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The tours and beer here are fantastic. They have a bunch of beer that you can only get here, kind of “exclusive” beer. Tour includes 1 free beer and lasts around 45 minutes. Our guide was awesome. Definitely knew his stuff, mixed in a few jokes, and overall was just really nice. You get to see quite a bit of the facility, and learn how the brewing, packaging, etc. take place. History lesson also included. Oh yeah, and the tour is $5. What? Honestly who authorized that. Probably a great idea as people come for the tour and buy beer and gifts to take back as the tour itself was so affordable. It worked for me. I bought a glass and almost bought some other stuff. They tell you to be there 15 minutes before the tour starts, but your fine showing up at start time. I would recommend getting there early as they give you some free taste beers, but don’t sweat it if you show up 2 minutes before your tour. Overall, awesome experience. A must for anyone visiting. Only thing I regret is not getting a taste of the Black Mirror. It’s one of the beers they only serve at the brewery. Grrr.

Cigar City Brewing Company – Menu with Prices – 3924 W Spruce St, Tampa

HOLY MOLY. Disclaimer: no food here but they do have rotating high quality food trucks with yummy food you are welcome to bring into the tasting room. Check their website or call them for more details. What a gem in Tampa! If you are a beer fan, or even if you aren’t, I would HIGHLY recommend stopping to check out this awesome spot. It’s only 5 minutes from the airport and there’s a ton of parking outside in a private parking lot. Parking is fo free. First, when you walk in, there’s a HUGE fridge of colorful cans of beers to take home. It’s overwhelming but the perfect souvenir. There are two bars, one when you first walk in and one in a larger tap room. They are clean and the walls are decorated with various awards for their best beers. The awards are well deserved – I wasn’t disappointed with any beer I tasted. The Jai Alai is an IPA and a classic- probably one of their most popular. They also had an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie beer that I had a buddy bring home because it was so yummy. We also did the brew tour, which is really educational about the history of beer, Cigar City, Tampa, and gives you a little tasting glass to take home and 3 beers to try during the tour! We learned all about the brewing process, as well as canning and distribution. Well worth it! Stop here if you have the time! I highly recommend it.

The Maine Brew Bus – Menu with Prices – 79 Commercial St, Portland

First I should start by saying that I cannot recommend this tour enough. Seriously it was very well done and you get to try a lot of beer. We did this brew tour for a bachelorette party this past weekend. It was 10 girls, the brides mom and two aunts. We were accompanied by our tour guide Shea and Drivin’ Ryan. We stopped at 3 places: Bissell Brothers, Foulmouthed and Goodfire. Our stop at Bissell brothers was first and we got to go in before the place even opened so that was cool. The beer was good and every stop you got to hear a little about each brewery and what made them different from the next. Obviously the group gets a little tipsier as the stops go on and Shea and Ryan were awesome with us the whole time. Shea is like an encyclopedia of beer facts so we did some fun trivia during the driving potions. PS on one stop they tour provides snacks. Everyone is my group was obsessed with it. It was some kind of local quiche pastry and it was amazing. Apparently we do it have anything like it back in Massachusetts lol. I highly recommend this tour!

West Sixth Brewing – Menu with Prices – 501 W 6th St #100, Lexington

My experience at West Sixth Brewing this past weekend blew me away. First things first – the beers we tried were great. There was a great variety (a lot places in Nashville – where I currently live – have put all their eggs in one basket and make six beers of one variety – like IPAs); we tried Cerveza (Mexican-style lager), Pennyrile (Pale Ale), DankeChain (Oktoberfest), Snake Eyes (imperial stout), and more. But what really separated my experience to West Sixth from visits to other breweries? We took the free, hour-long tour of the brewery (available Friday at 5pm, Saturday at 2 and 4pm, and Sunday at 2pm), and what we learned on that tour made me LOVE this brewery. Long story short? This brewery is about more than their great beer. They really care about sustainability, their neighborhood, and the social impact of their business. They pay their staff a living wage. They give back to the community through their Pay It Forward Cocoa Porter. They host events when they give back 6% of that day’s sales to a non-profit. Wooden nickles (given out each time a flight is purchased) can be used to donate $1 to a local nonprofit. They rent out space in the Bread Box they didn’t need for the brewery to great local businesses and nonprofits (FoodChain, BrokeSpoke Community Bike Shop, and more). The tour was informative and very fun. Before we began the tour, I remember thinking: how can the tour be an hour!? But it made sense to me afterwards. This isn’t a typical brewery, and they have a lot to say. Beyond that, you also get a little free beer and a free glass when you take the tour! This was easily the best brewery tour I’ve ever been on. After tasting their beers and learning about their business plan, I’ll be buying West Sixth beers whenever I can. I’d also like to visit again when I’m next in Lexington. If you haven’t been, run – don’t walk – to this brewery.

George & Jack’s Tap Room – Menu with Prices – 103 Berry St, Brooklyn

This bar always surprises me with having a solid time. I’ve only come in here late and not during happy hour, but you will still see beers for $5 or less. Whaaaat. Get out of here. Last weekend they had Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby Pumpkin beer on tap in a 24 ounce glass for only five smackers. Other craft beers (huge list) most of them are $7 or less for a mug. Bartenders were awesome and bought us back a round. Free popcorn with both garlic and old baby seasonings. Hello dinner! If that doesn’t satisfy you enough they have cheap Zapps chips for sale and meat pie deals. I’ve missed out on the meat pies both times but they look great and have a variety from shepherd’s pie to pie stuffed with steak. These little meat pies come with a tin of pickles and are only $10 with the accompaniment of any beer on draft. Deal. This might just be one of my favorite places in Williamsburg.

Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery – Menu with Prices – 801 W Main St, Louisville

While visiting Louisville we did the legacy tour which is held once a month at Fort Nielsen Michter’s distillery, it was $100 and you taste everything from their regular rye, 10yr also, small batch bourbon, 10 and 20yr bourbons, and Bombergers whiskey. During the tour they Explain the distilling process along with the water quality of Louisville and the toasting of their barrels it is more information then I was able to retain. Highlights of the tour was of course the tasting and I really liked the smelling process, let me explain. They had a chart with flavor notes and in little glass jars had cotton balls to smell, like toasted almonds, vanilla, ect. and the jelly bean trick was awesome. So you plug your nose and pop a vanilla jelly bean in your mouth and chew, but you don’t taste anything until you unplug your nose. Party trick.. Afterward we went upstairs to the bar and had a craft cocktail, which was nice and swanky. On the way out I bought some Fort Nelson bourbon which they personalize the bottle, a bottle of Shenks bourbon which they recieve a case a day they said, tshirt and I got a swag bag for attendanting the tour which had a nice etched michter whiskey glass. I know 100 sounds like a lot, but if you consider you’re trying aged bourbon and getting a quality whiskey glass, I think it is well worth the price.

Pretentious Beer Co – Menu with Prices – 131 S Central St, Knoxville

Matt had already established a barometer of quality with Pretentious Glass Co. next door. So when he opened the brewery side, the bar was pretty high…pun unintended. The bar started out as a beer bar, showcasing beer from some of the best breweries in the city and region. Even after they started brewing their own beer, the continued that tradition, sharing their beer selection. Which shows that their business truly does support others. The beer. First off, the beer is tasty and delicious. They tend towards lighters beers (IPAs, Goes, etc) as opposed to Stouts, Porters. I know that can be seasonal, but they still tend more that way. Which isn’t bad, just good to know going in. Those lighter beers are crisp! They also pair their beers to the appropriate beer glass in a way unlike any others…because they literally make the glasses! I also love seeing the glass handles around town at other bars and breweries. It’s an easy signifier of quality!

Boulevard Brewing Tours & Recreation Center – Menu with Prices – 2534 Madison Ave, Kansas City

This was one of the best brewery tours I’ve taken. Boulevard knows how to make the experience a great one! We arrived early on a busy Saturday afternoon and were able to get tickets to their last tour of the day at 4pm. That gave us a couple of hours to kill. The first floor of their downtown building has some historical information/museum-type items in the front and the large gift shop is in the back. Head upstairs and grab a drink or two! I ordered the Produce Aisle flight, and it was delicious. I already knew that JamBand was one of my favorites, so this was a good choice! They do have a side window for food. This space is a large and opened up with long tables resembling a German brew haus, as well as being lined with smaller tables for a more intimate setting. If you want to play some shuffle board, etc, head on up another flight of stairs. Bartenders await you there as well. When it was time for the tour, we met up on the first floor inside the entrance. (Be prepared to show your ID if you haven’t already had your hand stamped.) We headed across the way where it all began. Our tour guide was fun and informative. At the beginning of the tour while getting the early history of the brewery, they give you a tasting glass of their Pale Ale (the first beer they brewed). We moved into another building that is set-up for events and learned more about the brewery. We were able to go outside on a balcony, take a fun picture with the Boulevard sign behind us, and learn more before we continued to our last stop, which was a private tasting room where we were given two more tasting glasses of whichever Boulevard beers we wanted to try. That’s where I became a fan of the KC Pils. This was a highlight to our visit to KC and I highly recommend it!

Rowdy’s Brew Co. – Menu with Prices – 10002 6th St A, Rancho Cucamonga

Rowdy’s is my FAVORITE brewery ever!!!! Brace yourselves, a long and thought out review is coming! Alan and John are some of the best people I have ever met! My first time at Rowdy’s was in 2017, and they had some awesome beers on tap! Fast forward to 2019, I remembered Rowdy’s and decided to check them out again. Greeted by Alan and he explained a lot of different things to us and made us feel comfortable there. Needless to say the rest is history, John and Alan will always go into detail about their beers and their brand. If you ask they’ll show you around and give you the whole scoop. Their selections of beers are different, but cater to all your hoppy needs. They have a variety of different stouts, IPAs, Belgians, etc. If you want a good beer to start off the night, I’d suggest their flagship, the Overgold. If you’re looking for something in the middle that’s not too high in ABV, but still flavorful I would try my personal favorite, the All I Need. All of their beers have the IBUs (international bitterness units) listed so you can try to get a feel for the beer before you try. No splashes of beer offered here, but their beer is so good you don’t need it. Thank you Rowdy’s crew for the badass beers and awesome hospitality. You have lifelong supporters now.

Celestial Seasonings Tea House – Menu with Prices – 1669 Euclid Ave, Boulder

I checked this place out, it was right outside of downtown Boulder. The building was easy to find and when you check in you get a little sample tea pack. The tour starts with a short video about the history of the company and tea. The tour guides then take you through the building and give you all sorts of facts and information. The tour guides I had were pretty funny and seemed to generally enjoy their jobs which made the tour more enjoyable. The tour ends in the gift shop. I highly recommend purchasing the energy tea (fast lane), it is delicious and pretty much impossible to order online (I regret not buying more). I really enjoyed checking this place out, it was one of the highlights of my visit to Colorado!

CNN Studio Tours Menu with Prices 190 Marietta St NW, Atlanta

I was in downtown Atlanta and wanted to checkout the World of Coca Cola or the Georgia Aquarium, but the mines were far too long. As a result, I decided to go to the CNN Studios for a tour. However, I was highly disappointed. The CNN Studio Tours costs $15 for an adult and $14 for a student. Although, the tour is advertised as a 50 minute tour, it is real only 20 minutes and a bit under half of the time is spent waiting. The tours are offered from 12 PM to 5 PM everyday and is offered every 20 minutes. The entrance to CNN Studios is a bit hard to find. After going through security you are sent up a large escalator, which is actually the largest free standing escalator in the world. That was probably the most exciting and interesting part of the tour. Once you’re up the escalator, you sit in some comfortable chairs, which are in front of a large screen showing a live feed of CNN and includes the transcript feed on the side. After waiting there for about 10 minutes the tour began. The tour started off by walking down around 5 flights of stairs with pictures of Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper and other CNN anchors along the way. Eventually, the group is shown a mock TV studio. It was clearly not similar to what CNN would actual have in their studio. Rather, it was small and looked like something a high school might have. The tour guide then showed the group a teleprompter and a screen, which would be used to show election results, weather or other data. We stayed in the mock studio for about 3-5 minutes. After that, we walked down more flights of stairs and were shown the domestic newsroom. It was practically an almost empty large room with maybe 20-30 people on their computers. There was nothing interesting or educational about that. The international newsroom was even smaller and the only thing we could actually see was the room being cleaned. At one point in the tour we were shown a model of the CNN building, which was actually one of the more interesting parts of the tour. The tour concluded with a peek at a small and dark studio that was nearly impossible to see through the glare of the glass. Finally, we were taken down more flights of states and taken into a cold room and shown a 1 minute commercial for CNN. It was very uninteresting and was primarily a couple of 10 second clips from CNN anchors talking about what their job entails. The group was then escorted into a gift shop, which sold random souvenirs and some t-shirts with Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and other CNN anchors on them. Altogether, I would not recommend the CNN Studio Tour. It is just a walk through the CNN Atlanta building’s hallways for $15.

Celestial Seasonings – Menu with Prices – 4600 Sleepytime Dr, Boulder

This was my first time at a tea estate tour. Celestial is one of the famous brands of tea. You would have seen their boxes of teas in various stores. We googled things to do around boulder and we came across this place. They have various time slots for their free tour. They do not have online tickets so you have to arrive at least half an hour early to get your tickets. While you wait for your turn to tour their estate, you can check out their amazing tea store that has various collections of teas, and other accessories. Definitely worth buying a memorabilia for tea lovers. They also have free tea tasting area from where you get your ticket. Check out their menu and order any type of tea that interests you. So after tasting various free teas it was time for us to tour their factory. We were handed hair covers and facial hair covers. Instructions were pretty clear for what we would expect out of our tour. Tour guide was extremely knowledgeable. Unfortunately, since this was a Sunday, none of the machines were running. So we just had to walk through and listen to our tour guide. My favorite was the mint room. The entire tour takes around half an hour. They plenty of parking spots available. We had a great time and I hope you have a great time too.

Boulevard Brewing Company – Menu with Prices – 2501 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City

Never disappointing This is my third time taking a tour with guest from out of town. Been there more but only toured 3 times. Everyone is so awesome. friendly and accommodating. We toured four months back with my sister in law and she wanted my brother to tour since he was not able to make it last time. We came down late Saturday and they were sold out. So we returned Sunday morning to find out at 10:45 am they were sold out for the day. My brother lives in China and is not able to make it here that often. He does have a home in Virginia but does not make it to KC very often. Seeing our disappointment, arrangements were made to add us to the last tour of the day and also gave us some sample beers. WOW Going above and beyond. Tour guide as always rocked it. Thanks to all at Boulevard that provide such a great experience