Brewery & Taproom Tours in San Antonio (Texas)
We've all heard the story about how everything is bigger in Texas. Are the brewery tours bigger?
Written by CraftJack | Updated | 3 min read
No. In general, brewery tours stick to the tried and true 3 brewery stop method.
With that in mind, we're here to remind you to avoid high abv beers on brewery tours, like Temptress, an Imperial Milk Stout from Texas's Lakewood Brewing Company. Always be responsible.
Now that we have that out of the way, here are some ways to conduct brewery tours in and around San Antonio.
Tours Given By San Antonio Breweries
Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling
Ranger Creek offers their own private tours and tastings, as well as hosting private events. Their "brewstillery" allows patrons to experience two tours in one. The 60-90 minute tour helps visitors understand how the beer AND the bourbon gets made, which is pretty rad. These tours are held every Saturday at 1pm and 3pm and cost $10 dollars each. DD's pay half and kids under 6 attend for free.
For whiskey lovers, there is a $15 sampling option that allows you to try some straight from the barrel.
Multi-Stop Guided Brew Tours
Craft Cruiser
San Antonio Craft Cruiser offers brewery tours, winery tours, and a variety of other mobile brew entertainment options, including a 1-3 day pass for hopping between San Antonio breweries during the Craft Brewers Conference every year. Craft Cruiser visits breweries such as Weathered Souls Brewing, Freetail Brewing, Middleton Brewing, and the Alamo Beer Company, as well as many others. They offer open or private brew tour tickets, and, they can accommodate up to 55 people, so book a tour with them as you see fit to.
San Antonio Brewery Tours
San Antonio Brewery Tours offers tours of San Antonio's craft breweries and distilleries. Their excursions include transportation to three craft breweries, including Pearl Brewery. They provide a safe and sober journey to and from the breweries/distilleries with enjoyable and competent tour guides. SA Brew Tours teaches customers about the beer-making process and the many beer styles. Guests receive four beer samples during the fun and friendly guided tour.
Below is a sample of their tours:
- Brews In The Burbs
- East Side Ride Tour
- Sunday FUNday New Braunfels Brew Trip
Also, what's not to like about San Antonio Brewery Tours? They have a, "This is How We Brew It" package. What's more, guests also receive a pint glass and koozie.
Huzzah!
San Antonio Detours (BBQ & Brew)
Not exactly a brewery tour, but a tour that makes a stop at a brewery nontheless. If you want to combine your brewery tour with some tasty BBQ, this one is for you. Because nothing goes together like a cold craft beer and some brisket.
Other Texas Brewery Tours
Off Rhodes Craft Beer Tours
Off Rhodes takes you all around New Braunfels, stopping at breweries such as Faust Brewing, Guadalupe Brewing, and New Braunfels Brewing, the latter of which brews a pickle beer (Pkl Fkr). We wonder if it's as good as Spicy Pickle Monster or the Best Maid Pickle Beer ...
What we do know is that the owner of New Braunfels Brewing wrote a fantastic book on how to not start a brewery. His acerbic writing style, though perhaps abrasive for some, made for quite the easy read for us.
Kudos to you, Kelly "KFM" Meyer.
How Not To Start a Damn Brewery (the book)
Kelly Meyer, owner of New Braunfels Brewing in Texas, shares his ten lessions on how not to start a brewery.
Buy a CopyDIY Brew Tours of Craft Beer Bars around San Antonio
Ok, so it's a bit more pub crawl than brewery tour. If you're in San Antonio and looking to score some quality craft beer without heading to a brewery, you're going to want to check out places such as Big Hops, Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, The Esquire Tavern, and/or The Friendly Spot. These beer-slinging possess some significant collections of craft brew - especially Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, where there are over 100+ taps waiting to be poured.
Wrapping Up
We enjoy brewery tours and we hope you do as well. Some other great places to tour breweries include Boston and Tahoe.