We take a beer tasting class, which is really fun (shocking). We learn that the world of beers is separated into ales (which include porter and stout) and lagers (which include pilsners); and that malted wheat (usually unfiltered) replaces malt barley in wheat beer. We taste our way through Budweiser, Shocktop, Shocktop IPA, and Shocktop lemon shandy going through the four-step process of sight, swirl, smell, and sip. We learn that the sweetness of beer is from the barley malt (and more so from wheat); bitterness is from hops (who knew these were flowers?); and the sourness is from yeast.
I want to meet the "innovation" folks -- those guys who create the blueberry beer and this summer's hit: "limerita" (essentially beer with margarita mix, which was meant to only be a summer seasonal beer but was such a hit this summer that it will now be sold year-round).
After the tasting class, we don factory goggles and take a Grand Master tour of the factory. Here, Tyler with the lager tanks -- each tank holds 200,000 six packs.
The bottling process. This entire bottling process is run by seven people.
Highlight of the tour! We head to the filtering tanks, which was filled with beer when our tour started. An hour and a half later, we drink directly from the tank and appreciate fresh beer!
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