berkshire brewing company

Where can you do something adult themed for free? Berkshire Brewing offers free tours and samples! The only downside is that it only happens at 1 o'clock on Saturdays. Our guides gave us lots of information while keeping us thoroughly amused...and we drank beer! The tour size was very large and we had to squish together but it was still enjoyable.

What's not to love about the Berkshire Brewing Company tour? This is a free beer tour where you get a chance to sample lots of beer and learn a ton about brewing. This company is busy cranking out some of the best handcrafted beer around, so the tour only takes place on Saturdays at 1pm. You don't have to call reserve a spot on the tour. Just show up, line up, and getting ready to have a great two hour tour. Make sure you have a photo ID with you because they will even card a 54 year old lady like me.Most companies take you on their tour first and then you get a small sample at the end. Berkshire Brewing Company takes you straight to the tap room and you tour around with a good size sample of brew in your hand. They have many beers on tap to choose from. At the end of your tour, you go right back to the tap room to enjoy another sample. I have taken this tour four times in the past and a couple of times we also went back to the tap room in the middle of the tour as we waited for another tour group to move through so we could continue. Three visits to the tap room...yay!Most of the time there is only one large group touring around, but occasionally a ton of people will show up and they split the group to make the tour more manageable and enjoyable for the public. You never know who is and how many are going to show up for the tour. I recommend going with a small group of friends or family.If you are a beer aficionado you will appreciate the level of detail given during the tour. The beer itself is fabulous and runs the fun range of pale ales to imperial stouts. There are always some seasonal options. They can't sell beer to the public at the company. If you end up being a fan of their terrific brew, there are many places it's available in MA, CT, NH, VT, and RI. Check out their website for specific locations.Let's see...no reservations needed, free tour, free beer, lots to learn. Have some time at 1pm on a Saturday? This is definitely worth your time. If you are visiting the area, you could also combine this with a trip to the Yankee Candle Flagship store, a tour of historic Deerfield, or a visit to Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory. These three places are all less than 5 miles from the Berkshire Brewing Company.

We weren't able to take the tour because it's only open for free yours on Saturdays at 1pm. Guess it wasn't meant to be for us.

Plug the address in your GPS and follow it. It doesn't appear to be a road, but it really is. Very easy to miss. The brewmaster was knowledgeable about the beers on tap and we started with a larger sample. I liked the Nitro Coffee, which was unique. We did stop at the tap room a couple times, so you get to sample a variety of beers. The tour took about 2 hours, but I learned more than I ever wanted to know about beer. We sampled the malts and learned all about hops. We received an entire tour from start to finish. If you want a college class in brewing, just take this tour! It is well worth the tour and they have some unique merchandise to purchase at reasonable prices at the end. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

A few weeks ago my husband and I decided to get a few more stamps on our brewery passport and headed out to Berkshire Brewing Co to start the day. Tip for finding the brewery- there's no street sign for Railroad Road, and it doesn't look like a road but trust the GPS when it says to turn. There's only 1 tour, at 1 pm on Saturday and they open the doors promptly at 1. Our main tour guide was Jared, one of the brewers and he totally made the tour! We started in the tasting room where we learned about the brews on tap and could choose from about 12 to taste- about a 6 oz taste! We took our tastings with us and every 3 stops or so on the tour we circled back to the tasting room to choose another. We ended up with 3 tastings of 6 oz! Jared was extremely knowledgeable- we sampled yeast, explored the hops and many more fun aspects of the brewing process. What was amazing to me was that the tour was free! There are 2 other stops on the passport within 15 minutes so it's a nice way to kick off a Saturday of beer!

If you find yourself in South Deerfield, MA at 1 PM, you can join the increasing number of people at the Berkshire Brewing Company tour. In the good old days (3-4 years ago) you'd be there with six people, now it is up around 40. The tour is free, so it is becoming very popular. Enter the nondescript building behind the lumber yard and you will have your choice of BBC brews (after ID check) and the tour starts led by one of the brewers working there, who really do know their craft. About halfway through, you come back to the break room where you can choose another brew and the tour continues through the bottling facility. The folks working there are typically young, smart, with a bit anarchy -- just the kind you want making really good beer. They know their stuff and seem to really enjoy the whole process.If you aren't familiar with BBC when you enter, choose their signature Steel Rail for your first taste. But if you already are love Steel Rail, then try any of the others and you won't be disappointed.Again, this is a free tour, so in the interests of promoting small business, don't be shy about buying some of the promotional goods at the end. It seems like a fair trade.