Calgary Brewery Tour

Private tour was booked for 7:00 PM on Saturday, July 24. We paid for 9 slots to ensure the tour was private, with the intent of 7 attendees, however only 6 were able to make it. We confirmed the pickup location earlier in the week to ensure the booking was correct. Rob was supposed to pick us up at 6:45 PM, however called me at 6:41 to inform me that there was “a bit of a mixup” and that he was 10 minutes out still. At 6:55 Rob texts me that he’s caught in a traffic jam and at a standstill, he estimated he was still 15 minutes out. He arrived at the pickup location at 7:14 and we arrived at the first destination Tool Shed at 7:30 PM. Our group didn’t mind the wait, we made the most of it as unforeseen things happen and Rob was apologetic and friendly about it. Shortly after arriving at Tool Shed, Rob informed us that unfortunately we would not get the behind the scenes tour because they book on the hour, so running late doesn’t work for them. Tool Shed allowed us to walk around in the back briefly without a tour, and served us our 6 flights quickly before we had to depart. We were only at Tool Shed for approx. 25 minutes. Rob said he’d make it up to us later with a couple drinks. When we arrived at the second location Born Colorado, we walked in to 9 flights sitting on the tables waiting for us (I heard the staff state that they were under the impression our tour had 9 attendees per the booking). We were at Born Colorado for approx. 1 hour, but were told by Rob that we couldn’t get a tour there, that the only location that night that was prepped to give us a behind the scenes was Tool Shed. Upon departing for the final destination we backtracked to downtown area. The first brewery was in the NE, the second was in the SE, and the last was just East of downtown. This isn’t Rob’s fault, but poor tour planning resulting in a lot of time on the road, when we’d already been shorted on time. Arriving at the final location, Elite Brewing, we were there for approx. 1 hour, a bartender served us our 6 flights and before we left, the bartender asked us if we wanted to have a quick peak in the back. He stipulated he wasn’t a brewer, so couldn’t answer many questions but that he’d do his best. We got just over 5 minutes to look around and chat with him, which was very nice considering this was the closest the night felt to a “brewery tour”. Before we left I asked Rob if the company was still planning to buy us a couple drinks, he replied “well, that’s essentially what the last location was with the 3 extra flights”. I disputed that assertion in a friendly manner given I knew it was due to booking confusion and was “technically” drinks we’d paid for. He just shrugged it off. Rob dropped us off at the drop off location and we parted ways. All in all, Rob was friendly, and easy to get along with. He was as much a victim of the early mixup, the traffic woes, and the poor logistics planning as we were. My only critique is that he spent the majority of the second stop sitting in the corner of the venue on his phone, rather than engaging as he did at the other locations. But we all enjoyed Rob’s company and would recommend him as a guide. The “tour” on the other hand, I would not recommend to anyone in the future. Even if there were no issues at all, it’s hard to get past this being called a “brewery tour” with one “behind the scenes tour”, when it was more like an expensive pub crawl - especially for us. I already went into this with the mindset that we were making sacrifices by paying for extra seats to secure a private booking, that was our choice. However, given our only interactions were with Rob, a waitress, and 2 bartenders; in future I would advise people to book their tours at a venue that allows individual bookings like Minhas, and then secure their own transportation between venues.