Brewery tour anyone?

[Oliver]

Morning all,

Geoff and I were due to go on a tour of the CUB brewery at Abbotsford (Melbourne) TODAY at 2pm but Geoff has taken ill.

So if anyone would like to join me in his place, reply to this message (don't PM because I might not be logged on).

The tour is just the stock-standard tour and takes about an hour, after which there are tastings.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Pyssedas Heavy Industrial]

Does no-one wish to tour with Mr Oliver?

It would be a sad day if Pyssedas Heavy Industrial was the best offer he got...

[Oliver]

Well, Mr Pyssedas, it seems like you are the best offer.

I hope you are looking forward to the tour. We shall make plans.

Sorry to all those who missed out

Oliver

[jello]

Melbourne is like the other side of the world for me.

[chadjaja]

Did the tour a month ago at half price. Prepare to be disappointed. My wife's brewing knowledge makes her over qualified to be tour guide and you get to see little and they make you play dress up.

[squirt in the turns]

...they make you play dress up.

WTF?

[RUM57L]

LMAO .. why?

[jello]

For sanitation purposes no doubt. Well, that's my assumption.

They're afraid you might infect their beer with flavour.

[chadjaja]

Nope they have the costumes from all the commercials and encourage you to put them on and take photos. I wasn't keen on this though lol. The trivia contest at the end is brand centric rather than about beer too. Only one sample was drinkable and it was a cider lol. A non working bottling plant and the top off a kettle hardly constitutes a brewery tour.

[jello]

So....was it any good Oliver?

[Pyssedas Heavy Industrial]

I found it an emotionally enriching experience - despite the devasting sadness (as documented on my twitter account) that came at the end of the quiz

Thank you for taking me mr Oliver - I hope I didn't embarass you with my constant desire to better understand the brewing process

[Oliver]

It was a pleasure, Mr Pyssedas. Sorry I let the team down in the tie-breaker to the quiz by pouring a beer with no head. I hope that you can forgive me and that the passage of time can heal your sadness.

I must say, I quite enjoyed the tour and would recommend it. However, the explanation of the brewing process was cursory at best, so don't go if you're looking to enhance your knowledge about brewing.

But the scale of the operation is phenomenal and the tour is worth it just to see that. They brew 2 million litres of beer each day, in batches of 110,000 or 660,000 litres. There are five bottling areas and the one we saw was bottling 1000 VB stubbies and another 1000 stubbies of something else (in a clear bottle) every minute.

I won't bore you with any more details, but you get the idea.

Here's Mr Pyssedas' feedback form:



Cheers,

Oliver

[chadjaja]

But you filled out the questionnaire as staff knowledge was excellent?? Sure the volume is phenomenal but all that could be covered in a presentation. Most go to see the actual brewery and see how its made. Our guide couldn't answer one question she was asked in our group and only knew figures about production and that's it. Even made it up when she didn't know like the saaz used was grown in Victoria

Standing in the grounds pointing at buildings doesn't constitute a brewery tour.

[Oliver]

chadjaja, if you read all of the comments that Mr Pyssedas made on his feedback form you might get a sense of the spirit in which the ratings were made (Incidentally, Mr Pyssedas became a father for the first time on Saturday, so congratulations to him and Mrs Pyssedas.)

As I said, if you're wanting to learn the ins and outs of brewing don't do the CUB tour, although in my view the tour plays well to its audience by putting things in fairly simple terms. Let's face it, the CUB brewery isn't exactly a traditional brewery, given it's pretty much fully automated, makes heavy use of hop extract, etc, etc.

Seeing the scale of the operation was the highlight for me (along with the beer afterwards )

I might try and get to the Coopers Brewery tour next time I'm over that way.

Has anyone done it and if so what did you think?

Cheers,

Oliver

[chadjaja]

I've done the holgate tour, goat, cascade and boags tour. Boags is the best of the big brewery tours and you get to see every inch of the beer making. Only the cub one doesn't show you the various vessels needed. Like I said earlier they should quit calling it a brewery tour and just call it cub megaswill stats. Whilst impressive then end result is still the beers at the end and they are plain horrible. 27 acres and we get to see a non working bottling room and the top of the kettle. Preety poor noob or not.