THAT GUY at the brewery tour.

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I took a tour of Lakefront a while back (those tours are always awesome) during the summer and there was a bachelor party in the group. The bachelor had obviously had a few pints before the tour and was being a bit of a doofus (and he was wearing a Packer helmet for some reason.)

Anyway, in the summer, there are a lot of off-for-the-summer teachers as the tour guides. This particular guide was a high school teacher and she was simultaneously hilarious and not one to be messed with.

Bachelor would start acting like a dork, she'd shut it down real quick. One comment was "*sharp whistle* Aye! Special Ed! I need you here!"
 
Yeah, I was that guy at Rogue. Before the tour started, I asked if we'd get to meet John Maier, and the guide said no, he's working today but he's shy and doesn't interact with the tours. Part way through the tour, I saw John in his boots and overalls, standing with some of the other brewers. I tried to get his attention, but he was working hard to ignore the tour. After we moved on the next part of the tour, the guide asked the crowd, looking at me, "Did you see John?" Big grin on my face.

I'm also the guy who, when at Mendocino Brewing, chatted up the server about beer history, and got excited when she brought out a New Albion tap handle that they used back in the day.
 
One time, years ago, the wife and I toured New Holland in Holland, Michigan. They had a younger lady giving the tour and she did pretty good, but there were times I had to help out with the questions people were asking. BTW - I'd love to go back and tour again. They've updated and actually got the distillery operation going now.
 
I saw "THAT GUY" during a tour at DFH Summer of 2015.

The one asking all the "difficult" but very genuine questions. The one who went out "exploring" on his own as far as he could. The tour guide was very disappointing, a summer aid of course, and he didn't know much more about the brewery than could be found online.

After the tour, I don't think many in the group actually understood beer was brewed with grain and hops and how things fit together to make that awesome beer everyone had tasted in the sample arena for several hours before.

We all stood for what seemed an eternity on top of the brew house, in front of an old 10 gallon "pilot" system listening to a lot of talk from the guide, 3/4 of that being missed because of high ambient noise.

The group must have gathered yeast was involved somehow, from walking past their yeast injection room. At least the group walked away knowing a lot of trivia about the owners, Sam and Maria and their dedication to the brewery.

Yep, I know that guy very well!
 
Never really saw any on any tours tbh. I usually try to ask the brewers if they're cleaning or brewing today. If they're brewing, they'll chat. If they're cleaning, they'll shake their head, laugh, or cry, and walk away.

I was that guy at a tour of the Falling Water house. It was supposed to cost $25k max and ended up costing $125k before they finally pulled the plug. And the maintenance issues. I'll do that one again.
 
In New Jersey a tour is required before drinking, hopefully all of the state's residents know the process end to end now!
 
In New Jersey a tour is required before drinking, hopefully all of the state's residents know the process end to end now!


Jeez, at Lakefront, the tour group assembles at the bar with pints in hand. Midway through the tour, there's a bar (built into the Bernie Brewer Chalet that they rescued from the County Stadium demolition) for refills. Before they had the Chalet, they used to have arrows on the floor so you could find your way back to the main bar for a top-up then find your way back to the tour.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1484849089.811536.jpg
 
The best tour "THAT GUY" ever had was at a local brewery, when I picked up their obsolete "pilot batch" corney kegs.

The guy asked: "do you want a tour?" Sure I do! All the nitty gritty, steam, hot water, mash tun, hoses, water on the floor, everything in the raw! I gained a lot of appreciation for the whole commercial brewing process and those working it to bring us such a sublime product.
 
I have to confess, *on occasion*, on a tour, I suddenly turn into "That [Self-Appointed-Semi-Obnoxious-Comedian-Type] Guy". Whenever I am in a group of people and the atmosphere becomes too serious --- or worse yet, boring --- an irrepressible urge inside me wells up to counteract the starchiness with [what I consider] "humor". It's a gift. I become committed to the fact it is warranted, if not absolutely necessary, which, according to my wife is absolutely never necessary, and that I SHOULD be committed! It's especially evident when I subtly offer what I consider a well-timed, unsolicited one-liner. Deliver, pause, and with the usual self-aggrandizing smirk on my face, turn to my wife, expecting at the very least a sliver of a smile of approval, only to find her glaring straight ahead, jaw firmly locked, gritting her teeth and without lips moving, growling under her breath something to the effect, "If you don't STOP that, I'm going to the car!!"

I don't like tours that much anyway; they give me bruised ribs.
 
I have a doozy actually...I was at a local tour and THAT GUY decided he wanted to fill up his beer glass by opening the fermenter and then..AND THEN...didn't know how to close it. It spilled quite a bit before anyone noticed the ground getting more soaked with beer than normal and letting someone at brewery know that there fermenter is open and leaking beer.

I can't make this up....I was pissed for them.
 
I had one of those "I was that guy" stories. I was in Des Moines Iowa for work a year ago and I stopped into Mad Dog Brewery and there was group who had a Groupon for food, beer, and brewery tour but there was no one to give a brewery tour, so I said I could it. I told the group I was home brewer and explained how beer is made and since it was small set up it was fairly easy to explain the different bits of equipment they had. We all had a good time and I got a few free beers out of it.
 
I have a doozy actually...I was at a local tour and THAT GUY decided he wanted to fill up his beer glass by opening the fermenter and then..AND THEN...didn't know how to close it. It spilled quite a bit before anyone noticed the ground getting more soaked with beer than normal and letting someone at brewery know that there fermenter is open and leaking beer.

I can't make this up....I was pissed for them.


Wow. Just ... wow.
 
I've heard of a guy who actually poured a bit of hot wort in his glass and took a drink before realizing what he did. Wish I had more details.
 
I'm usually very behaved. But I was at a brewery, getting a tour from the owner, and he was talking a lot about their yeast. Big secret. Locked up in a vault. Etc.

At the end he said, "any questions?" I said, "What kind of yeast do you use?"

He had a smirk and said, "well it's a secret". So I said, "Well I like your stuff, and I'm just curious if you are mixing yeasts or if it's a simple strain."

So he responded with an answer that sounded like a lot of BS. I said, "Sounds a lot like Safale 05".

He gets a huge grin, laughs, and says, "Tour's over!"
 
Yeah, I was that guy at Rogue. Before the tour started, I asked if we'd get to meet John Maier, and the guide said no, he's working today but he's shy and doesn't interact with the tours. Part way through the tour, I saw John in his boots and overalls, standing with some of the other brewers. I tried to get his attention, but he was working hard to ignore the tour. After we moved on the next part of the tour, the guide asked the crowd, looking at me, "Did you see John?" Big grin on my face.

I'm also the guy who, when at Mendocino Brewing, chatted up the server about beer history, and got excited when she brought out a New Albion tap handle that they used back in the day.



That reminds me...

Several years ago a buddy and I were talking a tour of Stanahans, a distillery in Denver. The guide pointed out "the man" and my buddy ran over and said, "I just want to hug you!" The guy gave my buddy a big bear hug!!
 
So he responded with an answer that sounded like a lot of BS. I said, "Sounds a lot like Safale 05".

He gets a huge grin, laughs, and says, "Tour's over!"

Simple questions like that, met with resistance or a pompus-ass answer always bothered me. I get it, you've worked hard over the years to refine your recipes and you don't want to give every detail of it away; that is fair.

Here's the thing though, beer is 4 ingredients and in the grand scheme of things, not complicated. Answering a simple question such as the one you've asked in the past doesn't unlock this key that now makes you some 7 star brew master. just answer my simple question please, it wasn't like I asked for the grain/hop bill.

sorry, mini rant over. back to the funny tour stories :)
 
I'm usually very behaved. But I was at a brewery, getting a tour from the owner, and he was talking a lot about their yeast. Big secret. Locked up in a vault. Etc.

At the end he said, "any questions?" I said, "What kind of yeast do you use?"

He had a smirk and said, "well it's a secret". So I said, "Well I like your stuff, and I'm just curious if you are mixing yeasts or if it's a simple strain."

So he responded with an answer that sounded like a lot of BS. I said, "Sounds a lot like Safale 05".

He gets a huge grin, laughs, and says, "Tour's over!"

A year and a half ago I went to three local breweries as part of a tour package and nicely asked, "Do you ever give yeast slurry that is leftover to homebrewers?". Two breweries politely said that's something they just don't do. The third said "that's a brewery secret and we'd never give it away". I responded that unless they have their own labs to make house strains, they were probably buying the same yeast from the same manufactures as I was. That earned me a dirty look from the brewer (and my SWMBO) since the brewery obviously didn't have a lab. So maybe I was THAT GUY.
 
Unless there's some special tasting involved, like brewer's private stock or sampling some barrels, I'm not taking any more tours. The beer is cooked, the beer is cooled, the beer is fermented, packaged and sold; not a whole lot new to see. The only exception would be super small nano breweries, each one seems to have a twist on a process that is somewhat interesting. The tours don't take long and the brewer is usually more approachable.
 
Only been on 3 tours(loved them all), 2 times through Phoenix Ale and the other in a small town between Vegas and Reno. Can't remember the name. I'm, kind of, "that guy" every time. I LOVE the setups and turn into a little kid smiling from ear to ear and pointing and explaining what I can to whoever is in my group. I ask WAAAY too many questions and engage the tour guide on WAAAAY too many topics. I DEFINITELY make sure everyone knows that I homebrew and just carry on with my over-happy self through the while tour. No one has ever seemed bothered and I get lots of laughs so next trip, more of the same.
 
On the Dogfish Head tour, there were three guys who were pretty drunk. The tour guide kept having to remind them to keep their safety glasses on and I could tell she was getting fed up. When she said that the spent grains go to a pig farm, one of them blurted out "do the pigs get drunk?" Clearly had no clue of the brewing process, despite it being described to them moments before.
 
I was "that guy" 24 years ago I was on a United States "I'm gonna travel the US" tour I was 20 years old. Never had I ever brewed a batch or even knew what it really was all about I was at the Jack Daniels Distillery in TN. On the tour it was slightly overcast and a little rainy the ducks were playing in the stream and I was just out for a good time being 20 and and all. They took us to the cave that the water comes out of for the plant. I (again being a 20 yr old California kid) jumped in the spring and laid down in the cave. Funny I thought everyone was going to join me. The tour guide didn't blink en eye. She said. "well every once an a while we get one of those, are ya done kid?" It was so funny. I did the rest of the JD tour soaking wet and loved it, but knew there was like 20 people on that tour that wish they jumped in too!

Cheers
Jay
 
I saw "THAT GUY" during a tour at DFH Summer of 2015.

The one asking all the "difficult" but very genuine questions. The one who went out "exploring" on his own as far as he could. The tour guide was very disappointing, a summer aid of course, and he didn't know much more about the brewery than could be found online.

After the tour, I don't think many in the group actually understood beer was brewed with grain and hops and how things fit together to make that awesome beer everyone had tasted in the sample arena for several hours before.

We all stood for what seemed an eternity on top of the brew house, in front of an old 10 gallon "pilot" system listening to a lot of talk from the guide, 3/4 of that being missed because of high ambient noise.

The group must have gathered yeast was involved somehow, from walking past their yeast injection room. At least the group walked away knowing a lot of trivia about the owners, Sam and Maria and their dedication to the brewery.

Yep, I know that guy very well!

This was me exactly just a few months ago when I went there..

I lost the group trying to take this picture. my girlfriend had to come searching for me...multiple times.

dfhtanks.jpg
 
92ish , I was elk hunting in colorado. Got me a nice big elk and decided to do the coors brewery for a tour.
They say eternal tap, but they really don't mean it. We got kicked,out afeter 3 or four hours.

Rightfully so. Killians red was tne preferred beer and I'm not sure they were ready for 12 smelly guys that had been on horseback in the mountains for 2 weeks.
 
I'm always "THAT GUY" on brewery tours; the know-it-all who smiles knowingly whenever they actually say anything about brewing and asks "insider" questions about hop schedules, pitch rates, and other unbearable crap like that. I'll bet most of us are "THAT GUY" on the tour, actually... Shame on us!

On the Dogfish Head tour, there were three guys who were pretty drunk. The tour guide kept having to remind them to keep their safety glasses on and I could tell she was getting fed up. When she said that the spent grains go to a pig farm, one of them blurted out "do the pigs get drunk?" Clearly had no clue of the brewing process, despite it being described to them moments before.

To be fair, on the Sierra Nevada tour they'll tell you that the remaining sugars in the spent grain will ferment on natural yeast in the spent grain silo so the cows they feed with it do end up getting a bit of booze. Not sure if it's true or apocryphal, but it seems like it could happen.
 
This is not exactly a THAT GUY story, but in the early '70s I was stationed at Ft. Devens, MA, which was a short distance south of the NH state line. Anheuser-Busch had just opened their brand new brewery in Merrimack, NH, about a half hour north. It was a holiday and we had the day off, so four of us decided to drive up and take the tour. When we arrived, we weren't sure it was even open. No cars in the parking lot, no signs of life anywhere. Thinking we had made a mistake, we ventured up to the main door anyway and peered in --- no one. Trying the door, we found it was unlocked, so we walked in and stood there looking around the empty foyer. Suddenly, a guy came around the corner, gave us a warm, jovial welcome and explained that they were closed today because of the holiday, but asked if we wanted a tour anyway. We said, "Uhh, sure" and he said, "Right this way" and proceeded to give the four of us --- the ONLY people in the whole place except for him --- a thorough one-hour tour of the entire facility. It was huge and clean and impressive. Room after room of vats and pipes and conveyor lines and...

At the end we expressed our thanks and were expecting to leave, but the fellow said, "I'll meet you in the Hospitality Room." So, we went in and sat at a table --- by ourselves --- until he reappeared carrying a couple baskets of freshly-popped popcorn and asked us if we'd like to "taste" some beer. "Uhh... sure." Afterall, it's 9:30 AM somewhere. Several pitchers later, we had livened the place up a bit, but were STILL the only ones in the entire brewery, except for the doubles of ourselves sitting at the table with us.
 
Last year I was at a little corporate event that was held in the taproom of a small brewery. The brewery staff gave us a tour and I was the only beer nerd in the bunch which made me obviously "that guy". The lady giving the tour points to fermenters and tells us the barrel size of the fermenters. Someone immediately asks how much is a barrel. The lady gets a deer in the headlights look so I say 31 gallons. As the tour went on the group asked several more technical questions about terms she used but she didn't know their meaning. I helped her out a few more times and by the end she told me I should have done the tour.
 
Unless there's some special tasting involved, like brewer's private stock or sampling some barrels, I'm not taking any more tours. The beer is cooked, the beer is cooled, the beer is fermented, packaged and sold; not a whole lot new to see. The only exception would be super small nano breweries, each one seems to have a twist on a process that is somewhat interesting. The tours don't take long and the brewer is usually more approachable.
I totally agree. For the most part, I have zero desire to ever take a brewery tour again. If you've toured one, you've toured a thousand.

Except Cantillon. THAT is a tour I'd like to take.
 
A tour story, not a "That Guy" story but thought I'd add my experience. I was in Ireland on a work trip in summer of 2001 and decided to arrive on Sat am to tour on the weekend. I spent Sat walking around quite a bit, trying to stave off jet lag. On Sunday I had enough of walking and took a bus tour of the city. When it arrived at the Jameson's distillery, at about 11am, I jumped at the tour offer. I'd been up for some time and as all pubs were still closed in Dublin, decided this would be a great idea. At the start they asked for volunteers, I thought to sample the whiskey. Turns out it was to be taste testers. I was not much of a whiskey drinker then, and certainly not Bourbon, the first of 5 comparison shots, but there I was with 3 Englishmen/women at the front of the room giving a taste review, while the rest of the tour looked on (with a shot of Jameson's in hand!). The English were slamming back their shots like water, to me that Bourbon was like gasoline. I'm sure Jameson provided the cheap stuff in their comparisons. To this day I do enjoy Jameson's, and I did finish their shot, so the tour operator was quite pleased! (I did tour the Guinness Brewery with my work team later that week and "poured the perfect pint"!).
 
I've been "That Guy" several times - like others, asking technical questions and so on - sometimes they get answered well, other times, you can see the speil is just a memorized routine.
However, my dad got the label one time - I think we were at Harpoon's Vermont facility, the guy asked, "what are the 3 things that ruin beer?" he pipes up, "Bud, Miller and Coors." That one did get a laugh from the guide and the rest of the group.
 
I was sort of that guy when I took the Lazy Magnolia tour in Kiln, MS about a year ago with a buddy. The guide was 20ish and he said he'd worked at the brewery about a month. After he'd walked us though the tour I quietly said to just him that I think wort sounds more like wert than wart. He was not amused so I didn't even bring up how he was pronouncing trub.
 
So glad to know that we can use HBT as a support forum for being "That guy"... I have my own stories but nothing out of the norms like you all have shared...just asking technical questions and trying to flex my brewing knowledge muscle to a bunch of people who only did the tour for the drinks.
 
We visited a local craft brewery a couple years ago. No tour, but a tasting room. Our flights were being served by the owner himself, offering fairly general descriptions of each beer. Since I already knew *everything* there was to know about brewing after doing it only 2 months, I thought, "Here's my chance to talk some serious shop with this guy, my brother-in-beer." So, with my best know-it-all swagger, I set down my empty IPA glass, looked him the eye and said, "I brew my own beer." The look. Oh, the look.
 
I totally agree. For the most part, I have zero desire to ever take a brewery tour again. If you've toured one, you've toured a thousand.

Except Cantillon. THAT is a tour I'd like to take.

Funny you mention Cantillon. I was there just a few months ago and it was the coolest brewery. They chill their beer in an open vat with the windows open so the air blows through. Crazy.
 
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