Being penniless, it's fun to figure out free shit to do. I've been on the New Belgium Brewery tour quite a few times when my sister lived in Ft. Collins, which was great because they give you almost two pints of free beer afterwards in samples. Today I went on the tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory near Boulder. It was amazing. Smelling three tons of herbs and tea was intense, especially the special room that they have just for peppermint and spearmint. My sinuses still feel tingly.
However, it was a Saturday and they weren't running the production lines, which was sad, but I still got a pretty good feel for the whole process, which was kinda neat. The whole system was automated. New Belgium was equally cool because the brewing process had been improved and refined because the owners were engineers, and the whole plant is on windpower.
Anyone else done this sort of thing? The freebies at Celestial Seasonings weren't as great as New Belgium. I got a small sachet with 2 sample teabags. The downside was the long drive that it took to get there.
Other thoughts, suggestions? I know that we've done similar threads, but I thought I'd start a new one.