New Glarus Brewery Tour

Written by Laura Sandy with Scott Weber

New Glarus, WI — If you are not from the Midwest, New Glarus Brewing Company is probably the best brewery you’ve never heard of. Wait, take that back. With a projected 100,000+ barrel production in 2011 (final numbers not available at this time), multiple Best Brewery awards, and numerous gold medal awards for their many beers, New Glarus is probably one of the best breweries you’ve heard of but never tasted unless you live in or close to Wisconsin.

Before the Tour

Please note, this review is for the exclusive Hard Hat Tour, given Fridays at 1:00pm. It should be noted that Monday to Sunday from 10:00am through 4:00pm there are always free self-guided tours. Be sure to sign up online beforehand—your tour group will be limited to 15 people to ensure that everyone can enjoy personal attention and the ability to get up-close and personal with the facility, equipment, and the beer itself.

We met at the Riverside Brewhouse Location, the original brewery that Dan and Deb Carey built in 1993. Once an abandoned warehouse, the Careys rehabbed it to a fully functional brewhouse that served as their main production center until the 75,000 sq. ft. Hilltop Brewery location was opened in November 2008. After you check in with your friendly brewery ambassador about 10 minutes prior to the start of the tour, grab your hard hat (yes, you really must wear one), and you’re ready to go!

Touring the Facilities

Starting at the still functional Riverside Brewhouse, you will get a chance to see the smaller scale production of several of New Glarus’ beers. Check out the copper brew kettle that the Careys rescued from a German brewery that was about to be demolished and had shipped all the way to Wisconsin. The day we visited, Two Women, a classic country lager, was being poured and bottled. Though we were close enough to the barley they malted to have a taste or to grab a bottle from the line, we resisted.

Next, we headed back to our vehicles and made our way to the Hilltop Brewhouse, a gorgeous facility that now houses the majority of New Glarus’ brewing activity as well as their gift shop and beer depot where their R&D series is exclusively offered, as well as the rest of their amazing brews.

Before we went inside, we experienced the most exciting part of the tour—Dan Carey, the Brewmaster/Founder himself, came out for a 20 minute Q&A session with us. According to the Brewery Ambassador, this occurs whenever Dan can make it work with his busy schedule. The questions ranged from homebrewers asking for details on the water, to Dan’s favorite beer (he can’t choose just one) to plans for upcoming beers (we won’t spoil this one) to whether or not they will be expanding distribution outside of Wisconsin (sadly, no).

The tour continues inside, where you will see each part of the brewery in detail, from the brew kettles, to the mash and fermentation tanks to the bottle/keg lines and packaging, a Q&A with Quality Assurance and everything in between.

There was even a detailed explanation of their ultra cool 30 Liter Pilot Brewery, which is basically a fully functional mini brewery, a home brewer’s (albeit one with a lot of space and money) dream.

Beer Tasting

Following the tour, we headed to an exclusive tasting room, where we had the opportunity to taste eight different beers—an eclectic collection including the previously discontinued Uff-Da Bock, several R&D beers that had not been released, and a few of their highly coveted Unplugged and Thumbprint series brews. Even better, there was a selection of five different Wisconsin cheeses and crackers that paired fantastically with each beer. We were free to take a seat, hang out, and snack and drink to our heart’s desire (about 30-45 minutes, which was plenty of time).

After the Tour

Feel free to head to the gift shop and beer depot on site. The gift shop houses everything from t-shirts, excellent glassware (we picked up two fantastic German style beer mugs) to a stuffed squirrel in honor of their Fat Squirrel Brown Ale. If you are craving more beer or opted for the free self-guided tour, you can belly up to their tasting bar and get three 3oz samples of a rotating selection of brews, including a commemorative tasting glass you can take home, for $3.50. The adjacent beer depot allowed us to mix and match all of their beers to create a custom case (or three) to take home.

While there is no food available at the brewery, there is an area with picnic benches where you could bring some food to snack on and enjoy a beer in the middle of a beer mecca. Or, we would be remiss if we did not recommend that you check out the town of New Glarus. Modeled after a Swiss village, there are tons of unique shops and great eateries. One of our favorites is the Glarner Stube, featuring yummy Swiss and American cuisine (try the Swiss Vegetable Soup, Cheese Fondue or the Pork Schnitzel Sandwich), a great New Glarus Tap lineup, and the world’s largest urinal (weird, but you’ll just have to see it to believe it).

Final Thoughts

The Hard Hat Tour at New Glarus Brewing Co is not to be missed. Never have we been on a tour that was so in depth, let you get up close and personal with the equipment, and offered the opportunity to actually meet and ask questions to the Head Brewmaster/Founder. This was a unique experience that, though off the beaten path, any beer lover should absolutely make a destination, preferably sooner than later.

Vitals — Hard Hat Tour

• Cost: $20
• Reservations: Online, the sooner the better as they are often booked up 2-3 months in advance
• Free Beer: An unlimited tasting of 6-8 beers for approximately 30-45 minutes in a private tasting room, possibly including R&D and Thumbprint Series brews
• Extras: A selection of Wisconsin Cheeses and crackers to compliment the beer
• Length of Tour: Approximately two hours
• Official website: Visit for tour reservations and contact info
• Google Page: Visit for directions and reviews
• Bonus Tip:  Here’s a little secret.  As these tours fill up so early, you may find yourself out of luck for a reservation, as we did. I was able to email New Glarus Brewing Co about a month and a half before the booked tour, and the fabulous people there graciously called me the next day and offered to squeeze us in.  This probably would not work with a large group, but if there are just a few of you and your selected date is full, contact them anyway and you might just get lucky!

Laura, a friend of The Brewery Tourist, was kind enough to write this brewery tour review. If you would like to write about a brewery tour that you experienced, please do not hesitate to email me. I would love to share it here on The Brewery Tourist!

Read on! If you liked this write-up about New Glarus in Wisconsin, you might also want to read about my tour of Goose Island, which is less than three hours away in Chicago. For a list of all our write-ups, please check out the BREWERY TOURS page.