Celebration: Pig & Anchor Brewery Tour
This tour was originally on the first sea day. The Brew Master was sick that day so they moved it to the second sea day which wasn’t until day 6 of the cruise. Signup is done on a clipboard at the Pig & Anchor bar. The cost is $27. If you have the cheers package, the tour gets discounted to $21. For the money you get a brewery tour, beer samples, a pint glass, a certificate, and a free pint of beer at a time of your choosing.
Right now I am waiting for the tour to begin. This is a bartender on the left and Brew Master Mike on the right. Mike has been brewing beer for a long time. He actually owns his own brewery in Argentina.
Once we are ready to begin they take us outside where they have a flight setup for everyone.
Mike gave an extensive talk about making beer. The time to make beer is 2-8 weeks grain to glass for ale and 6-8 weeks for lager. Mike spent 2 1/2 months brewing beer in Finland prior to the Celebration’s Transatlantic cruise.
He also gave us some specifics about making beer on a ship. For instance they actually use ocean water to make the beer. The water that goes through the ship’s cleaning system is sent to him. He tests it and usually boils it to lower the chlorine levels before using it for brewing.
We are going to sample what is called “The Carnival Four.” These are the four beers he is required to brew before any seasonal beers.
We started with Toasted Amber. This is my go to beer when it comes to the Carnival beers.
Next was Farmhouse Belgian Wheat.
After everyone had their samples there would be half a pitcher left over that anyone could get a second glass of. I did that for all beers.
Next was West Coast IPA. I’m not a big IPA fan because they are generally bitter. I did find a couple in New York that I liked. But this is like a typical IPA and I don’t like it.
I’m getting some more left overs.
Finally the Smoked Porter.
This is one of my favorites but you can pretty much only get it on ships that have breweries. It’s made to go with with the BBQ.
Colin, a former Carnival Brew Master, was the guy who created it. He won an award for it with Carnival. Then when he left Carnival, he submitted it with another brewery and won again.
Mike changed this batch up a little, adding oak chips that were soaked in bourbon. It’s good.
I got an extra serving of this one as well.
This is where the Brew Master’s work is done. I have seen these tanks working on Panorama. They won’t be in use here again until the week after we leave. But they can pump beer between these two units and the back to any container in brewery that they want.
There are only 40 of these contraptions in the world and Carnival Corp owns 15 of them.
We are now back in the brewery.
The ones with the black tubes have a direct connection to the beer taps. Those are the most popular which are the Toasted Amber and the IPA. The others he has to make kegs for. He has backup cylinders for the Toasted Amber and IPA and can pump beer from the backup cylinders to the main ones at any time.
The four beers we tasted before were “The Carnival Four.” He has to brew those four and he can have three seasonal beers.
We got to vote on a seasonal beer to try. My “all of the above” vote was not accepted. The MIA Mojito won the vote. It tastes very similar to lemonade.
That ended the tour. This is a look at the pint glasses we got.
We also got a certificate. You can show this to the bartender at any point during the cruise and get a pint of any beer you want. Since I have cheers, I won’t need it unless I’m looking for a 16th drink today or tomorrow.
The tour was a little over an hour. I thought it was worth it. Especially for someone without Cheers. I got eight of those little beers plus a pint. I also got a pint glass to take home and a certificate.
Additionally, the tour done by the Brew Master himself. I’ve been to a few brewery tours on land and I’ve never had one actually done by a Brew Master. He brings a lot more knowledge to the table then most people who do brewery tours.
I enjoyed the tour and would recommend it.
