FARK.com: (7623781) Three entrepreneurs have taken on the roles of North Texas beer ambassadors by offering bus tours of local breweries. Drew last seen heading for Dallas to meet with his fellow diplomats

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(Some Guy)		Three entrepreneurs have taken on the roles of North Texas beer ambassadors by offering bus tours of local breweries. Drew last seen heading for Dallas to meet with his fellow diplomats (allenamerican.com)		22
		More: Spiffy, North Texas, American Airlines, American Airlines Center, diplomats, ambassadors

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1485 clicks; posted to Main » on 04 Mar 2013 at 6:50 AM | Favorite | share:

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AverageAmericanGuy		2013-03-04 06:54:03 AM

That's cool, I guess. But most of those breweries have parking lots.

Cerebral Knievel		2013-03-04 07:15:23 AM

We got two companies like that operating here in town

KrispyKritter		2013-03-04 07:44:50 AM

M-O-O-N, that spells frat party.

ZeroCorpse		2013-03-04 07:46:24 AM

Ha ha. I get it. Because Drew likes beer. Ha ha ha. Oh, you clever wordsmith, subby! Ha ha ha ha!

Happy Hours		2013-03-04 07:51:59 AM

There are breweries in Dull-Ass?

I thought those were manufacturing facilities

Snooki Punch		2013-03-04 08:14:37 AM

Very cool. I had no idea there were so many breweries around here. Only one I've ever been to is Rahr. $10 on a Saturday afternoon gets you a tour, a pint glass, and three "samples" (meaning they fill your pint glass with tasty beer three times). Are the other breweries similarly generous? I don't want no shot glass sized sample of beer!

/Rahr is awesome
//If you're in Texas, Rahr's spring seasonal beer, Bucking Bock, is fantastic. It should be out pretty soon.

neversubmit		2013-03-04 08:20:00 AM

When your own website makes fun of you being a drunk... well damn!

Buchholz96		2013-03-04 08:31:52 AM

That'd be cool if they franchise their tour down to South Central Texas. I live near Blanco, where they brew Fireman's Four. If you live in Texas and can get your hands on it, I recommend trying it. You can get it almost anywhere in Austin but I haven't seen it much outside of the Austin area.

rebelyell2006		2013-03-04 08:37:55 AM

AverageAmericanGuy: That's cool, I guess. But most of those breweries have parking lots.

Plausible deniability. This way, the people going on drinking tours have a designated driver.

Snooki Punch: Rahr is awesome

Not all the time. They can be pretty sloppy, and their beers occasionally do not taste right.

Crookleg		2013-03-04 08:39:24 AM

Happy Hours: There are breweries in Dull-Ass?

I thought those were manufacturing facilities

You think too much.

Khryswhy		2013-03-04 09:07:16 AM

I do this in Detroit. Actually, it's from the suburbs, and the breweries we go to are all over the place. Last year, we went to five breweries in Ohio. Once a year, me and 40 of my closest friends for a 15 hour tour of 4-6 breweries. It's a great time!

genepool lifeboat		2013-03-04 09:15:31 AM

We organized one last year and it was a blast. It's almost too easy to do in NY near the finger lakes as there are so many companies offer winery tours in the area. We did 4 breweries and a stop at Finger Lakes Distilling in the middle to break up the tasting a little.

Cerebral Knievel		2013-03-04 09:28:27 AM

Snooki Punch: Very cool. I had no idea there were so many breweries around here. Only one I've ever been to is Rahr. $10 on a Saturday afternoon gets you a tour, a pint glass, and three "samples" (meaning they fill your pint glass with tasty beer three times). Are the other breweries similarly generous? I don't want no shot glass sized sample of beer!

/Rahr is awesome
//If you're in Texas, Rahr's spring seasonal beer, Bucking Bock, is fantastic. It should be out pretty soon.

I can't speak for a lot of other breweries tour programs, I can only really speak for the one I do. Part of my Duties at the brewery I work for is to be the Saterday afternoon tour guide.

The tour I give does not hand out stuff or samples because A) when we first started out, it was technically illegal for us to do so by the VA ABC laws, giving away stickers and labels, bottle caps is fine, as those have a value of under $5, anything over than that and you can not give them away. B) its a FREE tour. the tour you described the souvenir glass, and the beer they put into it on that tour, you paid for with your admission fee for the tour.

C) On the tour I give, I'm the only guy in the brewery working at the time, tour groups can go from 5 to 50 folks deep. and it would be very difficult for me act as beer steward to all of them. Also, our facility is quite large and cramped compared to a lot of the other craft shops here in town.

But my tour lasts about a half hour, and I try to make it entertaining, I give a little bit of soft science explanation about whats going on, how we do it, and why, filled with history of the brewery itself, and general Beer history and trivia with a bit of stand up mixed all in to that. And I get a lot of compliments on it.

now, occasionaly, if there is something interesting in one of the bright tanks that is not yet on the market, I'll pull a couple of pitchers off the tank and fill a bunch of sample cups for people to try and that I can talk up.

The bus tours that operate with us charge a fee that includes full sized samples and souvenir glass ware.

markie_farkie		2013-03-04 09:57:49 AM

Franconia's brewery is 10 minutes from my house.. I was just there on Saturday.. $5 to get in the door, bring your own mug, and get 4 full glasses.

They just got their solar panels fully online, and the biomass incinerator is nearly 100% now. They hope to be net-negative energy consumers by later this year.

And the beer's awesome, too. They currently only sell kegs to local bars and restaurants, but there's a plan in the works to do limited bottling of select beers.

Highly worth a visit!

Maud Dib		2013-03-04 10:25:14 AM

Buchholz96: That'd be cool if they franchise their tour down to South Central Texas. I live near Blanco, where they brew Fireman's Four. If you live in Texas and can get your hands on it, I recommend trying it. You can get it almost anywhere in Austin but I haven't seen it much outside of the Austin area.

Are you kidding? I've seen it all over the state. Port Aransas, even.

Bruxellensis		2013-03-04 10:44:11 AM

Cerebral Knievel:

*clink!*

Sláinte!

dhaas		2013-03-04 11:00:47 AM

McRibbedForYourPleasure		2013-03-04 12:14:55 PM

markie_farkie: And the beer's awesome, too. They currently only sell kegs to local bars and restaurants, but there's a plan in the works to do limited bottling of select beers.

He's been threatening to do that for years now. Dennis is the true German, pragmatic and cautious.

And don't forget he sells kegs to drink at home, buy your beer from your local vendor.

\except S&K, they suck ass!

markie_farkie		2013-03-04 12:21:05 PM

McRibbedForYourPleasure: your local vendor.

Hmm, Choice Beverage just down the street from me doesn't carry Franconia.. I'll have to poke around or ask Dennis next time I'm in..

McRibbedForYourPleasure		2013-03-04 12:28:12 PM

markie_farkie: McRibbedForYourPleasure: your local vendor.

Hmm, Choice Beverage just down the street from me doesn't carry Franconia.. I'll have to poke around or ask Dennis next time I'm in..

Nah, just go to the best. Kegs & Barrels. :-)

R1mbaud		2013-03-04 12:50:49 PM

As a dallasite, I'm still just pissed that shiner,tx is so damn far away.

Tangenital		2013-03-04 01:37:47 PM

DFW is getting lots of brewery attention all of a sudden. It's about time, we've had lots of great beer bars for years but no breweries other than Rahr and Franconia who are just passable - still no brewpubs to speak of outside of Humperstinks and Gordon Biersch however.

Of course with rampant expansion will come the inevitable shakeout. I can see Deep Ellum, Lakewood, Community and perhaps Peticolas making it for the long haul. Firewheel Brewing will be the first casualty. I have yet to try anything drinkable from them.

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