Summit Brewery

What trip to the Midwest would be complete without sampling some local brew? Ever the organization pro that she is, Mitch scheduled a tour of Summit brewery for her husband and me while she put in a few hours of work in the morning. We were sad to leave her behind, but happy to drink at 10:30 in the morning. To Summit Brewery we go!

These machines fill the kegs, a little over one per second.

This is the giant fridge where all the beer is stored. It's about the size of a large barn, and they trusted us enough to let us wander around for a few minutes.

Can I have just a few extra minutes? Check on me in an hour.

The conveyer belt that leads to labels and packaging.

They don't bottle during the tours, so we didn't get the chance to do our Laverne and Shirley bit.

Our terrific volunteer tour guide, who said he works for beer.

The copper vats where every batch begins.

In the fermentation room.

In front of the mash vats.

On to tasting! My fave was the oatmeal stout, of course. (Do check out their website, it's terrific! www.summitbrewing.com)

Prost!