Oh, so sad.
From a large international company you would expect a tour with some interest, not so with Carlton United Brewery Tour. Where to begin. For starters our group of 20 visitors were expected to walk at least 500 meters in the rain without cover or umbrellas. Yes it was a winters day but surely the brewery would have been prepared for rain, not so. Three umbrellas were offered to us.
We were told as it is winter the bottling procedure was not operating. Nothing else replaced this part of the tour.
The brewery is fully automated so not a sign of beer, bottling, packaging, loading etc. Very few workers either.
We were directed along stairs to 2 dull grey 'classrooms' and offered 3 grains of malted barley to taste. The tour guide was informative but not entertaining.
I did get to see barrels and large stainless steel vats but that's about it.
No hands on displays or feel of the brand or it's roots. The presentation was very dated and dull.
At the end we are offered a beer tasting. After squeezing past tables being set up for a corporate function we go to the bar where the staff pulling the beers were not interacting with the tour but instead talked to other staff.
Food was offered in the area but this was not for us. The finger food was for the corporates who appeared and we were shoulder to shoulder.
We were not even offered a chip.
Neither did we leave with a momento, not even a bumper sticker.
At $25 a head with an average of 20 plus tours per week Carlton United made it clear they were offering their paying guests the bare minimum in hospitality.
I wrote how dissapointed I was on the questionare handed out at the end of the tour and to his credit Andrew, one of the managers called me that day.
I went over the tours down falls and was assured the issues were noted and will be brought up at the weekly meeting. I was offered a free tour but declined.
I have no faith management and staff have any intention of updating their tour to reflect what is happening in the real world. The tour is stuck in 1980's mud and that dear friends is where it will surely stay. read more