Anheuser-Busch (Home of Budweiser as well as many others) has 12 factories in the US. The Fort Collins factory offers free tours describing the history of the art of beer making, as well as free samples at the end. (You can get two free samples by stopping by anytime, but participating in the tour gets you not only a better perspective on the company, but bonus samples).
We spent almost an hour and a half touring the 130-acres factory (We walked a lot, but not that much). We learned about their use of beechwood chips. Though an outdated method by most standards the company famously swears by it. The beechwood chips allow the yeast a place to rest as it tackles the incredible job of fermenting sugars into alcohol.
Many unfathomable numbers were thrown at us as to the sheer size of their production line. Here's one: they can fill 2,000 cans or bottles of beer every single minute in this one factory alone. Though not at full speed we got to view the machinery in action and can confirm it's efficiency and speed. I can also attest to Isaiah's speed. In a heated trivia battle to win the coveted special give away of the day, Isaiah was able to get out the winning answer in record time (The question-when did Budwieser begin? The answer-not in my head, but fortunately in plain view, printed on the bottle, in the display case in front of us). This allowed us to go to Beer School for free. (Normally $10 a piece).
"School" began 20 minutes after our tour ended, but 20 min after our end of tour sampling started, meaning I drank 4 beers in 20 min. Hearing this our beer teacher stated he "liked our style." On to more beer. We had the class to our self and spent the next hour or so with a CSU student named Mark, learning about beer drinking etiquette. I had always thought that sniffing and swirling were only for wine but this is a common misconception. In fact the best way to enjoy any beer is in five steps: (1) Look for clarity in the beer, (2) Swirl it, (3) Sniff repeatedly, (4) Swallow, allowing it to fully wet your tongue and then (5) breath out through your nose after you swallow. Surprisingly this adds a lot to really getting the flavor of the beer. We did all of this convoluted snobby swirling and sniffing with Bud Light (and some more interesting beers too).
Even though the famous Clydesdale horses were out touring, as they are 300 days of the year, the factory is still very much worth the trip.
People might give us crap for choosing the most obvious and widely available brewer to visit, but New Belgium was booked for 4 days, another had conflicting hours, and at Fort Collins Brewery we found good beer, but that their tour is only available on Saturdays. Besides do you know how much free beer we got?!?
Carriages the Clydesdale Horses pull
On the Budweiser grounds
Holding tanks for Budweiser
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