The final brewery tour of 2009…Summit Brewery on November 14, 2009!

We went with Tia, Nate and Josh and I think we are all happy we went, but the tour wasn’t anything amazing. We all enjoy Summit beers & it was neat to be surrounded by kegs & cases of deliciousness though!

One neat thing we found out is that Summit does about 50% Kegs & 50% Bottles which is very rare. This is because there are SO MANY bars in the Twin Cities that carry Summit on tap!

And, of course, there were samples which are always enjoyed!

The fifth stop on Chris’s Beer Tour was Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm, MN on November 17, 2009.

We drove down to New Ulm on Saturday morning so we arrived just before Noon and got tickets to the 1:00pm tour. The tours are first-come-first-serve and we wanted to make sure we got in on one sometime during that day.

The tour started out in the Museum (which we were also allowed to walk through on our own) and then we proceeded outside and over to the brew house. They have a lot of history included in the tour and it appears that Schell’s is very proud of where they have come from. This history includes the fact that Schell’s bought Grain Belt in 2002 and now brews those beers as well!


After touring the brewery we were taken to the “Hospitality Room” for some samples!

We started out by sampling bottled beer that was distributed by our guide while each one was explained.

After the bottles were emptied (sit near the center of the table & you will get extras…tip of the day), we were offered samples from the tap!

While Chris sampled some more beers, I switched over to 1919 Root Beer which is brewed there and VERY tasty! We eventually were asked to step outside so they could prepare for the next tour and the outdoor patio was gorgeous, set in the trees.

The land that the brewery is on is very nice, full of trees with wild animals running free. Someone said there were deer, but all we saw were peacocks.

One other piece of information that I thought was interesting was that the deer on the Schell’s labels comes from the family crest…not from our population of deer in Minnesota like I thought!

And, just for fun…I liked this guy who was greeting everyone who approached the mansion.

The fourth stop on Chris’s Beer Tour was Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, MO on September 27, 2009.

We had plans to meet Shelly & Jeremy and Liz & Casey down in KC to catch a Twins game and so I decided to see if we could fit a brewery tour into the weekend as well. The tour was on Sunday at 1pm and Liz & Casey decided to head home right away in the morning rather than sticking around but Shelly & Jeremy were up for the tour so the 4 of us had lunch together before heading over to the brewery.

The Boulevard tour was unique. We had a guide that took us through the “company bar” (seriously!) and the brewery, but at different places along the tour we stopped and watched a video that explained the brewing process. I thought that was a cool idea & made sure everyone got the same information. When we were watching the video about bottling and packaging we noticed that the “drink by” date was Oct 2009 which means the video was relatively new. I’m not sure if they re-record them or if they are a new addition to the tour.

That picture is the main building (and bar) with new, state-of-the-art equipment that they only brew beer in for 6 hours a day. We came away from the tour thinking that Boulevard is about to explode and wishing they were publicly traded. They aren’t brewing even close to capacity and they are situated in a good location to distribute to both coasts & I wish them the best of luck! I think our guide said that Boulevard is the biggest micro-brewery west of the Mississippi River, or something like that.

After the tour we were shown to a tasting room and were free to have samples of everything they have on tap! Pretty awesome. While we were tasting, an employee walked in with a group of his friends and they all took a pint glass full of beer and headed back to the brewery…I think I need some friends in the beer business!

The tour was definitely worth sticking around for and it was fun to have Shelly & Jeremy help celebrate Chris’s 30th birthday as part of the Beer Tour!

The third stop on Chris’s Beer Tour was Goose Island (the Clybourn Brewpub) in Chicago, IL.

One thing that made this beer tour so easy to put together was the fact that we already had a couple out of town trips planned that I could piggyback on. The weekend of August 14th we drove down to Chicago with Josh & Robyn for a long weekend getaway. They agreed to go on the tour with us and we also convinced our cousin who lives in Chicago to meet up with us for dinner too!

The tour was a brief brewing overview followed by an extensive tasting session. For the overview we all piled into a small room where seasonal beers are brewed and our guide explained the brewing process.

After the tour was complete we headed back to a seating area where we proceeded to sample 6 different beers, some were good…some were not.


And, once we were done with that the four of us, along with Mike, found a table in the restaurant to have some dinner. And, of course another beer. The menu was not exactly huge, but I think we all found something we liked.

Stop #2 on the Beer Tour was Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls, WI and this tour was less than 24 hours following the Surly one! We were headed out to Mishicot, WI and practically drove right by the brewery so it worked out well to stop by…not only because it was fun to see, but also because it broke up the drive a little bit! The one disappointing thing was that we couldn’t take any photos inside the brewery. They’ve got some gorgeous copper containers and it was neat to see all the cases of beer stacked up…but, oh well!

The grounds that Leinenkugel’s is on are gorgeous. They’ve definitely embraced the trees and the creek and it just feels very cozy.

It rained at the beginning of the tour, but lucky for me Chris had spotted an umbrella rack & I got the last one so we stayed dry! After the tour we were given two samples. I think the one Chris is enjoying is the new Classic Amber. According to our tour guide, the current man in charge at Leinie’s has promised to have a new beer offered every year that he’s leading the company. Sounds interesting, huh?

This was definitely a different type of tour than the Surly one. Neither one was better than the other I don’t think…but if I were to ever go back to Leinie’s I’d be sure to go during the week when they’re actually brewing the beer because I think that would be neat to see - especially the bottling line.

I put together a beer tour for Chris for his birthday this year! I’ve set up 6 different tours for the remainder of 2009 and have quite a few in the pipeline for 2010. I hope it’s fun & interesting to see the different tours breweries give and if there is anything specific they do differently than others. We’ll visit large & small breweries, mostly throughout the Midwest but if our travels take us past other breweries I will be happy to add them to the book I created as part of my gift to Chris.

On July 24, 2009 (Chris’s 30th Birthday!) the first stop of this beer tour was Surly Brewing Company in Brooklyn Center, MN. Right in my hometown’s backyard…although Surly was created in 2006 which happens to be 10 years after I graduated from Park Center - so whatever that means.

Andy & Christy scored the hard to get tickets for the Surly tour and were able to join us for the evening which was awesome. We all got checked in & then the beer started flowing. Each person got 5 wooden nickles, each one good for a sample of beer and they encourage you to enjoy your samples throughout the tour rather than all at the end. Obviously, I skipped a beer to save one for the scrapbook!

The group of tour participants gathered in the room where the brewing takes place and Omar, the Surly Brewing Co Founder, proceeded to speak to/with us for close to 90 minutes! He told us the background story of him starting with a home brew kit in his garage and the process that he (and his wife) went through before taking the leap and trying their hands at owning a brewery. The first hurdle was that Brooklyn Center didn’t allow breweries within the city limits, but somehow he was able to breeze through that…then there were some remodeling issues…not enough money in the budget…convincing a brew master to come work with him…etc. But, persistence paid off and Surly has been growing by leaps and bounds pretty much since their beer hit the market.

There are 2 rooms we saw - the tasting room & the making room. These are from the making room (my word, not theirs):

We also got to see walls of empty cans, some interesting clothing choices, warning signs and a huge Surly logo made out of Surly cans.

The tour was pretty fun, and very different than other tours I’ve attended. It’s going to be fun to see how some of these others are. Surly was very laid back, drinking during the tour, and included some pretty good laughs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANDSOME!

All photos from the tour can be found here.