New Holland Brewing Production Facility

I really enjoyed this beer-​in-​hand tour. I have been to Brewery tours in Milwaukee and this one was different. They have a distillery too and some of their equipment has an interesting history. The only minor issues were that they pours drinks from bottles which made that process a little slow bringing the tour to a halt for a few minutes several times – not a huge deal. Another issue was my large friend was not physically able to squeeze through a tight space between wooden barrels and a pole during he tour and cut her finger on the barrel in the process. It was embarrassing for her and it was a drag to have to leave the group and figure out when and where to rejoin them. I loved the pint glass at the end of the tour.

I’ve never been on a brewery tour so I have nothing to compare this experience with. I went into this with very low expectations for two primary reasons. First and probably most importantly my drinking days are pretty much over with so if I drink one beer every couple of years that’s pretty normal for me. Obviously beer is not nearly as important to me as it is to some people. Then you throw in the fact that when I have a beer I’m a Bud Light kind of a guy and a craft beer holds about zero appeal to me since I’ll leave that to the people who want to put on snobby attitudes trying to convince themselves they are better than everybody else.
The second reason for my low expectations was, well come on it’s in Holland, MI so it’s not like we’re talking Disneyland or someplace.

The reality though was that I did enjoy the tour. Granted I may not be a huge fan of their beer but the two guys who gave the tour did a real good job and were informative and even entertaining at times. The beer drinkers (which was about everybody on the tour) really seemed to enjoy the samplings and even I found one of the beers that I could enjoy. The tour was laid out in a very logical sequence and it went very smoothly. The tour was a birthday gift to my nephew who loves craft beers and he loved the tour so really that is all that matters. If I had the opportunity to take this tour again I would do so.

I’ve been on a lot of brewery tours and I will say this is one of the best I’ve ever been on.
$ 10 gets you an hour and a half tour, 4 samples and a pint glass. It’s a great deal.
We signed up for the last tour of the day on a Saturday. Three tour guides tag teamed the group and answered and all questions we had the whole time.
New Holland is on the larger side of craft breweries and had a lot to show us, from the mill to the tanks to the fermentation room… It was great.
They had an additional three beers on tap to try as well which was great. We lucked out coming to the last tour of the day, there was no rush through the facility and they let us loligag with it samples.
An unexpected final stop in the house distillery was also fun. We learned about the house made liquids and got to try anything we wanted. Granted… These people know what they are doing! Some interesting barrel aged gins, for example.
Definitely worth the money and the trip if you’re looking for a brewery tour and/​or a more in-​depth experience at New Holland than just tasting beers downtown.