Saturday dates now booking
Bristol's original craft beer tasting experience, running since 2016. Sail the Floating Harbour with a beer in your hand, go behind the scenes at an award-winning brewery, then finish under the vaults of King Street with a flight of beer and a board of cheese and charcuterie.
Most beer tours in a city like this are a walk between three bars. Ours starts on the water, because Bristol's story — the trade, the docks, the breweries that grew up alongside them — starts on the water too.
Bristol has been brewing for the best part of a thousand years, and the modern city has one of the densest craft beer scenes in the country. You'll cover it by boat and on foot, tasting as you go, with a guide who can tell a saison from a stout at fifty paces and knows exactly which brewery once stood where the flats are now.
It's four hours, it's £69 a head, and everything you drink and eat along the way is already paid for. No coach. No pub crawl. No queueing at the bar.
Roughly a mile of walking between them, a beer at every single one, and a guide who stays with you from the first pour to the last.
11:45am · Hotwell Road
Meet your guide outside The Grain Barge, then walk down to the ferry. We've got it to ourselves. Thirty minutes across the Floating Harbour with two Bristol Beer Factory beers, an introduction to the styles you'll meet later, and the old Bristol Brewery site off the starboard side. The boat leaves at midday sharp.
Around 1pm · St Philips
A short walk from the water to one of Britain's most decorated independent breweries. You'll get in among the kit with someone from the team — Moor don't fine or filter their beer, which is a decision with consequences you can taste, and a good deal more interesting explained standing next to the tanks. Then into the taproom for a proper selection brewed on site.
Around 2:45pm · King Street
Twenty minutes on foot through Castle Park, pausing at the site of the old city brewery, and onto King Street — one of the great drinking streets in England. Down into the brick vaults for the final flight of the day, with cheese and charcuterie boards to share. We wrap up around 4pm, and most groups stay on.
Venues can change. Breweries are working businesses and occasionally close to visitors at short notice. If a stop can't happen we substitute somewhere comparable and tell you in advance — the shape of the day stays the same.
We pour in third-of-a-pint measures on purpose. It means you taste eight or nine different beers over the afternoon instead of three pints of the same thing, and you finish the tour merry rather than done in.
Why thirds? Third-of-a-pint measures let you taste eight or nine genuinely different beers across the afternoon instead of three pints of much the same. It works out at roughly three pints in total, spread over four hours, alongside food.
Meet 11:45am. The boat leaves at midday and can't wait, so please build in a buffer. We finish around 4pm.
Outside Outside The Grain Barge, Hotwell Road, Bristol BS8 4RU. Open in Google Maps. About 20 minutes' walk from Bristol Temple Meads.
The Beer Emporium, 13–15 King Street, Bristol BS1 4EF. Map link. You're left in the middle of the old city, surrounded by places to carry on.
Public tours take up to 30 guests. Larger parties, or anyone wanting the tour to themselves, should look at private tours.
Comfortable shoes — there's about a mile of walking. A coat: the tour runs in rain, hail and snow, and a good part of it is outdoors and on the water.
Over-18s only, and please bring ID. Venues can and do ask.
The boat, the brewhouse, the vaults and the people who came along.
There's roughly a mile of walking, boarding a ferry, and steps down into the cellar at the final stop. That rules the tour out for some people and it's much better to know beforehand.
Same goes for dietary requirements: the sharing platters are cheese and charcuterie, so vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free guests need us to arrange something in advance. Coeliac guests should also know that most of what we pour contains gluten — we can usually sort alternatives with notice.
★★★★★
Booked this as a birthday surprise and it completely outclassed everything else we'd looked at in Bristol. The boat is the bit nobody expects — you're twenty minutes in, drink in hand, going past the docks, and everyone's already grinning.
★★★★★
Our guide knew an enormous amount and never once made anyone feel like they should have known it already. My partner doesn't really drink beer and left having found two she now buys.
★★★★★
Did this as a work away day for fourteen of us. Well organised, properly informative, and the cheese and charcuterie at the end meant nobody was hunting for food at 4pm. Would book again without hesitating.
Live availability from DesignMyNight, our ticket partner. Pick a Saturday and you'll be booked in straight away. Public tours take up to 30 guests and popular dates go weeks ahead.
per person — beer tastings and sharing platters included
Got a gift voucher? Redeem it here — don't book through the calendar above.
Ticket terms and conditions · Our tour terms & refund policy
Public tours run at least monthly, with more in summer. If nothing fits, a private tour can usually run on your date instead — weekdays included.
Above 30 guests you'll need a private tour. Same three stops, your group only, and we can flex the timings. Enquire here.
An open-value gift voucher lets them pick their own date. Delivered by email, never expires.
All the beer tastings, at all three stops, plus cheese and charcuterie sharing platters at the last venue. We serve beer in third-of-a-pint measures so you can taste a proper range of styles — usually two or three beers at each stop, though that varies with what each venue has on. You might be drinking keg or cask depending on availability.
The platters are nibbles rather than a full meal. The Beer Emporium do excellent pizza and our guests get a discount, so plenty of people stay on and eat.
Usually two or three beers at each of the three stops — around eight or nine tasters in total, poured as thirds. That's roughly three pints across four hours, with food along the way. Enough to have a proper time, not enough to write off your evening.
Selected Saturdays through the year, at least once a month. There are usually more dates over the summer and fewer through winter. Live dates are in the calendar above.
If none of the public dates work, a private group tour can usually run on a day that suits you.
Meet your guide at 11:45am; the boat casts off at midday and won't wait, so please don't cut it fine. We finish around 4pm, though that shifts by a few minutes depending on the group.
The boat departs at midday and won't wait — it's a working ferry on a schedule. If you miss it we'll do our best to get you onto the tour at the brewery, but we can't refund a missed departure. Please aim to arrive by 11:45am.
Outside Outside The Grain Barge, Hotwell Road, Bristol BS8 4RU — open in Google Maps. It's about a 20-minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads, or a short bus or taxi ride.
We finish at The Beer Emporium, 13–15 King Street, Bristol BS1 4EF — map link.
There's limited pay-and-display along Hotwell Road and nearby, but you'll be drinking, so public transport or a taxi is the sensible option. Bristol Temple Meads is about 20 minutes on foot from the meeting point, or a short bus or cab ride.
About a mile in total. The longest single leg is the 20-minute walk from Moor Brewery through Castle Park to King Street. The rest is short hops. Wear something you can walk in.
Refunds are available up to 30 days before your tour date. Inside 30 days we've already committed to the boat, the venues and your guide, so we can't refund — for any reason, including illness or travel problems. If that's a risk for you, please consider your own ticket protection.
You're welcome to pass your ticket to someone else at any point; just let us know the name. See our full terms.
Yes — in rain, hail and snow. Please dress for the weather, because a good chunk of the tour is outdoors and on foot. We only cancel if conditions would make the tour itself unsafe. If you're travelling in from another city, plan on the tour going ahead.
Very much so — we run birthdays, hen and stag groups and corporate away days all the time. What we don't run is a pub crawl. This is a guided tasting with real content to it, which is exactly why it works for mixed groups where not everyone wants a heavy day.
Public tours take up to 30 guests. Bigger than that, or want the tour to yourselves? Private tours start here.
Honestly, yes — some of our happiest guests arrive saying exactly that. Third-pint measures across eight or nine very different beers is the fastest way to find out that "beer" covers everything from a sharp, almost wine-like sour to something that tastes like coffee and dark chocolate.
On private tours we can arrange cider, wine or gin alternatives. On public tours, tell us in advance and we'll do our best at each venue.
There's roughly a mile of walking spread across the afternoon, including a 20-minute stretch through Castle Park, plus boarding a ferry and steps down into the cellar bar at the final stop. If you have mobility requirements or anything else we should plan around, get in touch before you book and we'll tell you honestly whether it'll work.
Yes. This is an alcohol-focused tour and all guests must be 18 or over. Please bring ID — venues can and do ask.
Absolutely, and most groups do. You finish on King Street, which is about the best possible place in Bristol to be abandoned at 4pm on a Saturday. The Beer Emporium do excellent pizza and our guests get a discount.
Corporate away days, birthdays, stag and hen groups, client entertaining, or just a big group of friends who'd rather not share the boat with strangers. We'll build the afternoon around you — different dates, different venues, food that's more than nibbles, and cider, wine or gin for anyone who isn't drinking beer.
Open-value gift vouchers from UK Brewery Tours can be spent on the Bristol Craft Beer Experience or any other tour in the network. They're delivered instantly by email, they're for any amount you like, and they never expire — so there's no scramble to use them before a deadline.
Four hours, three stops, one boat, and everything included. Pick a Saturday and we'll see you on the water.
Tour itineraries, venues, beers and pricing can change — breweries occasionally close their doors to visitors at short notice, and we'll always substitute a comparable stop if that happens. Everything on this page was correct at the time of publishing.
