I do believe it was this brewery that initiated my love for craft beer and the brewery experience. It has been a while since my first visit to this location and I have been many times since because it is mere minutes from my current residence.
It Begins
This was the proposed department outing meant to be a team bonding experience with the company I had recently become a part of. Karbach was offering reduced pricing for the brewery tour, which came with tap tokens, when you brought a canned good for donation and I recall it being quite cold. There was no indoor seating so many of us stood huddled around the heat lamps they had placed near the tables and tap area just outside of the brewing facility. I had cashed in my first tasting chip for a pint of Weisse Versa, a wheat beer that I recognized from a night out previously, and was eager to take the tour of this small but quality brewery.
The Tour
Beer in hand, they took us to the first room where the brewing magic happens. They explained the mixing process and some of different ingredients for each type of brew and took any questions we may have had. This room was nice and warm, so it was a pleasant escape from the cold outside. From there it was a very short trek over to the silos they used for fermenting the beer and the display of routing pipes to get it from place to place.
The tour ended in one of the most impressive rooms I had seen thus far…the storeroom, lined with colorful cans of beer stacked to the ceiling and barrels for aging the specialty brews. You couldn’t help but stare in awe at the vastness of the beer in there. The tour guide went on to explain the quality assurance process and the reasoning behind the decision to have the beer in aluminum cans instead of bottles. It was comforting to know that a special lining was added to the cans to prevent the metallic taste that most people associate with canned beer, and the special, plastic caps that group each six pack together actually prevents any particles or bacteria from being on the rim of the can. It is the only canned beer I have seen that uses this type of packaging as opposed to the plastic rings used for many other brands.
To Return Again
I wanted to try every brew they had, but the $15 entry only included 3 tokens and it was an additional cost to get more. To my great delight, though, the entry fee did allow retaining the pint glass used for tasting, with a logo of one of the signature beers embossed on it. They had a variety of merchandise within a small gift shop by the tap and I was told that the pints and glasses change throughout the year, so were I to come back, I would not just be receiving the same glass every time. Needless to say, I have a few different ones now.
Seeing as this was the first brewery I had ever been to, I was not caught up in analyzing the beer or capturing the entire experience in detail, I was just happy to be there to broaden my craft beer knowledge ever so slightly. It was a memorable evening, getting to know my new colleagues and tasting the different flavors that the brew masters had concocted, knowing that I was sure to return to this exceptional establishment.
Cheers!
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