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Castlemaine Brewery TourThe Perfect Place to Sample an Amber NectarThe Castlemaine Brewery Tour is an interesting tour for beer lovers like ourselves but not as good if you don't fancy a cold one.It begins with an introduction and history of the Castlemaine Brewery presented through a video and a short presentation in a small theatre. These show how the company started and grew over the years and finally looks at its present day position. You then move on to the ingredients involved in making beer. The purpose of each of these ingredients and how they are related to the process is explained. From there you move on to an interactive display of the process involved in brewing beer and you get to see the huge vats actually used in the factory. Next you move into the factory proper where you may see the beer being loaded onto lorries and the kegs being filled with beer but this process finishes at 2.30pm so you may want to make sure you're on an early tour. After that you go to the canned beer section where you will see lots of cans being filled with beer and then packed into cartons. Then it's the bottle section where you'll see a similar sight but also see the bottles being labelled. Please note that you will probably not see all of the processes previously mentioned as not all sections are in operation all the time. You could phone in the morning to find out the timetable/schedule for the day but it isn't guaranteed. Along the way the tour guide provides snippets of information about the brewery such as the fact that they use the leftovers of the yeast, barley and hops mix (the worst) to make Vegemite. Also that the brewery is on an emergency generator so if the power went down in all of Brisbane the only places with power would be the hospitals and the brewery! The final part of the tour involves sampling some of the amber nectar in the brewery Ale House. The price of the tour includes four pots of Castlemaine beer (a pot is approximately 250ml). Castlemaine Brewery Tour TimesThe tour times are Monday to Friday on the hour from 10am to 4pm, Wednesday evenings at 6pm and Saturdays at 10.30am, 11am and noon and they last approximately an hour an a half. Bear in mind that the packaging areas don't run on Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings. Also that the Ale House bar closes at 6.30pm and you can drink till 7pm. This means that the 4pm tour cuts it quite fine for drinking time if you want to linger over a leisurely beer but it is okay if you are happy to drink up quickly at the end.It is necessary to book the tour in advance and you can phone them on (07) 3361 7597. You must wear fully enclosed shoes when doing the tour and they can supply you with some if you don't bring any with you. There is a souvenir shop where you can buy all sorts of XXXX memorabilia such as T-shirts, stubbie holders, caps and even giant inflatable beer bottles. Getting to the Castlemaine Brewery TourYou can get there by train and the nearest station is Milton on the green line. There are plenty of buses from the city and you can catch any that are going to Indooroopilly. It is also possible to walk to the brewery from the city and this will take around 20 to 25 minutes.Castlemaine BeerThe Brewery brews three main types of Castlemaine Beer - XXXX Gold which is a mid-strength beer at 3.5% and is their biggest seller, XXXX Bitter which is 4.8% and a stout which is dark but not a traditional stout. They also brew a XXX Sparkling Beer which is only available in the brewery Ale House and is well worth a try. It is a replica of the original beer brewed here and is 5.2%.It isn't necessary to do the tour in order to visit the Ale House or the souvenir shop so if you just fancy a few beers and some lunch you can do that. The Ale House serves lunch from 11.30am from Monday to Saturday and you can also gets snacks such as beer battered chips. For up-to-date information about prices and times take a look at the official Castlemaine Brewery Tour website. Return to Brisbane Tourism page |
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