Anheuser-Busch Brewery

I originally marked this as not worth it. I went again yesterday at my husband’s insistence (he had never been) but we did the brewmaster’s tour. It was expensive ($25/person) but much better than the free tour. A tip: go during the week (Mon.-Thurs. if possible) as you’ll be much more likely to see production.

Not a tip about AB brewery exactly, but about an amazing little cafe nearby (about a block or two away). My mom and I found it when we were looking for something to eat before our tour. It’s called Nadine’s Gin Joint and it was seriously a hidden gem for us. The building and its neighborhood reminded us of New Orleans, the staff was so friendly and it is home to officially the best Reuben I have EVER eaten. Stop by when you’re on your way to the brewery.

Visited the brewery with my mom while I was in St. Louis this summer. I’m a Hospitality & Tourism Mgmt. major and also really interested in the food & beverage side of hospitality so I was really excited to get to see how the world’s best-selling beer was made. The tour itself was extremely informative, though not boring. And the great folks at Anheuser-Busch were thoughtful enough to plan it so that we had shuttle buses to take us to-and-from points on the tour that were far apart from each other. (The tour is extremely handicap accessible for anyone with special needs! Which I thought was fantastic.) As for the “small cups” of free beer at the end another reviewer mentioned, we went in May & received two regular sized beers each (12 oz.) and nice snacks. In addition to their fine beers, they also offer their alcoholic energy drinks, non-alcoholic energy drinks (don’t get the two confused like my mom did! she doesn’t drink and ended up with a buzz after drinking what she thought was a non-alcoholic one) and soft drinks for anyone who does not drink alcohol. Also, the gift shop at the end of the tour is amazing! Can’t wait to go back and pick up some more goodies. Anheuser-Busch is extremely accomodating and hospitable, and the brewery tour is fascinating. Highly recommend for your visit to St. Louis.

There’s free beer waiting for you at the end…my kind of tour!

Very fun to see the factory process. We had tiny cups of Bud at the end.

The Anheuser-Busch Brewery is a part of American history. Though I can’t stand beer, per se, but it was fascinating to tour the facility from the standpoint of the science and engineering involved in its production. My friends were enthralled (free beer)... I loved studying the architecture and getting to spend time with the horses.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon while visiting St. Louis. Following the history of beer from ancient societies and cultures worldwide (and doing some research beforehand) made the tour so much more fun.

I highly recommend taking the tour. Fortunately, my friends are mainly academics/broker/business types, so despite the quenching of their thirsty palates, they came away even more able to answer questions on Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. [LOL] You can always go back through again for a second view later, but there is ample time for questions and interactions with the guides during the primary times.

Despite any pretext of “loser heroism” folklore surrounding the glamour of drinking until you are stupid (which I despise), everyone on the tour was well behaved and well educated, overall. Idiocy was discouraged completely, and the one or two “wife-beater t-shirt” elements were in and out and on to the beer and snack bar in 20 minutes. This was a plus, because as anyone knows, it only takes one bad element to spoil things for everyone.

Anyone aggressively American, in the purest sense, will appreciate the Brewery and its founders as well. Understanding the capitalist element of the corporation and the implications of running a large conglomerate during key developmental periods of US history were just the historical tweaks that made touring the facility worth our time. Pretty cool, actually… rising to power as a corporation by assuaging the pedantic needs of the blue collar masses world wide?

And the buildings themselves were so well preserved… Beer lover or not, it is worth the visit just to see the place. The gardens are beautifully maintained, the stables elegant, and it definitely adds a landmark element to the city of St. Louis.

Drink better beer. I was there in the 70’ on a family vacation and will eventually go again some day ,It’s only 6 hours away so its def. a weekend trip

The old buildings of this brewery are awesome and some are on the historic register i believe.
The tour is nice. The tour guides are knowledgable and helpful. Although lots of walking you do get to visit a lot of the buildings where they brew and package their products. My favorite part of the tour is the stable, where they stable some of the world famous clysedale horses.
At the end of the tour you can have free sample drinks of Budweiser products or soda, and pretzels.

I’d only recommend going if you haven’t been on a brewery tour before. It was very sterile, with the tour conducted far above the floor behind windows. At Busch brewery tour in Williamsburg or the Miller tour in Milwaukee is much better, IMHO, for a large-scale brewery tour.