Brewery Tour Training: Cue the Rocky Montage Music

Drinking a bit of grog is fairly common in Australia. During my first few days in Australia I'll actually get to visit a large brewery, so I'm getting versed in all manners of brew before the trip.  

                         

Look at that line up.

In order to help train me in brewery tour "etiquette," I attended a tour of Tallgrass Brewing Company in Manhattan, Kan., this past Saturday with my cousin, Felicia, and our friend, Patrick. The tour is setup where you pay $5 at the door for a tasting glass shaped like a can and six drink tickets. Then you come and go as you please between the tour and tasting room.

We arrived a little late, so Felicia and Patrick went ahead and sampled the grog in the tasting room, while I went back and forth from the tour.

The famous brewing tanks.

Something cool about the tanks used at the brewery is that each is named after an American Gladiator. Names like Gemini, Nitro and Thunder, show up with prominent stickers on each stainless steel tank.

Next we toured the canning area where pallets of empty cans were stacked all the way to the ceiling. Tallgrass only has one canning line, so if anything goes wrong with the equipment they are in for a big headache. Oh, and did I mention everything that is individually marketed is in cans, making that one line even more vital.

The last stop was the cooler where tons of cans and kegs were waiting for shipment. There were also some firkins, which are used for specialty beers. This upcoming month they will debut a beer that contains a mix of coconut and chocolate at a special tasting located in Auntie Mae's Parlor.

The last of the Kold beers.

Once the tour ended I asked our guide a few questions. He told me interesting facts like the majority of the barley used in their product comes from specialty growers in the upper-Midwest, particularly Wisconsin. They also get some of their wheat from a farm in Wallace County, Kan.

I also asked about one of my favorite beers: Kold. It had been taken off the shelves over a year ago and I was curious why. Apparently, between it not selling well and taking longer to produce because it was a lager, the decision was made to pull the label. I guess I'll just have to hold on to that last can in my fridge a little longer and maybe it will go up astronomically in value.

Tasting some of the grog.

I tasted several beers while on the tour including: Ale, Oasis and 8-Bit. Each one of these beers have been on the market for a little while, so I was fairly familiar with them.

A new beer that was on tap, Farm House Wild Plum, offered a change of pace with a slightly-bitter, yet sweet taste. It was my favorite beer at the tasting. I had tried the other flavors before so that new beer taste could have just gotten the best of my senses.

After I finished up the tour the three of us went to the gaming area of the brewery and played a little Duck Hunt on Nintendo. It conjured up some good memories of playing with my older brother back when Nintendo was on top and no other consoles came close to its platform.

"What does high score mean? New high score, is that bad?"

Upon playing a few rounds of Duck Hunt, I soon got into a groove and was primed to shatter the record at Tallgrass. After 15 rounds of play the dog finally had the last laugh, but I could now say I had reigned supreme with a score of 174,600. My mark shattered the previous score of approximately 41,000 and left me feeling like I could best anyone that day.

However, a few hours later I would join Patrick and a few other friends for a round of golf at Colbert Hills. I ended up finishing last, and it wasn't even close. Maybe I should just stick with Duck Hunt.

I'm sure while I'm Down Under I'll have a few samples of the local brews, but it may be hard to measure up to one of my favorite breweries: Tallgrass Brewing Company.

Well until next time, happy trails!