Summit Brewing Tour

Last Saturday, M and I met our friends Jared and Kandace at Summit Brewing in St. Paul.  Our tour was scheduled for 10:30 am and the day was completely gorgeous.  This would be the biggest brewery that we would tour.

We met in what looked like an adult lunchroom before the tour started.  And what I mean when I say adult is that there is a bar in this lunchroom.

One of the tour guides gave a brief history of the brewery and the beers they make.  We then ended up splitting into two groups for the tour.  One group went to talk about the brewing process and the other group went to talk about the latter end of the whole beer process, bottling, storage and shipping.  We were the group that went backwards in the beer making process.

We started out at the bottling and shipping area and we able to go into the coolers.  Surprise, it was cold in there.

The photos of the tour go in order of the way we took the tour.

We were given wristbands upon entry which had three tags on it.  Those three tags ripped off and were our tickets to get beer after the tour.  Usually on the tours we've been to, they pour you a several ounces of about 5-6 beers so we thought that only trying three beers was a little different.  But then we found out they were 10 oz glasses.  Watch out, there it comes.

We were able to try out a new beer that wasn't even released yet called Sága.  It was being released two days from the day of our tour.  It was an IPA and that was the first beer I tried.  I was pretty good but almost a little too hoppy for me, however it had a smooth finish.

Sága was named after a Norse goddess.  This is what she looks like (when Sága is drunk):

By the time I had finished my first beer, I was feeling it.  At this point, it's probably 11:30 am but I'd go on to have a couple more beers by 12:30 pm.  My second beer was Horizon Red Ale.  I can't remember what this beer tastes like at all so we'll just move onto my third beer.  Oatmeal Stout was my last beer.  It was the smoothest Oatmeal Stout I've ever had.  I'm wondering how smooth it actually was and not just my drunkenness perception at the time.

We visited the gift shop and we all bought a couple of goodies including a baby doll t-shirt for me and a bar of soap that has Summit Extra Pale Ale in it.

 The grounds at Summit are very beautiful and it's secluded away from the rest of the city.  We sat on the patio area and enjoyed the last of our beers and the weather before calling it a day.  This was such a fun tour and I recommend you go.  It's a free tour with free beer and all they ask for a food donation for Second Harvest.

Jared and Kandace went their way and M and I went to get something to eat.  We hadn't yet eaten for the day so food was sounding very good.  We went to Shamrock's on West 7th just down the road from Summit and sat outside on the sidewalk patio.  We ordered food and I wanted to keep the party going so I ordered a Summit Extra Pale Ale.  

This is what drunk looks like with sunglasses on...

and without

At the beginning of our meal, M said that I'll be passing out when we get home.  I told him that I wouldn't but towards the end of our meal, I started to get tired.  We got home and I crashed...for almost 3 hours.  I woke up with a baby headache, popped some pills and had some water and was all better.  I still enjoyed some more time outside with the butterflies (a post at another time) and then M and I went for a motorcycle ride.  We went to North St. Paul to say hi to his cousin and then went to the cemetery to see Cherrie and finally to get something to eat again and then to home.  It was truly a perfect day!