Brewery Tours

Welcome to our Brewery Tours.  We used to label these Beer Tours when we began offering them in about 2007.  At that time, Houston had only one craft brewery:  St. Arnold Brewing Company.  It was found in 1994 and remained unchallenged for more than one decade.  It is the oldest craft brewery in Texas.  From 2007 to 2011, we included also going to some of the most historic bars in Houston along with the brewery to create a Beer Tour.  However, we have seen the mega-growth of breweries in the Greater Houston area since 2011.  We never anticipated this huge development.  In addition to St. Arnold Brewing Company, these breweries now include, but are not limited to:

  1. Karbach in 2011.  In northwest Houston, close to US 290.
  2. Buffalo Bayou in 2012.  In the old West End.
  3. 8th Wonder in 2013.  In the Eado area.
  4. Whole Foods in 2014.  In the Uptown/Galleria area.
  5. Spindletop Brewery in 2014.  In northeast Houston in Calgary Woods, east of US59/I-69.
  6. Town in City Brewing Company in 2014.  In the Heights area.
  7. Galveston Bay Beer Company in 2014.  This is in Dickinson, Texas.  It is 32 miles/52 kilometers from downtown Houston.  Allow about 45 minutes drive time each way.
  8. Galveston Island Brewing in 2014.  This is about 50 miles/81 kilometers from downtown Houston.  Allow about 1 hour drive time each way.
  9. Beerfoot Brewery in Galveston in 2015.
  10. Anheuser-Busch reopened for tours in 2015.  On the east side of town close to Jacinto City.
  11. Holler Brewing Company in 2016.  Close to the Heights area.
  12. Under the Radar Brewery.  In the Midtown/3rd Ward area.
  13. Sigma Brewing Company.  On the east side of town in the Second Ward.
  14. Gulf Coast Brewing.  On the east side of town in Magnolia Park.
  15. Allen’s Land Brewing Company.  In northwest Houston, north of I-610 and between US 290 and I-45.
  16. Eureka Heights Brewing Company.  In northwest Houston, in the Greater Heights area.
  17. Platypus Brewing.  In the Heights area.
  18. Great Heights Brewing Company.  In northwest Houston, in the Greater Heights area.
  19. Brash Brewing.  In northwest Houston, north of I-610 and between US 290 and I-45, in the Greater Heights area.
  20. City Acre Brewing.  In northeast Houston, off of US 59/I-69.
  21. Foxboro Brewing.  In northeast Houston, east of US 59/I-69.
  22. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.  A number of these sites are scattered around Greater Houston this location in Webster.
  23. Bakfish Brewing Company in 2017.  This is in Pearland.
  24. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.  A location is in Pearland.
  25. Vallensons Brewery in 2009.  This is in Pearland.
  26. No Label Brewing Company.  This is in Katy, Texas.  It is 29 miles/47 kilometers from downtown Houston.  Allow about 35 minutes drive time each way.  Tolls may be involved.
  27. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.  A location is in Shenandoah.
  28. Southern Star Brewing Company in 2008.  This is in Conroe, Texas.  It is 44 miles/71 kilometers from downtown Houston.  Allow about 1 hour drive time each way.  Tolls may be involved.
  29. Copperhead Brewery in Conroe.
  30. B-52 Brewing Company in Conroe.
  31. 11 Below Brewing Company in northwest Houston close to Tomball.
  32. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse in Willowbrook Mall in northwest Houston close to Tomball.
  33. Saloon Door Brewing in Webster, Texas.
  34. Texas Beer Refinery in Dickinson, Texas.
  35. Fetching Lab Brewery in Alvin, Texas.

Over twenty of the above breweries opened between 2014 and 2017.  In the time that it took to compile this list, some more breweries may have opened.  In all likelihood, some of the above breweries will have trouble competing with so many new breweries in close proximity.

Proximity of the Breweries:

If you want to go to a number of breweries close to each other and thus, not spend a lot of time driving then look at the number of the breweries above and see how they can be matched below:

  1. #8 and 9 are in the city of Galveston.
  2. #7, 22, 33, 34, and 35 are on the way to Galveston.  However, the drive to Galveston is approximately 1 hour.
  3. #5, 20, and 21 are close in northeast Houston.
  4. #6, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19 and are relatively close in the Greater Heights areas.
  5. #10, 13, and 14 are relatively close on the east side of town.
  6. #1, 15, 19, and 22 are relatively close in northwest Houston.
  7. St. Arnold Brewing Company, #3, and 12 are fairly close to each other.
  8. #2 and 4 could be paired fairly easily with #1.
  9. St. Arnold Brewing Company can also be easily paired with #2 and 10 along or close to I-10.
  10. #23, 24, and 25 are in Pearland.
  11. #27, 28, 29, and 30 are in Shenandoah and Conroe.
  12. #31 and 32 are close to each other in northwest Houston.

Minimum Age:

One must be at least 21 years of age, or be with their parent or spouse with the same address and have a valid driver’s license, passport, or legitimate photo identification card to show at each brewery.

Dress:

One should wear closed toe shoes with good soles for multiple reasons.  Sometimes patrons at the breweries drop glasses of beer.  Floors can be wet and shards of broken glass can be overlooked.  For safety reasons, breweries require that all people wear closed toe shoes if they desire to go on the tank farm portion of the tour while the brewery is in production.

Additional Expenses:

Bring cash for lunch, and if you so choose to purchase additional beers, mugs in which you can fill more beer, shirts, and souvenirs, not necessarily in that order.  Most of the breweries now have food trucks and a few of them have restaurants on site.  Bring money for the beers.  Some breweries have a standard fee for admission that may generally includes 4 beers.  Others breweries charge by the beer you consume.

Scheduling and Deposit:

These tours are normally SCHEDULED AT LEAST TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE with a non-refundable deposit of roughly 50% paid to reserve the tour.  Call or write us in advance to make arrangements.  This contact information can be found at the top of the page.  All tours are scheduled by appointment.

All tours are customized for what you want so we need to have time to create the tour and to research what can be included on what day, such as what tours are open what hours and when in-house tours are offered.

Hours and Operations:

A lack of consistency exists.  Some breweries are open every day and others are only open one or two days per week.  However, you can schedule a brewery tour any day that we have availability.

Time Allocation:

We allow for 1.0 to 2.0 hours at each brewery.  We will wait for you outside of the brewery.  Either we can set a specific time for the departure from a given brewery or you can call us on your cellular telephone to tell us when you are ready to move on to the next site.

Pacing:

Give yourself 15 to 20 minutes for each beer that you drink.  If a brewery has a tour, allow more time.  If you are eating a meal at a brewery, allow more time.

Intoxication:

Please see the Blood Alcohol Percentage Chart at the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission at the following website:  https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/enforcement/blood_alcohol_percentage_chart.asp

Depending on your weight, gender, the size of the pours, and how much you have eaten, you probably can consume between 2 to 4 drinks per hour before you are intoxicated.

In Texas, having a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08% or greater is considered intoxicated.  Be careful.  Also remember that a person may be able to drive with a BAC under 0.08%, but still receive a traffic citation for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) as opposed to Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) after the tour is completed.

Availability:

These tours are available everyday.  However, not all breweries are open everyday.  Contact us to make a reservation.  Give us a few days to coordinate such a tour, especially if you want to go to several breweries.

Starting Times:

This can be flexible depending on the number of breweries that you wish to visit and the brewery hours.  Normally, the earliest start time will be 10:00 AM.  Some breweries stay open late at night.

Starting Locations:

We normally start in downtown.  Visit the page regarding the starting location.  We offer free pickup from and return to any site in downtown.  If you would like to start from your home, we will accommodate you.  A surcharge exists depending on how far out we have to travel.   Please consider this option for your own safety if you possibly be intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol and are consider driving.

 

Miscellaneous:

We can bring beer drinking CDs and DVDs if you would like.  We have beer drinking CDs of Country and Western, German, and Irish tunes.  For parties of 6 or more people, we can play movies with excessive beer consumption themes such as Animal House and Old School.  We also have episodes of Cheers, the most famous television show that focused on beer.

Pricing:

We used to price these tours based on the number of breweries and which ones as different breweries have different entrance fees.  We are now pricing these tours based on the number of hours and the distance.  You can pay for each brewery on site when we arrive or in some cases purchase tickets online from the breweries.  Obviously, driving to Katy, Conroe, Webster, Dickinson, and Galveston involves more fuel. A $40.00 surcharge is added to the base price to account for the additional fuel and in some cases, tolls to these more remote cities.  Webster, Dickinson, and Galveston will be grouped together with only one surcharge applied as they are all in the same more-or-less direction.

Brewery Tours Price Table