ger)
Little Creatures (WA)
Wig & Pen (ACT)
Lord Nelson (NSW)
Sail & Anchor (WA)
Feral (WA)

Bachmeyer was the best as I was quite "good friends" at the time with the owner's daughter. Nice girl. I put in a full day getting shown this brewery & trying bucket loads of beer. Long story short, I quit my job & stayed there a few weeks. Great place.

The list has gaps, this may sound weird...........I spent 8 weeks in Czech & Slovac Rep's & only had a quick look around at U'Fleku in Praha. That was it. Went through Pilzen and stopped at a hop farm, stayed just around the corner from another brewery for a couple of nights, just never made it in for the tours. Whilst I was consuming more than my share of great Czech beers, & starting the career change to brewing, I was playing too much golf on that trip.

Cheers
Gerard


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## bconnery (25/5/07)

Not a long list I must admit but two of them I wouldn't change for the world...

I have toured the now non-existent Youngs Brewery in Wandsworth. 

Cantillon. To be honest I'd be happy with just those two... 

Cantillon was amazing and whenever I hear of someone going to Brussels its the first place I insist they go. 

The Guinness Experience... I can pour a perfect pint. It must be, because I have the certificate to prove it  

The BrewHouse, Brisbane (that didn't take long...)

In my uni days I did the XXXX tour...

I've been to Amsterdam twice and never managed to make it to Heinekin. Once because the trip was too short with too many people and once because it was being refurbished from the brewery to the "experience" or whatever it is now called.


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## pickledkiwi2 (25/5/07)

The list is not as long as I would like it to be, but there is still plenty of time to add to it!!
Carlsburg in denmark
wiskey trail in scotland (too pissed to remember which ones, though Im sure that Glenfiddich was one)
Speights in dunedin
Sail and anchor in freo
Speights in dunedin
Bootleg brewery in margaret river
Wig and pen in canberra
Speights in dunedin
Zierholz in fyshwick (act)

And the next on the hit list is the Speights brewery in Dunedin. You might be noticing a bit of a pattern emerging here, 
I dont mind the nector of the gods and the draw back to those magnifficent boutique beer, timber vats in the old part of the brewery is too hard to resist when ever back in the home land.
Not to mention the great food at the Ale House restaurant.
Beers


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## coolum brewer (25/5/07)

Visited the *Carbrook Brewery* yesterday, got the full tour and (like always) tasted some fantastic beers - particularly loved the NZ Hopburst. It doesn't get any better than that! :beerbang:


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## griffo17 (25/5/07)

The ones I've done in order of best to worst.

-Speights (Dunedin), great little bearded man taking the tour and he let me drink as much as I wanted at the end!

-De Halve Mann (Brugge, Belguim), great beer and a pretty view of the famous Belgian tourist town.

-Boags (Launceston), I have a soft spot for it because it was my first ever tour.

-Little Creatures (Freo), speaks for itself. Great Beer, great location & laid back people.

-Sail & Anchor Pub (Freo), great variety of tasty beers!

-Guinness Brewhouse (Dublin), not really a brewery tour but hey it's very impressive all the same. Lots of moolah spent.

- Cascade (Hobart), the guide had a great knowledge of the brewery but was poor on beer related questions.
Great new tasting room though, and manged to drink a bit of their tasty beers.

I've been to Cesky Krumlov and Prague, but didn't do a tour  . The beer there is fantastic though! Also didn't do Heineken in Amsterdam as we had limited time. 
My girlfriend wasn't always up for them!

The beer halls on Munich are an experience in themselves, go there if you get the chance. Oktoberfest can be full of drunk wankers though (usually Aussie and Italian), get away in a small group to the Augustine or Lowanbrau for a good time!

cheers (& beers)

Griffo


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## Polar Beer (31/5/07)

I'll add another for the Guinness tour. If only for the fantastic view of Dublin at the top. The whole time I felt I was scaling the inside of giant pint glass.  

The Heineken tour is a hillarious piece of Eurotrash and shouldn't be missed. You get FOUR beers throughout tour if remember correctly, which to our shame led us to be half cut when we ambled in to Anne Franks house down the way...(which was btw a very good, but obviously non beer related tour)

I have also been to CUB, for my sins.


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## glennheinzel (14/1/09)

Rukh said:


> * Guinness brewery in Dublin. Awesome big money experience.
> 
> * Cantillon brewery in Brussels. Awesome low tech experience.
> 
> ...



I went to the Fullers brewery today. I had been cussing London Pride, but it tasted okay at the brewery (ESB is still my favourite). I'm not sure if it is mentioned elsewhere, but their ESB, London Pride and Chiswick Bitter all use the same mash. ESB comes from the first runnings, London Pride is a mixture of 1st and 2nd runnings whilst Chiswick Bitter comes from the 2nd runnings. 

I was hoping to see some Munich/Aying/Bamberg breweries when I was over there (around NYE), however they were closed due to it being the Christmas/New Year's tourist low season.


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## Spartan 117 (14/1/09)

Rukh said:


> * Guinness brewery in Dublin. Awesome big money experience.



you know I lived in Dublin for 15 years and never once went, my uncle even lived down the road from it, the smell of grains always reminds me of his place now.


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## jsan (14/1/09)

+1 for Monteith's brewery in Greymouth NZ! 
sampled all 8 tap beers and then the nice lady let us help our selves to the taps.

Did the Asahi brewery tour in Hokkaido and Matsuyama, Japan. Free, and both times only two of us on the tour. 
At the end the hostess gave us "30 min to drink as much as you can". Thats a challenge i'm willing to accept!


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## unterberg (14/1/09)

Weltenburger 
Gutmann
Lammsbraeu
Winkler
Kneitinger
Glossner
Riedenburger
Schneider

all in good old Bavaria


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## pmolou (14/1/09)

+1 for the cantillon brewery
and in cesky krumlov not sure what the name was maybe eggenberg one the best beers iv ever had and funny storys 
apparently they used to have women swim through the fermentors to prove they loved there husbands at 0celcius and it made them beutiful hahaha


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## drsmurto (14/1/09)

The old Coopers Brewery in Leabrook where you had to limbo under beams and climb ladders and then sit in the boardroom and share a few bottles of sparkling with Max and Glenn. Hard work that!

Guinness - very boring tour but sitting atop the brewery with a fresh pint in my hand made it all worth it.


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## HoppingMad (14/1/09)

One hell of a plane trip but the Alaskan Brewery in Juneau Alaska. 

You can do an organised mountain bike tour (called Bike 'n Brew) from the Juneau wharf or the chapel (strangely enough) outside town, that takes in great scenery and a whopping great glacier, ending at the brewery for a few ales (after the ride you'll want it!). Their Summer Ale is my fave. Yum! The guy there told me they entered the Australian Beer Awards a few years back (I think for their Porter or Stout - can't remember) and did quite well here. I had never heard of them so was quite surprised. Unfortunately they don't sell their beer here otherwise I'd be guzzling truckloads of it.

No affiliation, link:Alaskan Brewery

Hopper.


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## cdbrown (14/1/09)

The wife and I did the Eggenberg tour in Cesky Krumlov, but we were the only english speakers on teh tour, the rest were locals, so unfortunately the guide walk talk to the group for about 10 minutes each time and then turn to us and say a couple of words. The beer was nice except for the yeasty unfiltered beer - although maybe should have tried that one first.

Heineken experience in amsterdam was good fun. Guinness factory in dublin was probably the most enjoyed brewery walk around.

Scotch whiskey experience in Edinbrough, Glengoyne distillery in Loch Lomond, Jameson distillery Dublin

Plus quite a few winerys and brewery visits in margaret river and the swan valley


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## cubbie (14/1/09)

Guinness - Dublin
Cantillion - Brussels
Carlsberg - Copenhagen
Heineken - Amsterdam
Brasserie du Bocq - Purnode (near Dinant Belgium) - whilst I really liked the above, this one was my fav because I got to see a lot more of the actual process (ie got to stick my head against the viewing window of the fermenter)

I also think I did a tour of the Swan brewery with my Nana as a wee tacker and been to many Micro's here in WA and Chimay Belgium without touring the operations.


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## Pumpy (14/1/09)

Hook Norton Brewery UK

8 pounds for the tour they had an original steam engine pumping the water to the top of the brewery 

they made mainly cask beer .

In the bar you could try a pint of all thier range inclusive of the tour fee which was great value as in the Uk beer was about 2.50 per pint 


Pumpy


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## raven19 (14/1/09)

Rukh said:


> * Guinness brewery in Dublin. Awesome big money experience.



Good views too, after all that time in a brewery (getting thirsty), it made the Guiness taste awesome IMO.



cubbie said:


> Heineken - Amsterdam



I like the samples halfway through the tour, midway pitstop was great. And as a bonus they were doing marketing on the new bottle shape = free T-Shirt (3 sizes too big) for me. More Bonus!


Also did the Coopers tour at Regency Park a few years back, was an 'engineering' site tour, and a great excuse to have a few with Dr Tim at the end. Discussion ended with us recommending Coopers should make thicker glass bottles for home-brewers. Then we started asking him for clean empties! Aah the good ol' days....

:icon_offtopic: (Also been to a few distilleries in England & Scotland).

Edit: Forgot the Beer Tour in Munich through the beer museum and finishing in a beer hall with 1L steins, not really a brewery as such, but some great history of beer!


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## np1962 (14/1/09)

Guinness in Dublin with the view is awesome.
St Patricks weekend 2001, snow on the mountains and two non drinkers with me.. Mmmm.


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## Philthy79 (14/1/09)

Apart from the Guinness and Heineken tours, my favourites have been the Black Sheep and Theakstons Breweries in Masham, Yorkshire. Spent the afternoon chatting away to the brewer's in Theakstons when they knocked off for the day - brilliant.

I also went on a tour of the old Bullant Brewery when it was around in Guildford WA...what ever happened to them??


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## reg (14/1/09)

Went about 10 years ago to meet the missus family in Holland.
3 weeks of not understanding a word, drinking coffee and eating cream cakes.

My birthday fell when I was over their so me and the missus organised a trip to Amsterdam for the day.

Trek through town only to find the brewery closed for the day...... :angry: 

I have a lovely picture of me with a beer outside the heineken brewery......

Not happy Jan........


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## brenjak (14/1/09)

Heineken in Amsterdam was fantastic, great fun too. Went with five or six others, including wife, who did not want to drink. More tokens for me. Eggenberg in Cesky Krumlov...yes...very little English spoken. The best of all was Pilsner Urquell in Plzen. Great tour and fantastic meal later. Love those pork knuckles!


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## cdbrown (14/1/09)

Philthy79 said:


> I also went on a tour of the old Bullant Brewery when it was around in Guildford WA...what ever happened to them??


Rose and Crown is still there but there's no microbrewery to be seen. Can't find much info on them since 2000. Might have to go to the Rose for a few pints and some lunch on Saturday I reckon.


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## brenjak (14/1/09)

Thought i would a picture of me with a roadie befire i left Heineken.


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## Trent (14/1/09)

Hmmmm, interesting that not too many people have done any seppo brewery tours, but I am jealous as hell of all the lucky sods who have toured cantillon.
I dont really go on brewery tours too much anymore, cause they usually talk about how beer is made (I have read a bit about that, so know it reasonably well), and it is kinda the same everywhere you go. I have been lucky enough to go to some great small breweries and get to go and chat with the brewer or assistants in the brewhouse, and even luckier, fairly often been given samples of seasonals out of the tanks. Yay! But not everywhere, of course.

Potters, Murrays, Little Brewing Co and Squire's Melbourne brewhouse in Oz.
I think that Stone was the only one I hit up in the states. Oh, and the guy I was hanging with worked for stone, and was mates with Tomme Arthur, but by the time we got to Lost Abbey to go and have a look at his barrel room, Tomme had just walked outside on his way home after a double brewday  And Pizza Port. Sure there are other, I cannot remember.
In Canada I have been to a fair few on the west coast, like Nelson brewing co, Tree, Victoria, Granville Island, Spinnakers, Canoe Club, Hugo's and Phillips.
Only did one in Europe - Alpirsbacher Klosterbrau, but I have no idea what town it was in!
Doc is the man for seppo breweries, he was trying stuff out of the barrel with Vinnie!
T.


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## Millet Man (14/1/09)

Philthy79 said:


> I also went on a tour of the old Bullant Brewery when it was around in Guildford WA...what ever happened to them??


I remember seeing business and equipment for sale a few years ago (edit: or was it Inch Ant ??? can't remember)- It was small batch extract based with lots and lots of plastic fermenters as I recall, labour costs would've killed them.

Cheers, Andrew.


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## quantocks (14/1/09)

+1 for another Heine experience in Centraal Amsterdam. It was closed for a fair while, just re-opened I hear.


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## Fatgodzilla (14/1/09)

Real men don't talk of their experiences, they re-live them in their minds and watch the memories grow exponentially .


:beerbang: 


Actually, just thought I'd put in a vote for all us poor bastards who have never visited a brewery.


Even last year at the Lord Nelson in the Sydney pub crawl I skipped the brewery tour (in favour of three of the beers on tap). Well worth ignoring a boring experience like a brewery tour ...................


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## brenjak (14/1/09)

Just a note on Eggenberg in Cesky Krumlov...
Walked into the little bar at the side and said to the bloke "What is your beer like?"
The reply was a shrug of the shoulders and a "its o.k i guess"
What a salesman! I still bought a couple of each and took them back to the hotel mini bar fridge. Not too bad either.


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## kook (15/1/09)

A few of my favourite brewery tours:

*Cantillon, Brussels* - Go on "Open Day" - where you get to watch them brew and participate, so much fun and usually a great crowd of beer geeks.
*Fullers, London* - Great tour by enthusiastic volunteers. Even though its quite an automated brewery it was interesting to see them retain some traditional methods whilst using modern equipment.
*Youngs, London* (now gone  ) - Was a wonderful tour, including the little farm they had going on with horses, ramrod (their mascot) and guard geese. Such a shame this was closed.
*Lagunitas, Petaluma CA* - Probably the craziest brewery tour I've been on. The assistant brewer was certainly a character, also got to witness them leave a valve open during transfer and the chaos that ensued.
*Six Point Craft Ales, Brooklyn NY* - Probably the most fun brewery tour I've been on. Brewer was so jovial and really got everyone involved in the tour.
*Hair of the Dog, Portland OR* - Probably the most generous tour I've been on. Alan was happy to chat for some time, and offered me tastings of some incredible beers, including a nip of Dave (12 year old oak aged barley wine at the time). 
*Malt Shovel, Sydney* - My first brewery visit outside of WA, and first at a brewery of that size. Great company on the first ever AHB official event. I can still remember how hoppy, fresh and brilliant the Pilsner tasted from the bright tank.


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