I planned this tour Feb 2012 for my lover's birthday weekend and it was a success! I purchased 4 tickets overall, 2 for ourselves and 2 for our friends -so come saturday morning we were all set! We did a staruday morning a tour and let me be honest, you will need sunday to recover! For starters- Eat a breakfast -put down your special K flakes and get a harty breakfast to start. If you're not one to fill up first thing in the morning, no biggie get some sub sandwiches or pack a small sack lunch, you will be happy you do this! Even though appetizers are promised I wouldn't bank on it, bring those carbs! and Next don't order beers, they will come to you... They are all included in the cost of tour: 'Bus ride to each brewery and back to start 'Great general facts, info, and tid bits on the beer, the breweries, Portland Beers and such 'Jim the great as your host 'We toured Hopworks brewery, and each got a little taster sample sheet to record our beers 'We also stopped at: Amnesia Brewery, Hopeworks, Pyramid, and someplace else I was too drunk to remember.. Our group of people got a little annoying after a while, we had a few criers (which is what happens when you give females alcohol during a breakup) but I had so much fun, I recommend bringing your own group of friends and setting up plans to eat somewhere nearby following the events. 5 stars for getting everything out of the tour I had expected! read more

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I really think one's experience on this tour is completely dependent on who crammed on the bus with you on the tour. I will admit that if I hadn't been traveling with 40 extremely loud and obnoxious people on my tour I would have probably enjoyed it much more. So do keep that in mind when booking this tour. If you are a 20-something person looking to get drunk and don't care at all about the types of beer you are drinking it's totally for you. If you are interested in learning more about beer and doing some different tastings while actually learning a bit about the brewing process, you might want to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, my experience was tarnished by super loud and drunk people chanting a bus driver's name while the guide was quietly trying to talk about the beers we had tried at each brewery. We didn't really hear much about the beers we were trying except for at the first brewery. Some of us actually left while at the third brewery because it was becoming a circus. At one point, after only 2 breweries, 20 very drunk guys plowed into a brewery bathroom at once and I believe one tried to pee in the same urinal as my husband at the same time. Not really what I expected to pay $90 for... Again, I think it all depends on who is also traveling on the tour with you, so it's a real crap shoot, but for the money, I would try a different experience. read more

Get ready to sip some frosty ones on this brew tour that will take you around town in a little yellow school bus to sample some concoctions from some of the best breweries in town. During our tour our group was taken to Amnesia Brewing, Lucky Lab, Portland Brewing, Widmer Brothers Brewing, and a few others I can't recall after the hops went to my head... Not only are you served beer samples on the tour, but each brewery serves up some tasty appetizers for the group to munch on. Depending on what breweries you visit, you may get an entire tour of each facility so you can see the brewing process from start to finish. You can schedule private tours for your group, or show up for the weekly group tour that meets up at Double Tree Lloyd Center every Saturday at 1:30. Really cool outing for a group of friends looking for an interesting activity on the weekend. read more

My significant other and I just went on the Saturday public tour, and it was AMAZING!!! One of the best $45 I've spent in a while. We visited four breweries, and were given extremely generous tasters at each location. The best brewery by far was Hopworks. We sampled basically all of their beers, and got a wonderful tour with one of the brewers. Jim also knows his stuff and took us to great places. I see based on some other reviews that not everyone has this experience, which is unfortunate. I can totally see how the group of people on the tour can make or break the experience. There were less than 20 people on our tour, all adults in their 20s and 30s, and mostly couples or pairs of friends who were mature and really wanted to enjoy the beer and learn about the process, which I'm sure made all the difference in where we went, what we sampled, and what we learned! Overall, highly recommended based on my recent experience! read more

This tour might be good for people who don't know much about beer and want to sample some average choices, but if you are a craft beer enthusiast, this is not the tour for you. Beers were bland and mass marketed. I can buy Pyramid and Bridgeport at any liquor store. I asked Jim what breweries we would be touring and he couldn't tell me. It seemed that he was on the phone trying to find the next brewery that would take our group each time we stopped. We hit only three breweries in five hours. Appetizers were promised, and all we got was fries at the last brewery...that's it. But we were encouraged to buy our own food at each stop. Overall, I wish I saved my $45 per person and did my own walking tour of downtown breweries. Didn't even cop a buzz.... read more

This tour is a Portland MUST-DO!!!!! Some friends and I Went on this tour back in 2009. It was extremely fun and very informative. We were all from Louisiana and weren't too familiar with portland. This tour was great for not only visiting many awesome breweries, but it was also a really fun way to see and experience the city. On the tour you'll get to try several different types of delicious beer. This is a great tour for a big groups or small ones. After the 3rd or 4th brewery you hit, you'll be laughin it up with everyone on the tour! I'm planning a Seattle trip with a few friends this summer, and we've already decided we'll be driving down to Portland for a couple days to take a ride on the brew bus again. read more

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Great tour! We had a lot of fun and they accommodated well for our extremely large group. Guide could be a little bit louder, sometimes hard to hear. If you want a private tour book in advance, especially for holidays! read more

Shoutout to Jim for being the coolest tour guide ever. Great attitude, personality and information. Well worth the $45! When he says "eat before tour" take it seriously. read more

Portland Brew Bus - Tours Near Me

We are in our early thirties and went on this tour last weekend. We were on vacation from Los Angeles, so had limited time to see things so this tour was perfect for us! Jim is extremely knowledgeable about beer so I actually learned a lot. Plus he's a pretty funny guy also, and I'm not talking your standard lame tour guide jokes (ok they were lame, but we laughed out loud even before we started drinking beer). We went to 4 breweries for different types of beers. There was a ton of beer, but this probably varies because he does it by purchasing pitchers and distributing it evenly, therefore the way the pitcher divides, I'm sure depending on how many in your group it varies a little. Although I have no reason to believe the amount of beer regardless would disappoint. I had to dump a lot of it because I simply couldn't fit that much in my stomach. It's a great idea to take a tour because most of these breweries don't offer sampler flights like you get when you go wine tasting; you pretty much have to buy it by the glass, which limits you as to how many you can try. We were on a school bus which was a bit tight on leg room, but after one brewery it didn't matter. I guess you get what you pay for and I'd rather pay for beer than a fancy shuttle. There was also a tour at the first brewery (I believe they make different stops depending on the day and size of the group that day). We researched many different tours and this one was by far the best value for what you get, plus Jim makes it really fun. He spends a lot of time with the guests, talking and sharing his knowledge. He's a fantastic tour guide. Definitely a must while you're in Portland! read more

Would never recommend this service to anyone. I had a bachelor party planned roughly two months in advanced and a crew of guys were coming from out of town to hop on the Brew Bus and explore Portland and attend a Blazer game, where the operator said he could drop us off at once the tour was over. That was until I received a call 3.5 hours before the tour was about to depart saying that the tour for that day was cancelled...no back up drivers, no notice to all of us already traveling for hours to hopefully have a fun day with our bachelor and friend. Instead, we were left high and dry in the Portland area for over half of a day. The man on the phone (Jim?) was overly rude and extremely unapologetic that he cancelled on us. He offered to send us a text message with a few breweries in the area that he recommend, but I never received such message... what was supposed to be a special day turned into us scrambling around trying to make our way through the Portland area on our own. Extremely disappointing and never considering this again. read more

Did this brew-tour on a rainy weekend in September, visited three breweries (Hopworks, Amnesia and Pyramid/Portland). Jim is super knowledgeable about the beer and overall, was a fun experience. My only disappointment was stopping at Pyramid for our final brewery, as a lot of their beers you can get all over. But otherwise, good experience. read more

So we did the Brewbus yesterday, it was a great way to spend the day. The bus was pretty full, and after the first stop things livened up. Jim was great, lots of Hoppy Songs. Well worth it. We had a couple of bachelor parties that were a lot of fun. read more

Jim does a great job - you will learn a ton, have some outstanding beers and go to some incredible breweries you wouldn't find on your own. We did a seven person private tour and it was worth every minute - highly recommend it! read more

We did the brew tour last weekend. Jim was a great host. The tour group consisted of 8 people. Jim is knowledgable about beer and also makes sure that you also get a great overview of the city of Portland. When my husband mentioned that he like sour beers, he even took us on a short detour to point out the a brewery that we could hit on our own. It was an expectionally wonderful afternoon, filled with lots of laughter, good company and great beer. (Special thanks to Manny our bus driver!!) read more

I contacted Portland Brew Bus through the website to get a gift certificate for a friend and they had me send in a check by mail - I never received the gift certificate and now they will not return my attempts to contact them (to simply issue a refund as the friend's birthday has long passed) and it has been 6 weeks since the check was cashed. I have to seriously question the good reviews and the integrity of this business if they would treat a potential customer this way (and take money from someone without providing any service). read more

I'd give Jim Long and the brew bus a zero if I could. Essentially, myself and 4 others show up for this tour. All our spaces are pre-booked, but not pre-paid thank goodness. Jim shows up in a little japanese import. Somehow he expects that 5 adults are going to cram ourselves in, 1 in the front, 3 in the back and 1 in the very back in THE TRUNK!!! 3 of the 5 of us walk away, an hour or more of our vacations already wasted. A newlywed couple is left standing there in awe. I felt sorry for them. This tour is not as described and honestly I feel insulted by the owner of this company. A total waste ot my time. He should not be operating a tour company. There are a number of other beer tours in Portland. Do yourself a favour and choose one of them. read more

My fiance and I visited Portland this week and decided, on a rainy day whim, to look up brewery tours. We googled "Portland brewery tours" and this was the first place that caught our eye. We talked to Jim on the phone and were able to schedule a personalized private tour with just the 3 of us for 4 pm. We met him downtown on the corner of 1st & Davis streets. First, he took us to a couple of interesting places in the city (World's smallest park, Portlandia statue) and told us some interesting historical facts about the city, which was wonderful because we were interested in learning about that as well as learning about beer. Then, we ended up touring a total of 5 breweries in the area and sampling a total of 25 beers! We visited upscale breweries on the water, organic down-home type breweries, the beautiful Pyramid Brewery, and others. The variety of beers was incredible and I learned I really like Extra Special Bitter brews (very valuable information!) My fiance's favorite was the LTD lager at Full Sail. Jim was a very interesting guy and has written two books about Portland, and fancies himself a historian which I certainly can't argue with. The tour lasted just over 5 hours and it was fabulous. My fiance is still raving about it. Thank you Jim for a wonderful tour! read more

best brewery tour ever! Jim was so great and knowledgable and catered our whole tour to exactly what we wanted as a group. expect to have an amazing experience and brag about it to friends! love live the portland brew bus!! read more

This is a hidden gem in Portland. Easy to miss this tour given all the competition and an old school website...but Jim was a part of our Wolfpack for this day, knew seemingly everything about the Portland brewery scene and tailored the stops to our interests. Had an absolute blast and it's a great deal for 45/person. Don't hesitate to give this a try! read more

This tour was almost exactly what we expected and worth every dollar. This is a great way to learn about Portland and the breweries and also meet some folks that want to have the same fun as you. Jim was fabulous and the company on the bus was lots of fun. The breweries were accommodating. Yes, Jim had to call ahead so the breweries would expect us and so we didn't overcrowd and get poor service. Do it! It's fun! No reason not to give 5 stars. read more

We hired Jim for a private micro brewery tour last October for 6 people. He picked us up in a mini van which was pretty cramped but we all hopped in hoping for the best. We went to several breweries and Jim did a great job of describing the beers and made good selections on the stops that we made. The problem was that I was picking up the tab along the way which was supposed to be included in the price. He also had his girlfriend join us for dinner which I also paid for. When he dropped us at the hotel, he made no concessions for what I had paid and even pressed for an additional tip. I called him the next day and he said he would refund the portion that I overpaid if I would email him the receipts. I emailed the receipts on several occasions which he claimed that he never got even though I replied to his email directly. Jim is dishonest so if you don't want to be ripped of, use someone else. read more

I'm trying to give this outfit my business and they won't even return my call or respond to the online request. I was given a gift certificate so not much choice but to use it. Will return and raise the rating if the tour actually happens and is miraculously fun. Not a good first impression though. 8-4-13: Updating my review. Took the tour. Jim's nice and really knows his stuff. He's quite laid back which likely explains the casual attitude we encountered when signing up. That could easily be taken as rude or uncaring. But he's a good guy. We definitely felt like we got our $45 worth of beer tasting. Too much, I'd say. Didn't want beer for a week after this. But we got to visit places I didn't know existed. And some of those places.. I want to go back to. This probably goes without saying, but be sure to eat a meal before starting out. We had an appetizer along the way but I was drunk early on and was thankful I'd taken MAX downtown. read more