We took a VIP tour of the Budweiser brewery here in St. Louis yesterday. We decided that a brief break from the convention was in order, so we took a cab ride over to the brewery. From a home brewer’s perspective, the tour isn’t all that interesting, because it’s not done in a lot of detail. But the brewery is architecturally a work of art:
This is the view from the outside. It’s beautifully landscaped all over the Anheiser-Busch plant.
Inside the old brewery, they have a hop chandelier, that’s quite nice.
Anheiser-Busch’s Mash Tuns.
Brew kettles. Forgive the orangeness of the picture, as the light wasn’t very good.
The tour wraps up in the hospitality room, where we sampled a few of their beers. As best I can tell, the VIP tour is a small group, of about 10 people, rather than the giagantic tour groups, plus you get an “Honorary Beermaster” certificate at the end, and get to sample two bottles in the nicely appointed hospitality room. But in a regular tour you get to see the same stuff. The brewery is architectural art, so if you’re ever in St. Louis, I’d recommend stopping by for the tour.