Busing to the beer: New craft brew tour launches in New Castle County this weekend

Ryan Cormier
The News Journal
First State Brew Tours stop at Bellefonte Brewing Company in Prices Corner.

You do the drinking. They do the driving.

That's the idea behind New Castle County's first brewery tour, which officially launches this weekend.

After a year of planning, First State Brew Tours is up and running. Its maiden voyage will bring craft-lovers to Liquid Alchemy Beverages near Elsmere before shuttling them to Wilmington Brew Works and making its final stop at Bellefonte Brewing Co. in Prices Corner.

The deets

Here's how it works: You pay $60, hop on the shuttle bus and leave the rest up to the team behind the tour, led by Joe Conway, a home brewer and creator of the DE Brew Trail website (debrewtrail.com), which tracks the state's breweries and their events.

"The whole idea is just to promote Delaware craft beverages so we're keeping our costs real low — basically everyone is pretty much working pro bono for now," Conway says. "These tours exist in all the big cities and it was time for us to have one of our own."

First State Brew Tours stop at Bellefonte Brewing Company in Prices Corner.

What you get

Each tour is four hours long, includes a specially-selected flight of beers at each location, along with private tours and discounts of take-home beers and merchandise.

It launches the first time from Liquid Alchemy Beverages on Saturday at noon and tickets can be purchased through the First State Brew Tours Facebook page at facebook.com/FSBrewTours or their website, firststatebrewtours.com. (Tickets are $55 each for military, police and fire personnel.)

Future tours are already planned, hitting a different line-up of breweries.

What happens Saturday

On Saturday, Dec. 8, the tour will visit Argilla Brewing Co. at Pietro's Pizza in Milltown, Dew Point Brewing Co. in Yorklyn and Twin Lakes Brewing Co. in Newport.

And then on the Saturday after that — Dec. 15 — the bus tours southern New Castle County with stops at Glasgow's Midnight Oil Brewing Co., Blue Earl Brewing Co. and Painted Stave Distilling, both in Smyrna.

The fourth weekend of each month will be for private tours, such as tours for people in the industry or private parties who wants to rent the bus just for themselves.

Flights of beer samples being served for First State Brew Tours patrons during their tour stop at Bellefonte Brewing Company.

No drinking on bus, but you can shop

And while you can't drink on the bus, there are coolers to stash growlers and crowlers for those who taste something so good, they just have to bring it home with them.

"We're not trying to be a party bus. This is about the craft experience and taking you behind the scenes," says Conway, the tour ambassador who runs the tour and is on the bus. "We're not looking for bachelor parties and things like that."

Hops and malted barley on display at Bellefonte Brewing Company.

On the bus with brew buddies

With communal tables and a common love of craft beer, camaraderie is always a big part of a night at any small, local brewery. But when you're on a bus with fellow brew fans for four hours hopping from brewery to brewery, it takes it to another level.

"I didn't know any of the other folks on the tour and I met all sorts of people. We started up some friendships and got some cards -- it was a cool social thing," says Wilmington's John Medkeff Jr., a Delaware beer historian and author who participated in the brewery bus' test run with his wife Tina.

Possible beer history tour?

Next year, Medkeff may jump on the bus once again, but this time it won't be as a patron. He is in talks with them to give guided tour of the area's brewery history.

Conway teamed up with the owners of Liquid Alchemy, Jeff Cheskin and Terri Sorantino, along with a couple of others, to create the tour at the end of last year and have been crafting a business plan ever since.

And with All In One Transportation, a local transportation company, located next door to Liquid Alchemy, it didn't take them long to find a shuttle service since they don't own a bus of their own yet.

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First State Brew Tours stops at Bellefonte Brewing Company last month.

Hoping for out-of-state love

They hope to both attract in-state craft fans along with out-of-state beer tourists, who won't have to worry about tracking down each brewery, some of which can be hard to find in a maze of nondescript industrial park units.

"A lot of people know about Yards, Victory and the other big boys nearby," Conway says, "but they also have heard about Delaware's craft makers — they just don't know anything about them," Conway says.

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'99 bottles of beer'

First State Brew Tours did a test run in mid-November with a bus filled with a dozen beer fans and tourism officials to make sure everything went smoothly before opening to the general public. They took the same route as the one planned for this weekend.

Wilmington Brew Works co-owner Craig Wensell says the tour's first visit to his brewery last month went well. The bus-riders got a private tour and samples of several beers.

"It's a fantastic idea," says Wensell, whose brewery first opened in July on Miller Road and has already installed a new brew system, more than doubling capacity to match demand. "I love talking to people about beer and it gives them a different way to experience our brewery. We don't regularly offer tours."

Conway reports that the test-run went smoothly. No one got too inebriated and, thankfully, no one got sick in the bus. 

"I was very pleased at that," Conway says and then jokes, "And there wasn't any '99 Bottles of Beer,' either."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

IF YOU GO

What: First State Brew Tours

When: Saturday, 12 p.m.

Where: Liquid Alchemy Beverages (28 Brookside Dr., near Elsmere), Wilmington Brew Works (3129 Miller Rd, Wilmington) and Bellefonte Brewing Company (3605 Old Capitol Trail, Unit C8, Price Corner)

Cost: $60 (All-inclusive tour includes transportation, a flight of beer at each stop and private tours of each facility.)

Information and tickets: firststatebrewtours.com or facebook.com/FSBrewTours