Brewery Gate in Plzeň, Czech Republic

It all started in 1842, when the new municipal brewery in Plzeň, a town in southwest Bohemia, opened. The world was introduced to a new style of beer, the golden lager style, that would go on to revolutionize the brewing industry. Today, 95% of beer brewed in the world today is golden lager. The original is still brewed in Plzeň and is known internationally as Pilsner Urquell. For visitors, the town of Plzeň is a little bit off the beaten track. It's about 60 miles from Prague, which in the Czech Republic, makes it a day trip. The good news is that there is a day's worth of sight-seeing in Plzeň. There is a brewery tour, a brewery restaurant, and a brewery museum. Plzeň also has an attractive historic town square.

Beer in Sapporo, Japan

The first brewery in Japan was established in Sapporo in 1876. The beer, as well as the brewery, was inspired by the Bavarian model, and today, there is a lovely beer garden located at the brewery. One hour tours of the facility are complimentary.

The Budweiser Brewery Tour

Anheuser-Busch is the brewer of the largest selling beer in the world, Budweiser, with breweries all over the world. Within the U.S., Anheuser-Busch has 12 breweries; 5 of these breweries offer complimentary brewery tours (St. Louis, Missouri, Fairfeld, California, Ft. Collins, Colorado, Jacksonville, Florida and Merrimack, New Hampshire.) Free samples of the beer are also available.

Water at the Guinness Storehouse

The Guinness Storehouse, located in Dublin, is essentially a brewery museum, which covers the popular history of the brewery and exposes visitors to some insights into brewing the very popular Guinness beer. It attracts millions of visitors every year, making it one of Ireland's leading tourist attractions. At €14, it's a bit pricey for a self-guided tour, but the price of admission does include one complimentary pint at the roof top bar. It's called the Gravity Bar, and it provides patrons with some fairly impressive views of Dublin.

I have written an article about Guinness, which can be viewed HERE>>>

The Heineken Experience

Heineken doesn't brew beer here any more, but it used to. Its historic brewery in Amsterdam that was the center of it brewing enterprise from 1867 to 1988 is now a brewery museum called the Heineken Experience. Admission is €11 and includes a complimentary Heineken.