summit brewing company

Why not take in a few free locally-brewed beer samples, have fun and learn something all at the same time? Summit Brewery offers tours free with a food-shelf donation to Second Harvest Heartland—the only catch is you’ll need to make an advance (on-line) reservation (and apparently on most days the tours are quite popular).Depending on what you’re expecting, you may find the tour a little short, somewhat non-technical and a little boring (compared to say historic Leinenkugel’s Brewing in Little Falls, WI). Included is a brief video of the company’s relatively short, but highly successful history--shown before the tour begins--with interesting factoids; for instance: Did you know the land this brewery was built on was purchased from the city of St. Paul for the whopping price of one dollar?The tour guide, bartenders, and other staff were pleasant and welcoming, and certainly the price is right. I only wish more attractions would forego the price of admission for food-shelf donations!Four free beer samples are yours along with the tour plus there’s a gift shop. The event is family-friendly & fun, and the brewery is very easy to find--a convenient location just off 35E south of downtown.There is a large gathering hall adjoined to the taproom, featuring 'championship' bean bag toss, a sunny tasting area and lots of seating – and it’s now open 4-9pm Fri & Sat with specialty food trucks just outside the front door, happy hour, and even entertainment.

Having been to dozens of microbreweries throughout North America, we were underwhelmed by Summit. Here is the detailed lowdown on the Summit experience:Great that Summit encourages food donations for all taking the free tour.Spacious indoor bench seating in the tap room with a large capacity renders immediate suspicion of a mass influx of regulars simply in for the free beer. This was confirmed both on the tour (with zero internationals and virtually all locals) and in the largely one-dimensional reviews that proliferate here with biased, non-critical 'hooray for free beer' thank yous to Summit.Here is what you can expect. A long wait for Summit to accommodate late arrivals, followed the bulk of the tour sitting on a bench watching a long, tedious 40-minute slideshow. This is followed by a rushed 8-minute view of two small areas in the actual facility.On the plus side, minimal walking. Legs happy, but the eyes and minds of real beer aficionados will be left underwhelmed.You are given four tokens to sample 4-oz shots, only one of which you can sample prior to or during the tour. Strange. Almost all quality microbreweries actively encourage those touring to have a sample while taking the tour while a gregarious guide/host joins in. Here it is seemingly forbidden, or at the very least greatly discouraged.Rather, Summit prefer that everyone crashes the bar immediately following. Hardly worth visiting for one pint total, only to be told when to drink, with no opportunity to pay for samples.Summit beer is generally 7/10 in quality & taste, slightly above average, though still a neophyte in the process, blown out of the water by many other microbreweries.Staff are generally representative of Minnesota: warm, friendly and eager to please, with a couple snobbish types mixed in.Small, slightly overpriced gift shop relative to comparable microbreweries.Located in a bland industrial area with nothing of interest within walking distance. Far from public transport. Our cabby got completely lost, even with the benefit of a printed map.

This was a great informative tour, a bit technical for me. However for people who have no idea how beer is made or really like the science behind the craft, this is a plus. My group booked online, we found plenty of parking outside. Upon check in we were given tasting chips. The tour starts in the tasting room with picnic tables and a on screen presentation you are then taken into the room where the tanks are. Then back to the tasting room where you can use your 'chips' to get some samples of the varieties on tap. They have root beer for non-beer drinkers, or the driver! They have a small gift shop with cool souvioners, bottle cap magnets, bottle cap ornaments. They dont have gluten free beer. Staff is friendly. I would do this tour with friends again.

Date of visit: 12/27/14Summit Brewing has been hard at work in St. Paul since the mid 1980's and recently expanded their capability to produce tasty craft beers. We spent a few hours on a Saturday exploring the facility and tasting their goods.Summit's tasting room is open on a limited basis. Fridays and Saturdays you can spend time in their Beer Hall or outdoor patio from 4 to 9 PM. There is often live music, a movie or two are shown throughout the month and other fun events are held. Each night there is a food truck available for those who would like to eat while they enjoy the craft beer.We stopped in for an afternoon tour. Three are scheduled and advance reservations are required. Also, to take the tour, Summit requests guests bring a canned item which is donated to a local food shelf.The tour is informative, short and sweet. One gets to see the beginning process, fermenting rooms (including the new "forest" of fermentation vessels) and the bottling and kegging areas. Afterwards, guests are able to sample four of the assorted craft beers by "paying" with chips given to each person over 21 years of age who takes the tour. There is also a gift shop at the brewery.Our friends and we had a great afternoon of relaxing and sipping excellent local beers which are available through much of the Mid West. Unless that is if you live in Oklahoma. Sad for them!

The Summit Brewery tour was great and they offer generous tokens for tastings. Our Favorite was the Oktoberfest! Overall, a great experience and a fun thing to do while visiting family in MN. Glad MN has such a variety of craft beers!

Enjoyed our 10:00am brewery tour in a Saturday morning. Great way to start the day! Rachel our tour guide did a very good job. She likes beer too! We made our reservations online. There was no charge but did request you to bring canned goods that would be donated to the food bank. You were not turned away if you didn't bring any. We enjoyed the samples, 4 of them. Fun times!

I love craft beer and have visited lots of craft breweries in several states. This is near the top of the list in my experience. Great history here and a very interesting and well delivered presentation and tour. Did I mention the beer?? Wow...Great tasting room experience. Nice patio seating. Cool little gift shop. And great food trucks to feed you. I will visit here every time I'm in St Paul.

This is a great way to spend a free afternoon in St Paul. The tour was educational, fun and includes 4 ample samples of beer -- for free! Great stop and if we wouldn't have had dinner reservations would have stayed for food trucks. The gift shop had all reasonably priced merchandise, which was is unusual and led yo a few fun finds -- dog collar with beer opener anyone? Nice job Summit!

Great tour that's NOT your standard Coors or Bud facility. We learned the difference between a "Craft" brewer and "Micro" brewer, what ingredients add what to the flavor making a brew a Summer Ale vs a Winter Ale and so on. Reservations are required and closed toe shoes recommended but not required. At the end of the tour you can turn in the four token you received prior to the tour for six once samples of brew or 1919 Rootbeer. Our favorite was the Oatmeal Stout. Very smooth without any after taste. Too bad it's only available as a draft. Great tour so make your own reservation.

Our family took the tour and found it well worth the time. The tour was very informative - both the history of the brewery as well as seeing the production area. It was also interesting to hear about their upcoming expansion for their canning line.

Took the family here for a little visit and had a very nice time seeing everything they brew here and tasting a few things as well! We had a FANTASTIC tour gal. I think her name was Beverly, and she was AWESOME!! We got to watch a video, wee the production area, the brew tanks and have four, lovely, complimentary samples of what was on tap. We also purchased some beer soap in the gift shop and a couple of beer bread mixes. The soap makes a nice gift. We already tried one of the beer breads at home and have had better, so would not necessarily recommend this specific product. We did enjoy learning about the different brews and history of the company. The kids had unlimited 1919 FREE Rootbeer, while the adult enjoyed the real thing, They have a very nice guide that describes the beer and hop combinations. I would recommend and go again to try new items. They also have a game corner. It seems they are open Friday/Saturday evenings with very reasonable beer prices. People hang out, drink beer and play games. What more could you want for a good time? No fee, but they do appreciate a canned food item, which they donate to a local pantry.

My husband and I have started hitting up brewery tours as often as possible while traveling. So far, this was our favorite! Granted, I know many people just do these tours for the tasting at the end (and of course that's a big perk!) but we actually really like learning on the tours as well! This tour had more information and "fun facts" than others we have been on. And this was the first time we saw an active line - the kegging line. We had more samples at the end of this tour than on others as well. We were there on a Friday tour, so we lucked out with the 4pm food truck and beer hall situation... The food truck was Cajun 2 Geaux and it was absolutely wonderful. I would highly recommend hitting up one of these events, and if we lived closer - we'd be there all the time! We were disappointed that we couldn't purchase a tasting glass, because we've been collecting those. But otherwise, top notch.

Called on Tuesday for Friday evening tour spot and was happy to find enough room for our group of four. Been quite a while since I have seen my brother and his wife so choosing to start with Summit tour is fun way to reconnect. We both homebrew and going to such a successful midwestern brewer is just the best. They have a great story to tell, they do it in a nice facility with a chance to see the bottling line and finished products but not close up of brew kettles. Their new tasting room/Ratskellar is nice place to sit and visit both before and after the tour. The samples on tap are always fabulous. We got in on the early release of new style brewed with Rye. Very tasty and likely to be another success for them. 5 different beers on tap to try after tour.

We took the 3:00 tour at Summit on a Saturday afternoon. There was quite a large group that pretty much filled the beer hall, which was then divided into two groups for the tour. Prior to the tour we watched a short video and learned the basic information about how Summit started. They kept it short and interesting. The tour took around 30 minutes, we saw the bottling area which doesn't operate on the weekend, the refrigerated area where the beer is stored, the copper brewing kettles. The tour is all inside and all on one level - no stairs. They gave each person 4 tokens to get samples from the bar, and they were generous samples - probably around 8 ounces. I got a glass of root beer which was very good. They have a ton of board games that we played for about an hour after the tour. Around 4:30 a Mexican food truck came in that had fabulous burritos, around $9 each. It was a really relaxing couple hours!

This is a nice indoor activity if you happen to be in the area. You get a video and a presentation, then you can see the factory (which, admittedly, is quite small and not incredibly interesting, but it's a short tour). Then you get 3 generous glasses of beer. There is a variety to choose from, and you learn a bit about each in the presentation. Root beer is also available. You can enjoy your drinks and visit the gift shop or play a board game.