With such a lively local craft beer scene, perhaps the only surprising thing about City Brew Tours coming to Brooklyn is that it’s only just happened.
The company has been offering local brewery tours via passenger van in a number of East coast cities including Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and its origin, Burlington, VT, for the last ten years. As of this month, New York has joined the lineup. While the company has their sights set on other boroughs, for the time being, the tours are focused exclusively on Brooklyn.
While the draw of a designated driver might be stronger for drinking tours in cities with less public transit, it’s certainly a more relaxing way to traverse the borough. The tour also comes with the perk of an expert tour guide sharing facts about the history of brewing in New York and the world at large, while taking guests behind the scenes of three Brooklyn beer spots per trip. Currently the company has partnered with Five Boroughs Brewing, Interboro Spirits & Ales, Circa Brewing Co., Wartega Brewing Co., Strong Rope Brewery, and Brooklyn Brewery, as well as Kings Beer Hall for the chance to sample beers from a number local breweries at once. Partnerships with other breweries are in talks, as well, but the current selections were chosen for their group-friendly spaces and tourable brewings areas, and in some cases, their food offerings as well.
City Brew Tours’ offerings are a great way for visitors to get acquainted with Brooklyn’s beer scene, but even local beer geeks (aspiring or expert) can appreciate the lessons on how beer’s made, not to mention the chance to sample up to 15 different brews. The $115 ticket price includes a lesson on beer-and-food pairing as well, complete with lunch or dinner, depending on whether it’s a daytime or evening tour.
With so many breweries in Brooklyn’s beer scene, City Brew Tours’ three-stop trips are essentially an introduction and a fun way to learn while visiting breweries in neighborhoods one might not normally trek to. But visitors are likely to find that three stops in four hours is a perfect cap—for drinking and learning. The other reason for CBT’s total brewery partner listing being relatively conservative at the moment comes from the company’s desire to offer genuine expertise and an in-depth, well-thought-out experience.
“We want to be considered the beer experts in every city we work in,” Isaac Bell, VP of Business Development (and tour guide) says. “We want to have a relationship with the breweries.”
Read more about the tours and book yours here.
