Frequently Asked Questions
Common Queries for ATX Beer Bus
Public Tours: Unfortunately, hotel or house pick-up/drop-off is not available for public tours. All public tours begin at Austin Beer Garden Brewing (1305 W Oltorf Street). We recommend arriving 15 minutes early for check-in, but arriving 30 minutes early is even better—grab a beer and a snack while you’re there! For convenience, we encourage using a rideshare service to get to the pickup location.
Private Tours: Yes! Private tours include custom pick-up and drop-off at your preferred location. When booking a private tour, you’ll be able to provide this information.
You’re in for a treat! By the time you’re done with our tour, you’ll gain a new understanding and appreciation for craft beer, the industry as a whole, the amazing people behind it, and the flourishing craft beverage culture here in Central Texas. You’ll learn everything from how beer is made to why it looks, smells, and tastes the way it does; tricks of the trade on how to serve beer; the history of many different beer styles, and even how to impress your friends with a dinner party matching food and beer.
Mostly yes. All drinkers must be 21 or older, in both years and maturity level. IDs will be checked upon boarding. No maturity level test is given, but if we see you boarding with a funnel for drinking beers, we’ll know. Everyone will know.
If you have younger children, we may be able to accommodate, so please contact us directly for possibilities.
Absolutely! Our Beer Bus holds up to 14 people, but we can accommodate groups of up to 60 people. Please check out our Team Builders section.
YES!
Our first tour stop is typically at a brewpub (a brewery with a full kitchen) so that we can establish a nice food base for beer drinking. If you prefer this happen at a later stop, we can make that happen too.
Your guide will share suggestions on the best food options along your route. Almost every place we stop has a food truck, if not an entire kitchen, so there will be plenty to choose from along the way.
If you plan to eat, we ask that you order early so as not to delay our departure for the next fun place.
Generally, no. But…
A1: Operating brewhouses are industrial areas, and as such require CLOSED TOE SHOES. If you choose to not wear them, you probably won’t get to go back and enjoy this experience, and that would be a shame. If safety glasses are required, they will provide those for you.
A2: You will need to show PROPER ID prior to boarding, and some of the taprooms we visit may want to see it also.
A3: MONEY is not a bad idea, and some places only accept plastic. There are plenty of beer samples provided, but you’ll probably want to buy other cool stuff along the way.
No way! Every private tour is bespoke to each client and curated by our in-house expert. We hit the best spots in and around Austin, and there are lots of them!
It’s so very cool that you thought of this!
PUBLIC TOURS – YES! You’re going to have an amazing time, so please show the love to your guide
PRIVATE TOURS – MAYBE All Private Tours have a 20% gratuity added at time of booking, but if your guide and driver went above and beyond, please hook them up accordingly 🙂
The tip for all of your samples will be covered by ATX Beer Bus, but when you open your tab for additional items (more beer, food, beer-to-go, merch, etc.) please tip the staff appropriately.
PUBLIC TOURS – 4 hours
Since our PRIVATE TOURS are all custom created, the duration times may vary. As a rule of thumb, all city tours take about one hour longer than the number of stops (i.e. 3 stop tours last about 4 hours). All of our Hill Country tours are about 1.5-2 hours longer than the number of stops.
SAN ANTONIO tours typically last 8 hours.
Most stops will have food options. Some of Austin’s best food trucks are located at our breweries. If you would like for one of our stops to offer a more substantial food menu, we can work that out while we’re customizing your tour. You can even pick whether it is the first or last stop, or whichever. However, if you want to bring your own, feel free, but be considerate of those around you. If you plan on bringing a bucket of delicious fried chicken onboard and filling the bus with that sweet aroma, you also better plan on passing that bucket around!
Yes!
We leave time for this on each stop, and encourage you to do so. We’ll even have a cooler with ice onboard to keep all of your six-packs and crowlers cold until the tour is finished. You’re going to want some of that delicious beer you had on the tour, so bring some home! Also, that hat/shirt/glass/thing is a cool souvenir, so maybe pick that up too.
Each stop will have a variety of non-alcoholic beverages for you to choose from.
Absolutely! There will be a cooler filled with enough complimentary bottled water for everyone. Feel free to bring more. Hydration is key to longevity and “intoxication management” when day drinking!
Fun question! And…
No. This is much more of a craft beverage appreciation type of thing. While we very much want you to have fun (and you will!), we pride ourselves in the educational aspect of our operation and greatly respect our brewery partners. Believe us when we tell you that the staff of any establishment groans when they see a bus load of drunks roll up to their door. And also no, our vehicles are not equipped with stripper poles.
No jokes here. You won’t be allowed on the tour and won’t be given a refund. While we do like to have fun, we will not put the other riders, our brewery partners, or ourselves at this kind of risk. Also, if you become intoxicated to the point that you are disruptive to the other riders or brewery patrons, you will be ejected from the tour without a refund. This is at the complete discretion of the driver and guide and would be absolutely terrible. Simply put, don’t be that guy or gal. There are other tours for this type of thing, but we guarantee you that we are not it.
Yuck! Whaaat?!
Public shaming will likely be the first course of action, but not in all cases.
In all cases, a cleaning fee equivalent to the total cost of the cleanup will be charged to the card on file. That’s fair, right?
While we will be sad that you will not be going, if you cancel more than a week ahead of time, no problem, you’ll get a full refund. We’ll have to charge a small processing fee which covers the credit card transaction fees (you didn’t think we were going to pay that, right?). If you cancel between 4-7 days before, you’ll get a 50% refund because it simply won’t rebook in that time frame, and we’ll have an unexpected day off. We promise to take that 50% and spend it on beer on that day. You will probably receive an email containing pictures of all the fun you missed. There will be NO REFUNDS if you cancel within 72 hours or stand us up. Nobody likes to be stood up, but we promise to once again spend your money on beer to make ourselves feel better. We will probably send you the same email, but with even more pictures.
We really don’t think so, and will do everything possible to avoid that! However, circumstances beyond our control occasionally happen, as with anything. In the event that we have to cancel, you will be refunded 100% or given a credit for a future tour, your choice. We also promise to notify you as soon as possible.
Unfortunately we are not wheelchair accessible at this time.
Generally, no. While we love dogs of all kinds, only service animals are allowed on our tours.
Under the American Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability, and the dog must be trained to take a specific action when needed to assist the person with the disability.
We will call or text you to let you know when we are on the way. Because we are dealing with so many different businesses and moving parts, we simply cannot leave any later than the scheduled departure time. When we arrive to pick you up, we are going to load up and go get some beer right away.