The interest in Budweiser Budvar Brewery tours increased last year

Budweiser Budvar, N.C. has been concentrating on extending its complex tourist services. Budweiser Budvar’s Visitor Centre provides entertainment as well as education during the tours of the brewery’s brewing premises or a multimedia exposition “The Story of Budweiser Beer”. Additionally, the brewery runs the Budvar restaurant, where the guests can savour some specialities of Czech and international cuisines besides the perfectly treated beer. The range of services is completed by a completely equipped facility for company training courses or social events.  

“36,469 visitors took part in the tours of the brewery last year, which is 10% more than in 2011 and nearly a double of the 2002 amount of visitors. The visitors appreciate particularly the fact that they can move around directly in the authentic brewing areas of the brewery as opposed to an artificial fun park for tourists,” says Budweiser Budvar’s Gastronomy Department manager Tomáš Olejník. The tours are led by professional tour guides and available in Czech as well as six other languages. Visitors older than 18 years of age can also taste the non-pasteurised and non-filtered Budweiser Budvar Lager directly in the lager cellar as a part of the tour.

Last year’s tourists ranged from all continents. “People from India, New Zealand and Peru visited us; nonetheless guests from the German language area prevailed, participating in the total number of tourists by 40% last year. The second most important group with 23% participation were domestic visitors," adds Tomáš Olejník. Tourists from German-speaking countries generally turned up in large organized groups, as opposed to the Czechs, who prefer rather individual tourism. They were followed by tourists from English- speaking countries with about 9% participation.

What had a successful year as well is the multimedia exposition is “The Story of Budweiser Beer”, which was opened on the occasion of the brewery’s 110th anniversary of its origination on 15th April 2005. In a comprehensible and entertaining way, the exposition outlines the history of brewing in České Budějovice (Budweis). 3,488 people became familiar with “The tale of beer from Budweis” in 2012, which means an annual increase of 36%. “This year the multimedia exposition will be closed to visitors due to some reconstruction works. These works will not affect the brewery tours, which will continue to take place without restrictions,” points out Tomáš Olejník.

The brewery is open to visitors every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. upon a previous mail or telephone order. Every working day (in the summer as well as at weekends) at 2 p.m. people can take part in a tour even without a previous booking. Further details on Budweiser Budvar tours can be found at http://www.visitbudvar.cz, or you may try a virtual tour HERE.    

Budweiser Budvar Brewery tours
The tours of the brewery’s brewing premises are led by professional tour guides and available in Czech as well as 6 other world languages (German, English, French, Russian, Italian and Spanish). Visitors can also taste the non-pasteurised and non-filtered Budweiser Budvar Lager directly from a lager tank as a part of the tour, which lasts approximately 60 minutes and is suitable for groups of 5-50 people (the tasting only for the over-18s). The standard price of the tour is CZK 100, but discount can be provided for certain groups. The tour must be ordered in advance and takes place daily. Through their tour guide, visitors can learn about the brewing secrets of Budweiser Budvar Original Lager, which lies particularly in using raw materials of top quality (Moravian barley, Žatec hops and water from artesian wells) as well as thorough adhering to the traditional brewing procedure under the supervision of experienced maltsters.