As an avid fan of the Sam Adams Brewery (which we’ve been to more times than I can count at this point), I was really excited when Sam told me about Summit Brewery, a local brewery in Minneapolis. She booked a tour for us about a month before I went to visit. Luckily we had a Tuesday afternoon free because Friday and Saturday tours were booked into July.
We started the tour learning about the history of the brewery and the ingredients in Summit beer. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. After getting all the info about Summit, we headed back into the brewery where all the magic happens. First up, the tank room.
tanks full of beer. well, what will eventually be beer.
Here was also my only complaint of the entire tour. For whatever reason the mics weren’t working and because it was a Tuesday the brewery was in operation, so this room was loud and very echoey.The entire 20 minutes spent explaining the brewing process in there was completely lost. We couldn’t hear a thing. I’m sure the whole process is very interesting though.
Also, they ran out of safety glasses so they told us just to wear sunglasses if we had them. not sure if this meets safety standards, but we did it.
Next was the bottling room. They had finished bottling for the day, but we saw the line and the many many cases of Summit ready to head out.
bottling line
And then we headed to the most important part, the tasting. We each got three chips, entitling us to three samples each.
6 chips, 6 free samples for Sam and I
When I had my Jucy Lucy I tried their flagship beer, Summit Extra Pale Ale, so I skipped that to try some of the other varieties. It was a gorgeous day so we got our samples and walked around the outdoor patio, the gift shop, and the tasting room while we enjoyed.
Horizon Red Ale
Summer Hefeweizen
Pilsener
I loved Summit and had a great time on the tour. If you want more information about the different varieties, check out their website. Summit does a better job of explaining their tastes than I could. All I know, was that I loved every type I tried. Now just have to find somewhere around here that sells it!
Cheers!
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I love brewery tours. That’s annoying you missed a significant part, but at least the tasting went well!
Susan´s last [post] ..chichen itza
I like to think we got the full experience with the tasting