Saranac Brewery Tour in Utica, NY Review

If you are a fan of Saranac beer, consider touring the F. X. Matt Brewing Company in Utica, New York. The brewery is located about an hour and a half west of Albany, right off the New York State Thruway. During the summer months, June through August, the brewery gives tours at 1 and 3 p.m. on Monday through Saturday each week. From September to May, tours are given at 1 and 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday only. If you plan to visit between September and May, you must call them at (800) 765-6288 to make reservations for a tour.

Tours of the brewery last for about an hour. The cost is $5 per person or free for children 12 and under. For the price, you get two tickets for full pints of beer at the end of the tour. You can also win additional beer tickets during the tour.

The brewery is family owned but the company and factory were larger than I expected. It is the second largest family owned brewery on the country. They do a lot to raise money and help out the local community.

The tour takes place in an attractive, historic building where the beer is actually brewed so it has a lot of character. This makes for a more interesting tour than other places that simply show you some machinery that is not in use.

You will receive an interesting tour for your time and money. They start out with a history of the company, explaining how they survived the prohibition era by producing soft drinks instead. Then, your tour guide will take you through the brewery explaining the ingredients that go into the beer and all of the steps in the process. Our guide was knowledgeable and able to answer questions from the crowd well. If you want to see the bottling plant in action, go during a weekday.

The last part of the tour takes you into the tasting room where you get your two beers. You can choose from any of the beers that they are making at the time. The pomegranate wheat is my favorite but it is only available in the summer.

At the end of the tour, you can go through their gift shop. It is quite pricy but you can find pretty much anything you could ever want with the Saranac logo on it. Their products do seem to be of good quality.