Pelican Pub & Brewery, USA
This multi-award winning brewery located in the tiny coastal town of Pacific City is reachable via a coastal highway or by ferry. Despite its modest appearance, the brewery churns out an impressive range of concoctions like Kiwanda Cream Ale, Tsunami Stout, Bad Santa and Noir. The biggest draw is the stunning views of Cape Kiwanda featuring a massive sand dune and otherworldly rock formations jutting out of the Pacific. This is perhaps the brewery with the best sunset-views in the world and it is scientifically proven that beer tastes better with your feet in the sand.
Heineken Brewery, Netherlands
Home to Heineken’s operations since 1867, this historic brewery and museum is open all year around and is considered to be one of the top attractions in Amsterdam. Heineken claims not just to offer a regular tour but an “experience”. The tour features interactive exhibits, two bars and multiple attractions. Don’t miss the primary attraction, “Brew U”, where you swap shoes with your favourite beverage and get virtually shaken up with malts, sprayed with water and heated up.
Tiger Brewery, Singapore
Born in 1932, the Tiger Brand has steadily risen in popularity to become Singapore’s favourite beer. The brewery features vibrant and colourful imagery and you’ll be treated to an inside-view of every step of the brewing process – from milling the malt to packaging. You’ll also have a chance to sample the ‘wort’, which is beer before it undergoes fermentation. Round off the tour by trying your hand at tapping the perfect pint of beer and sampling some of the freshest brew you’ll ever have the chance to savour.
Cerveceria Modelo, Mexico
The home to the iconic ‘Corona’ beer, this legendary brewery also produces several popular beers like Pacifico, Negro Modelo and Estrella. The gift shop is an attraction in itself and fans often undertake pilgrimages to this place to grab everything from dominoes to inflatable bottles.
Carlsberg Brewery, Denmark
Founded in 1847, Carlsberg is one of the most popular Danish beers in the world. The brewery is a great place to learn about Carlsberg’s history, visit the bottles collection and down a pint or two at the beer garden and bar. The tours are self-guided, so be sure not to miss the world’s largest beer bottle collection – an assemblage of over 22,000 unopened beers from around the globe. Other highlights include the most expensive beer sold at auction and the oldest bottle in the world.
Budvar, Czech Republic
Budweiser Budvar is one of the highest selling beers in the Czech Republic and is often referred to as the ‘real Budweiser’. While the US and European camps have been at loggerheads regarding the rights to the name for over a century, you can hear the Czech side of the story with extensive tours that include a visit to the log cabin illustrating the medieval brewing process and a room dedicated to the Industrial Age, replete with a 3D movie.
Weihenstephan Brewery, Germany
Touted to be the oldest brewery in the world, the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan was the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks. Begin your tour with a visit to the brewery museum where you will learn about the “Origin of the beer”. After this, you can optionally participate in a tasting of beers from a 0.1l Weissbier glass which you can pocket as a souvenir to take home. Do try the “Original Hell” and one of their Dunkel Weissbiers.
Jester King Brewery, USA
Jester King has stuck to its Austin’s knack for keeping it weird. They use wild fermentation techniques and strange ingredients like mushroom and has heavy metal illustrations on the bottles. The brewery is located in a farmhouse featuring a giant pavilion where country bands jam alongside brick ovens cranking out some of the best wood-fired pizza in the country, which pairs amazingly well with freshly brewed pints of raspberry pilsner and barrel-aged sour peach ale.
Guinness Brewery, Ireland
Covering a whopping 64 acres, the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin is one of the largest breweries in the world. It was established in 1759 by Arthur Guinness and has been the home to the most recognized Irish brand (along with Jameson) in the world ever since. The extensive collection of exhibits capture more than 250 years of Guinness history in a classy and charming setting. Don’t forget to grab your complimentary pint on the way out!
Samuel Adams, USA
Samuel Adams was the founder of one of America’s original craft breweries and this quaint brewery was where the famed Boston Lager was born. The guy was an exceptional brewmaster and you get to witness the century old brewing process from start to finish. Taste the special malts and high quality Noble hops that render Samuel Adam beers their distinct flavour and aroma and trace the historical journey of a man who single-handedly put American craft brewing on the map in the 1980s.
Someone once told me to keep an open mind....I tried it for a day and some jerk stole everything!
