Goose Island Brewery Tour

I wouldn’t really call this a tour. It was more of a small chat/Q&A session with a few beers and a free pint glass at the end.
Our guide was a pretty cool dude and he made most of the situation. You stand in a room where they have the tanks and he talks. We then go and have a sampler and that’s that. Is it worth the $ 10 entry fee? Depends on how much you value pint glasses I suppose.
Fine thing to do if you want to try it, just not really a tour.

Good beer, cool place, but the tour guides were what made the experience actually worth the trip.

After the Chicago marathon, my sister and I came to the Goose Island Brewery to get a tour… however, they weren’t touring when we came in. WARNING: check tour times ahead of time.
However, we did stay for a couple of beers and food. I have to say, they do have a wide selection of beers to choose from and if you get a flight of beer, you can taste a good amount of them. From what we could see from the window, the tour looked like it could have been fun.
However, the crowning, golden moment of this trip was the grilled cheese sandwich we ordered. Filled with gooey cheesy goodness, tomatoes, and avocados, it was honestly the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. When people talk about mouth-​watering food, they seriously will think back to this
grilled cheese sandwich, and yes I just used
to describe this dish, it’s that good. The side chips are quite good, very well seasoned. Overall, a great experience.

Btw not sure why «Owned by AB» is a comment you feel like you need to make. Since they’ve been bought the quality and consistency has improved drastically. Further more it says nothing about the brand as a whole. AB make a good product with a lot of rich history. Good Island also got a wider distribution area as well as maintains a lot of creative control over the product. Good for them

Ok experience. The «tour» was very brief and consisted of standing in their small brew room while the guide briefly explained the brewing process and history of Goose Island. We then had a tasting of beers that can only be had at that brewery. This was fine, but I am not from Chicago and can’t get Goose Island where I live, so I was hoping to try some of their mainstream beers that everyone raves about. On the positive side, Giving us a pint glass to take home was a nice touch and the guide was pleasant and knowledgeable.

Not even close to being one of the better tours I’ve been on. The cost was $ 10, the most I’ve ever paid for a brewery tour. Most others are $ 5 also with a your, tastings, and pint glass. I’ll loosely call this a tour mostly because it was a storytelling session instead of actually a tour of the brewery. The guy running the tour was very personable but if you didn’t know how beer was made before, you probably still don’t know. We stood in one place and sweated like crazy waiting for it to end so we could go back inside and taste. Unfortunately the tastings were already picked out for us. You get a pint glass and six 1 Oz pours to try. Go to the brewpub to have beers and food in the bar, not the tour.

This is a great way to spend an afternoon. We got a tour of their brewing room and the process they use. Then we tasted 6 different types of beer they’ve brewed. Tasting them together was a great experience! Now I know the difference between a pilsner and an IPA, two types of beer I don’t drink often. John, one of the brewmasters, was a great tour guide. He clearly explained the brewing process, answered all our questions, and had some funny stories to add. He clearly loves being a brewer and sharing beer with people. I would give it 5 stars, but we got kicked out of the tasting room before we had a chance to finish our beer because another tour was starting. Overall, I would highly suggest this tour for anyone with at least a little interest in beer!

This is a review for the brewery tour not the brew pub itself…
In Chicago for training and lucky me I had a whole weekend to explore Chitown. My guidebook recommended this tour and it was one of the best parts of my trip.
I called a few days ahead of time and had no problems reserving a spot. I think I was the only solo in our 50+ person group. The tour is divided into two parts with roughly ½ the time in the brew room devoted to the overall brewing process and how Goose Island differentiates itself. Our tour guide was a loud, jolly, and very well informed brew master. The second portion of the tour takes place in a function room where seated at one of two long tables you get to taste 6 different beers. The beers on offer are all different then their normal brews which I thought was a good thing: after all, I can have their famous stuff anywhere in the city.
For $ 10 this really is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon: you get to learn about brewing beer, taste a bunch, and are given a free Goose Island pint glass for your troubles. 5* all the way.