Help me improve my brewery tours!

I give tasting and tours at a brewery here in Rochester, NY located near the city's public market every Saturday from 9am-3pm.

I have been on a great number of brewery tours for other breweries and usually enjoy myself (Sam Adam's tour in Boston was a total waste of time). I've taken quite a bit of wisdom from those tours on what to do and what not to do when giving my tours and I have done extensive research on beer facts and trivia.

BUT I really want to picture myself taking my tour and saying, "WOW! That was the best tour I've ever been on!"

Here's where I come to you, my fellow beer lovers:
Any ideas that you have to help me give the best tour I can would be greatly appreciated. Anything at all; trivia, facts, more in-depth information, less in-depth information... ANYTHING!

The last saturday was by far the best day of tours so far as I had a bachelor party come in who loved all of my facts and ramblings of techniques and hops and grains, etcetcetc, but I really wanna make my tour the best it can be! Thanks in advance!

are you at the utica club brewery?

If you could pour some samples from a bright tank you would be serving the freshest beer possible. I hate to say it but, I think the majority of people that are going to a brewery and taking tours are more interested in drinking than learning.

Rohrbachs?

You might ask a few questions before the tour to get a feel for your audience. Why they are there? What do they know about brewing? Have any of them brewed their own beer or know someone that does? Are they from the area or from out of town? If out of town do they have a brewery near their town? Try to break down the presenter/audience atmosphere and get them involved. Just a thought anyway. Good Luck! Cheers!!!

I haven't done too much of asking other than "who has been on a tour before and anyone who has cannot answer the following question..." and then i go into the 4 main ingredients of beer etc etc which is just WAY overdone. I want to get away from that part as every single other brewery tour ever has said "what are the 4 main ingredients of beer"

I have been on a handful of brewery tours...

I did a tour of Titletown in Green Bay and it was a short and sweet thing but was free. It was neat to see the big equipment. I think I would rate that as a 3 out of 5 as far as the tour went. They were very polite and answered any questions you may have. It was more like a "personal 10 min. walk through" than a tour.

Then there was Lakefront in Milwaukee. I rate this tour a 6 of possible 5. I had that much fun and 100% will go again. Our tour guide was funny and informative and asked for "group participation". Well, needless to say I was 99% of the "participation".
The guide asked,"Does anyone know what the secret ingredient is in all Lakefront beers was?" and I replied loud enough for all to hear,"Love!" The guide lost it for just a moment laughing so hard. The next question he asked while holding what looked like a fake hop vine,"Does anyone know what makes hops so special?" Once again I replied, I thought loud enough for all to hear,"Lupilin." However, the tour guide did not hear me quite right and thought I said "rufilin". Needless to say he lost it again and then made some cracks at my expense like,"You may not want to have drinks with him after the tour..." lol. I can not wait to go back.
This tour is $7 you get 4 - 8oz fills (They are more like 10oz.) a coupon for a free LF beer at a downtown bar and a souvenir glass pint glass. IMO well worth the 7 bucks...

So based on my experience, I would say a tour is what YOU make of it...

I have given a couple at Troegs, and people seem most interested in the "new" and "experimental" stuff. When we're standing in front of the mash tun, it's like "Yea, ok, cool, stainless steel, mash rests, woot." But when we walk by the barrels everyone has 28 questions. They like hearing about the single batches we do, and what makes them different from the stuff they drink at home and out at bars.

When we're talking about raw ingredients, we pass around a tray with pils (our base malt), 80L, and chocolate malt on it. I tell them to chew on a few kernels of the pils and picture Sunshine Pilsner, which is 95% pils malt. Then chew on some 80L and picture our Pale Ale. Have some chocolate and think of Java Head Stout. Then smell these Cascade hops and picture our Pale Ale, and smell those Simcoe pellets and picture Hopback or Nugget Nectar. That's a really good way to tie the finished beer in with what it's made of. They can go tell their friends when they drink Pale Ale that they know what kind of hops it's made with, and it gives it that fruity aroma.

The biggest laughs I usually get are when people ask if employees get free beer, and I say, "Yes, a case every two weeks...it's part of the health benefits."

I would say it really depends on the audience you are with. You are asking a bunch of homebrewers who want to know all of the brewing science, specific ingredients, techniques, and equipment that go into the beer. Most people (like our SWMBOs) will be bored to death. Just keep your audience in mind.

i like the tying in of raw ingredients to the final product. thank you!

I think breweries need to focus on what makes their brewery different. Be it their techniques (different kettle design, open fermenters, hop teas, etc), or their ingredients, or their styles. I've been to BBC in Boston, Shipyard in Portland, ME and Long Trail in VT for my bigger tours, and a couple of smaller brewhouses. Shipyard was excellent. The guide went over the basics, but he also explained what Shipyard does - open fermentation, hop tea - which made it more interesting. I liked Sam Adams, but it was certainly your basic tour (these are the ingredients, this is where we boil, this is where we ferment, here try some beer). Long Trail was just lame - it's self-guided, meaning you walk into a platform above the brewery and there's a couple of placards telling you the process.

The biggest reason to go on a tour though, especially if you've been to a few, is to sample the beer, so don't be stingy! Talk about where the ideas came from for some of your more interesting brews. Discuss what makes your Pale Ale different from others.

As others have said, though, most important is to gauge the audience. One group may only want the most basic information, others may grill you on every little detail, and still others may just want to rush to the tasting portion.

create a sampler of grains that represent the brew ingredients and let 'em chomp on them while walking and then hand them the beer at the end.

if you dont mind me asking, which brewery is that you have?

I havent been on a tour in quite some time, but i would also like to hear during the tour is how you test recipes, and "upgrade" from test to commercial.

rustbucket said:

if you dont mind me asking, which brewery is that you have?

I havent been on a tour in quite some time, but i would also like to hear during the tour is how you test recipes, and "upgrade" from test to commercial.

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I asked the same question and got ignored.

SkinnyShamrock said:

When we're talking about raw ingredients, we pass around a tray with pils (our base malt), 80L, and chocolate malt on it. I tell them to chew on a few kernels of the pils and picture Sunshine Pilsner, which is 95% pils malt. Then chew on some 80L and picture our Pale Ale. Have some chocolate and think of Java Head Stout. Then smell these Cascade hops and picture our Pale Ale, and smell those Simcoe pellets and picture Hopback or Nugget Nectar. That's a really good way to tie the finished beer in with what it's made of. They can go tell their friends when they drink Pale Ale that they know what kind of hops it's made with, and it gives it that fruity aroma.

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I think this is a great idea.

- WTF is hops?
vs
- "see this flower? smell it? It gives flavor to your beer, and also offsets the beers natural sweetness. Its called Hops. There are many varieties. Smell this one, see how its different?"


Let the customer see/touch/smell some ingedients. They are unlike;y to ever have had that opportunity. Anyone can google pictures of a brewery, but you can't smell/hold/taste a few things

rustbucket said:

I havent been on a tour in quite some time, but i would also like to hear during the tour is how you test recipes, and "upgrade" from test to commercial.

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I like this. We do test batches at a different location so its hard to really tie it into the tour as its not something that is immediately tangible, but I'll try to work that in. I usually do get a few questions on testing...

It's tough to please everyone. There will be some beer noobs, there will be some folks that don't care at all and want to drink, there will be some folks who think they know what they're talking about, and there will probably be some pretentious homebrewer types who scoff at everything you say.

Ask what styles of beer people prefer. Talk about how dark beers don't equal higher alcohol or heavy. I agree with the ingredient statements. I'm amazed at how many people I know who drink good beer but have no idea what hops are and what they do.

GTO_Guy said:

are you at the utica club brewery?

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If he was at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica why would he be serving samples at the farmers market in Rochester?

FWIW - historically I don't even think Utica Club was sold in the Rochester area. Maybe it is now but it used to be that you could only get the special UC products (like the suitcase of beer or the beer ball) in a 50 miles radius around Utica.

to be honest, ive never even heard of Utica Club.

It is tough to please every single person. That statement is very true, some people are only there for the samples (which we run all day anyways regardless of tours or not), some people know nothing and dont care to know, and then there have been a few people who've scoffed at something I've said because I've dumbed it down below their level of unerstanding so someone who knows nothing can relate to it.

In order to make it fun for everyone though, I try to bring stupid facts into the mix every once in awhile. Like I ask people if they know what cenosillicaphobia is (the fear of an empty glass) or if they have every heard of Rule of Thumb (anyone who's seen Boondock Saints usually answers) but give the brewers rule of thumb definition (which may or may not be true, and i tell people that, but it makes it fun). This way I can keep the people who really want to learn about brewing happy with the brewing process as well as people who dont care by giving tidbits of info.

By way of a suggestion, you could describe part of the process and indicate to the taster that the beer could have gone two ways. Ask them to taste and identify the direction you went in with the beer.

Also, if you have ingredients on hand you can ask them which ingredients they think are in which beers.

I think that would be engaging and interactive.

My biggest suggestion is to keep the tour group small. People will get the information that they want....if they want anything more than the sample a the end of the tour....if they feel comfortable to ask questions. I've been on lots of tours and the ones that I remember are always those with just a few folks on the tour.

I had one tour where it was just two people and i really enjoyed that tour; very personable, i got to say way more than usual, didnt have to yell, and we were able to go other places where i can't take larger tours.

However, the bachelor party was by far the biggest tour I did but also by far the best which ties into what a lot of people are saying: sometimes the tour is reliant on the group. They were an awesome group!

Free snacks and drinks (nice snacks).
Also, jokes and quirky facts.

I've never lead brewery tours, but I was a campus tour guide in college. The best tours were when the group was excited, I tried to get them excited about something in the first few minutes of the tour, encouraged them to ask questions, and finally give me feedback at the end. I always tried to relate what on campus inspired/excited me, but I was real with them and told the truth about things I thought we could do better. I had the highest enrollment rate of any of the tour guides, and I think it was simply because I related with them. If you can get the people excited about your beer, it will help business and retention in clientel. After all thats what its about. Be passionate about what you are talking about and it will flow.

People like stories more than facts. If there is a dent in one of your fermenters, tell the crowd how it got there. What is the nickname for the mash tun? how did it get the nickname. where did the equipment come from? did you have any trouble installing it? did you have to cut a whole in the roof and lower it using the world's largest crane? is this the only mash stir stick in the world made from Peruvian magic wood? stuff like that. they want to know information you couldnt possibly know before you got there or else why would they go?

You work at Rohrbachs right? You never heard of Utica Club?? Do yourself a favor and go do the tour at Utica Brewery, I have been to a lot of breweries and Utica's was the best by far. They have a beautiful old bar at the end where you get 2 free pints, even double IPA.

man you guys really wanna know where i give tours huh?

pwndabear said:

man you guys really wanna know where i give tours huh?

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I know where you give tours, there is only one place down at the market

This is a little unusual, but I have come to prefer the "open house" concept a lot more than a true "tour".

IMO, make the brewing equipment visible, and maybe offer one tour a week by appointment for people who really want to know the ins and outs of your process, but for the majority of visitors (and probably even brewing-educated visitors) you do not need to have a walk through to explain the bottling line and boil kettles. It is boring, and repetitive. Odds are, the people on your tour either know what a bottling line looks like already, and if they don't know, they probably don't care to. There are going to be very few tourists that fall in the middle of those two groups. If that third group is present, they'll ask questions and I am sure you'll be able to answer them, but don't force the issue.

Don't get me wrong, it is imperitive that you have the knowledge at your fingertips to answer technical or recipe questions (ingredients, dry hopping times/rates, yeast choices) but those things really come across even better when you are tasting the beer. It improves the experience for everyone; beer geeks, home brewers, and noobs. As campy as Sam Adams tour is, they do a great job of drilling home beer as a sensory experience. I think that is the part worth putting your efforts into, because that really facilitates the notion of "beer is 10 minutes of pleasure". So again, I really like the open house format.

With that, keep it entertaining, and keep it comfortable (temperature, seating, and table tops are your friend). The best experiences I have had at breweries came from the least technically informative tours. The guy at Red Hook in NH (I want to say Byron) was a master of this. The tour was basically a quick walk through on the way to an extended stay in the tasting room. At that point, he entertained the group, spoke with confidence about each beer, told stories about following The Dead, got us kind of loaded, and handed me a bag of hops. It doesn't get much better than that.

My local favorite is Cricket Hill in Fairfield, NJ. Every friday night, they open the place up for a couple hours. You taste beers, eat some bagged pretzels that are resting on various equipment and sacks of malted barley, and towards the end, the owner, Rick Reed makes a big speech about how people should stop settling for mass-produced watered down beer (as a crowd of regulars cheer him on). If you are with a friend, you can also buy a case of beer out of cold storage for a very reasonable price. It is just a fun time, and a great way to build a local following. Search youtube for a video of Rick. It is kind of Lewis Black meets Sam Caligione. His tour is unorthodox, but you don't forget it.

So I say, sell yourself, and sell your brand. After all, that is why you want people to visit, right? The technical information is secondary to the experience. Have it available, and have it accurate, but don't make it your priority. Once you've toured a couple dozen breweries, the systems kind of blend together. It is the "experience" that will set you apart.

Good luck,
Joe

maltoftheearth said:

If he was at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica why would he be serving samples at the farmers market in Rochester?

FWIW - historically I don't even think Utica Club was sold in the Rochester area. Maybe it is now but it used to be that you could only get the special UC products (like the suitcase of beer or the beer ball) in a 50 miles radius around Utica.

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I live in houston and toured that brewery once when i was little and dont know all of the demographics in that area, which is why I was asking.

New Glarus did a great job setting up their new Hilltop brewery. The whole brewery is behind glass so you can see everything operating. They have a window you can look through and see their lab. You can buy a pint and walk through the whole thing.

They also have a Friday brewery tour limited to about 10 people.

pwndabear said:

man you guys really wanna know where i give tours huh?

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Well, if the brewery you are working for is brewing in two separate locations in rochester it has to be rohrbachs

I might have to go on one of your tours and heckle you a little.

rustbucket said:

if you dont mind me asking, which brewery is that you have?

I havent been on a tour in quite some time, but i would also like to hear during the tour is how you test recipes, and "upgrade" from test to commercial.

Click to expand...

Its not my post but it is Rohrbachs at the Railroad St location just outside of downtown Rochester, near te public market.

Hey been following your thread. My home town is in the Finger Lakes and I work in the Utica. I currently tend bar, I've served in pubs, worked dozens of beer tastings all over the finger lakes, and actually apprentice brewed at a competing brewery on the south side of town.
I've "toured" many of the bigger breweries in the aforementioned replies (and yes Sam Adams BLOWS, It wasn't an actual tour we were just herded around their show rooms, plus they selected the beers (3) all which I've had before) Pretty cheesy. So we went across town to Harpoon where we drank ourselves silly. I'd recommend others visiting Boston do the same.
Points I’d re-emphasize:
1. The Beer is most important! Don’t fool yourself into thinking anything else is more important. Obviously, you can't please everyone but 90%* of the people there would try as many beers as you stuck in their face. So don't be stingy, 4 ten oz pours is a good start. How about a smaller sampler flight with more varieties, because there are going to be people who want to try them all. I.e. Any home brewers Lastly, Can you please make sure there’s enough people on staff, I know people who walked out of Ommegang after waiting 20 mins for their first beer. (*the other 10% being the reluctant ladies we drag there who only drink wine or vodka).
2. Since I know Rohrbachs (better than some of the others), I'd almost say don't bother with the tour (Is the facility really big enough to do a tour? I'm just comparing it to others throughout upstate NY), allow your expert staff to cater to individual group needs by answering any of the questions or interests they may have. And I agree what others have mentioned, sell what makes you unique. New location, New Beers, Unique Recipes (I know the scotch ale is pretty damn tasty), History of the company, etc. Save the mandatory story about ingredients, even my girlfriend who could care less about beer doesn't want to hear it.
3. The F.X. Matt tour is one of the best. Reason's why... Great historical story, cool Victorian buildings, complete tour of the facilities, quick education about process and ingredients, pretty much as many beers as you want, and the staff is always friendly. Also, Utica Club is currently available in select bars From Buffalo to Albany, and throughout the Adirondacks. Historically is was more available during our parents' generation, disappeared for a while, now its making a comeback.

I personally wouldn’t do a tour. At Rohrbach’s size (compared to others who do tours) I would just design a tasting parlor that overlooks brewing operations. But it may be too late for such modifications.

Just my thoughts, many of which are based on the same fun, crazy, beer loving customers whom you’ll be seeing come through your doors. Good luck. Cheers!

tastings run throughout the day but we also want to show people where the magic is made, especially weve expanded, added fermenters, as well as a grain silo. it isnt as big of a facility as some other places ive been to, but its definitely big enough for a tour.

Nothing wrong with a tour, but I would avoid the doing the same hackneyed routine for every group. Because you're smaller (compared to FX Matt, Magic Hat, Boston Beer Co. ect) you have the luxury of keeping groups small enough you can tailor to individual group knowledge and needs. Doing so will add authenticity and sincerity to the customer experience.

Is every visitor required to do a tour to get a tasting (I.e. Boston Beer Co.)? Or are visitors allowed to just visit the tasting room?

nope, the tastings are throughout the day available to everyone and the tours are on the hour for those who want to partake

That's cool, Is there a bar inside? For instance can I relax and enjoy a pint, or tasting only? I went back and re-read your original post. I misunderstood the type of info you were looking for, sorry. I'll have to stop in for a visit.

I've done the tasting job before. Its fun for sure. FYI watch out for the older women celebrating 30th, 40th, even 50th birthdays. They are insane and will want to rip your clothes off. Honestly, they make the bachelors and bachelorettes look tame. haha Best of Luck, Cheers!

Focus on whats unique and different about your brewery. You still need to talk about hops, barley, water, and yeast, but explain how your brewery gets those, what makes it different that what other breweries do.

And don't be afraid to make fun of bmc, people love that.

no pints unfortunately but its def cool to relax and just talk to people there

i usually tell people i am rinsing their tasting glasses out with bmc.