RobB
Well-Known Member
I had a bit of a problem. The Swan Valley has five microbreweries which I really wanted to try. But the Swan Valley is a long way from where I live and doesnt have great public transportation..which means driving..which means not drinking..which makes it kind of pointless going to five microbreweries. My beer hating wife couldnt see the fun to be had in driving me around for a day while she waited in the carpark, so she did some research and bought me a brewery tour for Christmas (link). Now thats true love if ever Ive seen it.
The tours are run by a guy called Matt who was a top bloke and ran everything smoothly. The bus was modern, clean, and comfortable. Beer samples (around 100 mL serves), lunch and snacks are included in the price. I took my wallet expecting that I would want to buy some proper serves after the sampling, but it stayed in pocket all day. We drank enough to maintain a happy buzz throughout the day without getting smashed (you wont want to drive home from the drop off point).
First stop was Feral, where we were presented with a six glass tasting tray. With eleven beers on offer, I was expecting that we would get the six lightest or most mainstream beers. I was pleasantly surprised when the tray contained their pils, white, hop-hog (AIPA), two strong Belgians (including one wood aged) and a barley wine. For the less adventurous drinkers on the bus, this was probably the most challenging brewery. Note to Feral if youre going to show off your brewery behind glass, at least make sure its clean!
Second stop was Ironbark, where we had lunch of pizza and damper and instead of a tasting tray, received tokens for two middies of our choice. The tokens were good for everything on their list, right up to their Debilitator bock. The food was pretty decent pub nosh and gave us a good foundation for the rest of the days tasting.
Elmars was next. We received a four glass tasting tray of pils, wheat, alt and a choice of either rauch, bock or schwarzbier. I swear the pils had a DMS problem (creamed corn anyone?), but the place was heaving with happy punters, so maybe I had already nuked my tastebuds. A selection of german sausages came out with our beer samples.
Fourth on the list was Mash. Five glasses on the tasting tray here pils, wheat, two pales and a cider. The beers here were of good quality, although probably the most mainstream of all the samples we had (probably a welcome relief for some). I thought their pale ale could use a bitter kick, but others seemed to like it. Beer battered fries came with the samples to keep us all on an even keel.
Last stop was Duckstein, which I preferred out of the two German-styled breweries. Five glasses on the tasting plate pils, wheat, dunkel, alt, and a seasonal (a different wheat). All beers were good and served with copious oompah music.
We were back at our city drop-off point just after five.
If you add up the listed prices of the beer and food that we consumed and throw in a bit more for transport, you would struggle to do a similar tour for less money if you organised it yourself. The small amount you would save isnt worth the hassle and I would much rather just hand over the money and know that everything is sorted and that Im going to be looked after. $135 spread over seven hours of beer-infused entertainment is pretty reasonable in my book. If you want to start dropping hints in the lead up to Christmas, you could do a lot worse than one of these tours.
The tours are run by a guy called Matt who was a top bloke and ran everything smoothly. The bus was modern, clean, and comfortable. Beer samples (around 100 mL serves), lunch and snacks are included in the price. I took my wallet expecting that I would want to buy some proper serves after the sampling, but it stayed in pocket all day. We drank enough to maintain a happy buzz throughout the day without getting smashed (you wont want to drive home from the drop off point).
First stop was Feral, where we were presented with a six glass tasting tray. With eleven beers on offer, I was expecting that we would get the six lightest or most mainstream beers. I was pleasantly surprised when the tray contained their pils, white, hop-hog (AIPA), two strong Belgians (including one wood aged) and a barley wine. For the less adventurous drinkers on the bus, this was probably the most challenging brewery. Note to Feral if youre going to show off your brewery behind glass, at least make sure its clean!
Second stop was Ironbark, where we had lunch of pizza and damper and instead of a tasting tray, received tokens for two middies of our choice. The tokens were good for everything on their list, right up to their Debilitator bock. The food was pretty decent pub nosh and gave us a good foundation for the rest of the days tasting.
Elmars was next. We received a four glass tasting tray of pils, wheat, alt and a choice of either rauch, bock or schwarzbier. I swear the pils had a DMS problem (creamed corn anyone?), but the place was heaving with happy punters, so maybe I had already nuked my tastebuds. A selection of german sausages came out with our beer samples.
Fourth on the list was Mash. Five glasses on the tasting tray here pils, wheat, two pales and a cider. The beers here were of good quality, although probably the most mainstream of all the samples we had (probably a welcome relief for some). I thought their pale ale could use a bitter kick, but others seemed to like it. Beer battered fries came with the samples to keep us all on an even keel.
Last stop was Duckstein, which I preferred out of the two German-styled breweries. Five glasses on the tasting plate pils, wheat, dunkel, alt, and a seasonal (a different wheat). All beers were good and served with copious oompah music.
We were back at our city drop-off point just after five.
If you add up the listed prices of the beer and food that we consumed and throw in a bit more for transport, you would struggle to do a similar tour for less money if you organised it yourself. The small amount you would save isnt worth the hassle and I would much rather just hand over the money and know that everything is sorted and that Im going to be looked after. $135 spread over seven hours of beer-infused entertainment is pretty reasonable in my book. If you want to start dropping hints in the lead up to Christmas, you could do a lot worse than one of these tours.
