Breweries

[Para la versión en español, clic aquí]

Today´s post has a very high intelectual content, not suitable for those persons that are interested in that stupid thing called alcohol. Kidding. We are going to talk about beer gentlemen. That incredible beverage to whom a genious modern philosofer dedicated a great phrase (well, he said to alcohol, but it also works for our purpose) [sorry the video is in spanish, could´t find the english version]
Let´s start with that, and then, we pass directly to my experiences in American breweries.



So let get started. The four breweries I´m going to describe are very good, and very recomendable, each for a particular reason. If someone else has another experience with any of the four, or with a brewerie not listed here, please share it!

Samuel Adams (http://www.samueladams.com/index.aspx)
Location: Boston, Massachusets, USA (30 Germania Street, Boston, MA).
Near orange metro line (Stony Brook station).
Tour cost: free, with a glass as a gift.
Obviously they show the production of the beer process. When you finish the tour, they give a glass and you can taste 3 of their principle beers.
Merchandising: very good and complete, glasses, t-shirts, jackets, they are all very nice.
Comments: During the tour you can taste the beer ingredients (yeast, wheat, hop, barley). Although they don´t show a lot, the tour is still interesting. The Samuel Adams Boston Lager (they told us that Lager means repose in german) is the most important product of the company, a very well known and tasteful beer.

Harpoon Brewery (http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/index.cfm?)
Location: Boston, Massachusets, USA (306 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA).
You have to take the red metro line until South Station. There you have a 10 minute walk to the port zone, where the brewery is.
Tour cost: 5 USS
Merchandising: Isn´t very worthy
Comments: The tour is very good, they show the production process, and they even let you taste the beer before the final filtration of the process. When you finish you can try any of the 11 beers and a cyder they produce. Their strong point are the beer known as I.P.A. (Indian Pale Ale), which have a fruity and sweet taste in the mouth. Although I don´t like them a lot, you have to try them anyways. In the whole, the variety is wide and nice.


Saint Arnold (http://www.saintarnold.com)
Location: Houston, Texas, USA (2000 Lyons Avenue, Houston, TX). The public transportation system of is a little deficient, but depending where you are located you can get there with just one or two buses. The best way to know that is maps.google.com.
Tour cost: 7 USS, with a glass as a gift.
Merchandising: Very small, but with great glasses.
Comments: They only have just one tour time (around 3 pm). Once you pay, they give 4 tokens. Each one can be exchanged for a tasting, and you can try any of the 5 beers they produce (before or after the tour). An interesting aspect of the tour is that it is given by the president of the company, a guy very simple and accesible, with a lot of information. Saint Arnold is the saint of the beer producers!!


Spoetzl Brewery (http://www.shiner.com) (tambien conocida como Shiner Brewery)
Location: Shiner, Texas, USA (603 East Brewery Street, Shiner, TX). It´s 126 miles away from Houston, 92 miles away from San Antonio and 80 miles away from Austin. They only way is the get there by car, is a very small town, with just 2000 people.
Tour cost: 7 USS
Merchandising: Very good, you have almost anything you can imaging.
Comments: Out of the 4, the most important brewery by far (their production is 800.000 kegs per year. They don´t let you take pictures during the tour, which is very disappointing. They give very good information about the production process, and it was the only one where I saw
the bottling process. When you finish, they give 4 tokens, each one exchangeable for a tasting of any of the 5 beers they produce. The Shiner Bock is the most known beer they produce, but the 5 are very good.


As I said before, if you have another experience (any brewery in any country), is more than welcome to share for the posterity!!!

My friends, I think this might have been the most informative post I made in my life, and I´m very happy with it, so I´m going to say good bye under the very proud name of the Beer Baron.

Salut!