In this Episode of Discovering the High Life, Tim introduces you to Brent Partlow & Suzanne Morrissey of Walla Walla Brews Cruise to learn about their craft brewery and cidery tours. Take a virtual tour with us and see the beauty of the Walla Walla Valley! If you enjoy this blog please share and leave us a comment! (Scroll down to see the video)
Brent & Suzanne tried to start Walla Walla Brews Cruise about a year ago during the pandemic. They had a slow start due to covid, but have finally launched! Walla Walla Brews Cruise is part of a bigger group of Brews Cruises that run in different places throughout the country. Brent said “We’re very excited to be part of the Brews Cruise family.” Brews Cruise is a national company and it was started in 2006 in Asheville, North Carolina and their beer scene was very small at the time but the owners Trish and Mark Lyons could see that the craft beer scene was expanding in Asheville. So since 2006 Brews Cruise has expanded across the country and there are around 12 Brews Cruise locations operating now with the latest one opening up outside of Chicago, Illinois.
“If they can do this in Whitefish Montana, then we can do it in Walla Walla”
Suzanne Morrissey of Walla Walla Brews Cruise
How did you get involved with Brews Cruise?
Suzanne Morrissey – “When we came across Brews Cruise we were actually on a little ski vacation in Whitefish Montana, and we were looking for things to do, and found Brews Cruise on a Visit Whitefish website and so we went on a tour. And there were only a few breweries in Whitefish and we immediately said to ourselves, ‘you know if they can do this in Whitefish Montana then we can do it in Walla Walla’, because there are a lot of breweries that are emerging in this town and the whole Walla Walla Valley. And there’s also a long-standing wine touring business so we decided to make the leap of faith into joining the Brews Cruise family.”
What can we expect on a Brews Cruise?
Brent Partlow – “We’ll have three stops, and the first stop is going to be grain to glass and the brewer will sit down or stand there with a group of people and explain how we get from grain to the beer in the glass. And he or she will go through the process, and the tour goers will learn how to make beer, somewhat, and then they’re going to taste the beer from that brewer. Then we’ll move on from that first stop to the second stop which is going to be more about styles of beer, from whatever kind they specialize in. The Brewer sits down with them again and samples the beers with them and talks a little bit about each beer. And the third stop typically is a stop where we picked the goers up and we’ll bring them back to that stop to taste some beers and hopefully they’ll stay there for food. We try to end it a place that has food to make it kind of a well-rounded experience.”
What else can we see on a Tour?
Brent Partlow – “We also go to the Walla Walla Hop Yard which is also a very fun experience for people to see where hops come from and they learn how they grow them and how they package them into what the brewers use to make beer.”
Suzanne Morrissey – “In addition to craft beer we actually take our guests to cideries, so we expand our tours from the east all the way to Dayton Washington and and then slightly west into Milton-Freewater Oregon. And the apples are the mainstay over there in Milton-Freewater and so there’s there’s some choice cideries like Blue Mountain Cidery and Freewater Cider Company and we do go there for guests.”
Brent Partlow – “On the last couple of tours we had people that really didn’t understand ciders and we’ve taken them to Freewater Cidery and they were absolutely amazed by the cider that they were drinking. They’ve never tasted a true cider that they like. They let apples be apples and it’s kind of fun to watch these people be completely amazed at how good it is.”
When do you offer Tours? How long is a Tour?
Suzanne Morrissey – “We do tours during the week as well as on the weekends, so on Saturdays and Sundays we run two tours. One that begins at 11 in the morning and it ends between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon and then the second tour begins at 3 and ends between 6 and 6:30. During the week it’s call to book and we can do private tours & corporate tours. The beauty, I think, of our tours though is the ability for people to be able to get out in the Walla Walla Valley and actually have someone else who is versed in not just the craft industry in this town, but the deep history of the area. I’ve lived here for 20 years Brent was born and raised in Walla Walla and is a retired firefighter and I’m a professor at Whitman College and so we like to be able to share our knowledge of the area and our love of the area, but especially the scenery. It’s a gorgeous place to come for people who haven’t been to Walla Walla.
What are some of your favorite spots for Food and Drink in Walla Walla?
Suzanne Morrissey – I can say that Burwood Brewery is one of our go-to places. The beer maker there, Dave Marshall, specializes in german pilsners and they have an outdoor area that is vast and has gorgeous views. And Dave’s connection to brewing goes way back to when he worked with Pyramid in Seattle decades ago. That area is owned by the Port of Walla Walla where they have incubators for young winemakers as well, so you can be up in that area and enjoying craft beer at Burwood or at Quirk Brewery but you could also pop into a couple of little tasting rooms for new winemakers and then food-wise we like to be downtown, although there are food trucks that go to the breweries as well, and we try to time some of the visits when they’re there. But we have our favorites Brasserie Four and the Passatempo are great and we’re sitting in a new downtown site of Mercado which used to be closer to a food truck in the past and now has expanded into a full-blown restaurant.”
Thanks to Brent and Suzanne for the interview! Book your tour this summer! Let them know we sent you!
The best way to book with Walla Walla Brews Cruise is visiting their website.
Website https://www.brewscruise.com/wallawalla/
Or call to book at 509-240-3028
Email info@brewscruise.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Walla-Walla-Brews-Cruise-103546908156357