Growing up in Upstate New York, our families filled recycling bins with empty Labatt Blue and Molson Canadian. Sure, we had Budweiser and Miller, but these domestic brews were afterthoughts.

In fact, the first of many brewery tours I’ve enjoyed happened in Canada, while on a family cruise to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I hardly knew that beer and history could be so romantically intertwined before heading with my dad into Alexander Keith’s brewery, a grand stone building in the middle of Halifax. Or that brewery tours offered among the best souvenirs — climatic tastings of the libations you just received the history lesson about.

Brewery tours are essentially museums, windows into humanity’s drinking past, present and future that mirror the challenges and opportunities of the time. Well, museums with bars attached to them.

Here are some of the Canadian brewery tours to include on your next visit:

Alexander Keith’s: Halifax, Nova Scotia

I didn’t realize at the time that this brewery tour would be so unique. Rather than simply having a guide walk us through old brewing equipment and even the real live operations, Alexander Keith’s was a bit more dramatic. Here, re-enactors brought Halifax to life circa 1863 with period costume, colloquialisms and even songs. Yes, this was a singing brewery tour. It was like a lower budget version of a Disney attraction. The brewery was founded in 1820 by Keith, who served as the city’s mayor. Now a subsidiary of Labatt, Keith’s built its reputation centuries ago on its powerful pale ale. Come for the songs — stay for the pale ale.

Call 902-455-1474 or email keiths.brewery@gmail.com for tour times and booking. Tours typically take place Monday to Saturday every 30 minutes beginning at noon.

Labatt Brewing Company: London, Ontario

(Near Toronto; more than 1,200 miles west of Halifax). With a huge mass market and its famous leaf logo emblazoned on the side of ice-grooming NHL Zambonis, Labatt may be the most recognizable Canadian beer. First tapped by John Kinder Labatt in 1847, the brewery’s Irish founder bought and opened London, Ontario’s Simcoe Street brewery, which is still a working operation. Back then, Labatt churned out 1,000 bottles a day. Now the brewery, which is part of the massive Anheuser-Busch InBev brewing conglomerate, sends more than 350 million bottles throughout Canada.

Labatt’s Simcoe Street brewery tour invites guests to explore the 100,000-sq-ft. complex in about two hours, culminating in a sampling of five beers. On the tour, you’ll also learn how to master the perfect pour — this is a staple of brewery tours — view ancient brewing equipment, and watch real workers doing their jobs – and clocking out at the staff bar. Good news: you can join them. Be sure to try the Labatt 50, an American blonde ale first brewed in 1950 to commemorate 50 years of partnership between the founder’s grandsons. 

Tours run daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations are required and may be made by emailing londontour@labatt.com or calling 519-850-TOUR(8687). Closed-toe and heal shoes (e.g. sneakers) are required. $12 fee (cash only).

Muskoka Brewery: Muskoka, Ontario

(225 miles north of London, Ontario). Don’t leave Ontario without swinging by Muskoka, a craft brewery that aims for quality over quantity. Fresh, pure ingredients rule the recipes, including in its trademark Muskoka Cream Ale — a light and refreshing libation that’s a welcome diversion from today’s IPA craft beer obsession. Don’t worry, you can find IPAs, too, as well as dark winter stouts. You know, the kind that warm you up during ice fishing, ice hockey or anything on ice, really. The drive is fun, too; just look for the quaint cottages and you’re headed in the right direction. 

Find tour hours and more on the Muskoka website.

Molson: Vancouver, British Columbia

(2,500 miles west of Muskoka). Labatt may be the biggest Canadian brewery, but Molson is the oldest. And its size is nothing to scoff at: Molson’s 2005 merger with the famous Rocky Mountain brewery made Molson Coors Brewing Company the world’s seventh largest brewery by volume.

Founded in 1786 by John Molson in Montreal, Molson’s Vancouver brewery opened nearly two decades later in 1953. And for more than 60 years, its operations were a better kept secret than Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Now, thanks to a collaboration with Vancouver Food Tours, the curtain has been parted and visitors can tour Western Canada’s stoutest brewery, coming in at 500,000 sq. feet. Here you can pore over brewhouse operations and the 250-person workforce, check out the entire ingredients list that goes into a bottle of famous Molson Canadian, and even visit the John Molson Academy — where you major in beer-sampling. The bustling brewery can serve up more than 600 million cans of beer each year, so don’t worry about saving any for the rest of us.

Tours take place Tuesday and Thursdays at 2, 5 and 7 p.m. – and are booked through Vancouver Food Tours. Price is $20 per person. Guests are asked to wear long pants and hard-soled, closed-toe shoes. Not recommended for those with mobility limitations due to a number of narrow staircases. Must be 19 years of age or older.

Brewery tours are a unique and effective way to soak in Canada’s history, culture — and, well, beer. The next time you find yourself trekking through our neighbor to the north, ask if there is a local brewery. Odds are, there will be. And it will more than likely have an open tour and a sampling of beers waiting for you.

Mike Ward is a copywriter, family columnist and sometimes comic who lives in Richmond, Va. with his wife, two young kids and two mutts. He likes long road trips and rooting for losing sports teams. 

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