Excerpt taken from the Georgia Staight
Ryan Mackey, who owns Vancouver Brewery Tours, cites similar reasons for why locals take his tours. The craft-beer scene is evolving so rapidly, he says, that many people simply haven’t had a chance to check out many of the city’s breweries. (The latest? In North Vancouver, Black Kettle Brewing Co. opened this month and Green Leaf Brewing Co. opened there in December.) His company, which launched last June, offers $69 tours every weekend that visit three breweries in three hours. He switches up stops between his eight partner breweries, which include Parallel 49 Brewing Company, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers, and Dockside Brewing Company. At each brewery, participants are offered three or four samples.
So why take a tour rather than visiting the breweries’ tasting rooms yourself? Mackey says that people enjoy taking a behind-the-scenes look at the breweries and the personal interaction with brewery staff. “When you meet the people who make your beer, you want to go back,” he explains. The tours include van transportation so that people don’t need to worry about drinking and driving. That makes them popular to book for private stag and staff parties.
The tours are also a great way to meet people in famously clique-y Vancouver. Each one starts off with participants introducing themselves, and the ice breaks quickly with the first beer poured. On the tour the Straight covered, the whole group went on to socialize at a nearby pub afterward.
Read the entire artlcle here.
