ringwood brewery

Thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at the Brewery. The staff down there really care and know their stuff when it comes to ale. Considering the price you pay, this tour is definitely value for money, you won't be disappointed. You get to keep your half pint glass as a memento, nice touch.

I have never been on such a generous and informative brewery tour. On arrival you are asked to sign in and once the formalities are complete you are immediately handed a half pint glass of Ringwood Best. Our tour guide, Nigel was the perfect balance of knowledgeable and amusing. His brief history of the brewery from its inception in 1978 to its recent acquisition by Marston's provided the backdrop to this excellent tour.Nigel and Ringwood have a policy of no empty glasses so it wasn't long before my glass was topped up again with another half of Best. The three other beers would be made available after the tour.The tour of the brewery was really interesting and what comes across is that although Ringwood is now part of the Marston's Group it retains complete autonomy in the brewery process. This means that the beers continue to be beautifully crafted.The time seems to fly and it is not long before you are back in the bar sampling these great beers. The final three are Old Thumper, Forty Niner and Boondoggle. You are probably well aware of the quality of the first two but the real surprise is my 'beer of the tour' Boondoggle ABV 4.2%. If you have tasted it in the bottle which I find a little disappointing then you are in for a treat. This beer is light and crisp with a lovely fresh hoppy citrus finish. It really is a top beer and you can expect to see demand for it grow and grow.Knowledgeable Nigel and the Ringwood Brewery are what makes English beer so exciting and long may it continue. You also get to keep your glass!

Received the tour as a Christmas present through a voucher from Amazon Local at a reduced price of £5. Went on the Sunday 2:30pm tour accompanied by my brother-in-law who also had a voucher. The tour starts in a small bar off the small shop / reception with the four different Ringwood beers lined up on tap. You each receive a half pint mug (to keep) engraved with Ringwood Brewery and filled with Best Bitter - that's just to start. The host provides a very interesting history of the brewery and, during the talk, if he spots someone with an empty beer mug offers a top up. You then move off into the brewery with another guide who provides an equally and knowledgeable talk with plenty of opportunity to ask questions although he imparts so much there's not much else to know. Then it's back to the bar where the (washed) mugs have been filled with Boondoggle. Once these have been downed you're then on to 49'er followed by Old Thumper. In all the two of us had two and a half pints each but could have had more if we'd wanted. There's no pressure to drink up and leave but I don't think there was a following tour so I don't know how it would be if there was. I would thoroughly recommend it, it's incredibly good value for money and the beer is about ten times better than that other brewery in Blandford!!

Easy to find.Not much parking space but sufficiant.Go in through the little shop and be booked in.There is a pub like bar where all the beer is free yippee!The barman has plenty of info about the beers and history.The tour is very good (a bit cold so wear something warm)A bit of walking and stairs to climb so if in a wheelchair just checkbefore booking.So much info could not remember it all!At the end of tour go back to the bar and try the beers.You can take your glasses home! Brilliant.Pop back to the shop and buy anything that takes your fancy.We will book again as we really enjoyed it.

Visited yesterday and spent an extremely enjoyable few hours learning about the brewing process and then sampling all the beers in the bar afterwards! Haydon and John were super guides , very friendly,knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the beer.The Old Thumper was delicious. Thank you for a great day.

Six of us booked the brewery tour just after Christmas and it was well worth the wait. It was informative, fun and well organised. Luckily only one of us was driving as the beer flowed and the souvenir glass was a lovely touch.Many thanks to our highly knowledgeable hosts.

What a fantastic evening out - the guide and his colleague who served at the bar were knowledgeable and passionate about the brewery and it's history. They were also really customer focussed and made the whole evening fun - and the beer flowed all night. It was great value for money and I shall definitively be going back.

A great afternoon with wonderful beer. Learn about the history of the brewery and the magic that makes the beer. Then sit in and try them all, several times, as many as you like.What's not to like?

This was a Valentine's treat for my husband but I really enjoyed it too!You enter through the shop and we found it to be full of very jolly people who had just done the tour. We booked in and went into the bar to be greeted in a very friendly fashion and offered a glass of Ringwood Best. I was trying to be enthusiastic and tasted my beer with trepidation and then discovered that I actually liked it!!We had a lovely informative talk about the history and then went round the brewery to hear about how it all works. It all made great sense and was really good to hear that in spite of now being owned by a big company, Ringwood Brewery is still run by a very enthusiastic and local band of beer experts!I surprised myself with how much I got out of this tour! It's not just for beer lovers, it's for all who want to add to their interest in the local area and enjoy an afternoon out!I hope that this is helpful and cheers!!

A really informative and interesting (without too many dates/names/jargon) tour of the brewery which was introduced with a drink in the bar before the tour started. We were then handed over to another charming host who walked us round the brewery and willingly answered all questions.Back to the bar again and more beer flowed for the next 40 mins ago and we sampled all the different brews and finally left clutching our free beer mugs. A good afternoon out.

On arrival you are taken to a bar to sample Ringwood Best Bitter and you can try as much as you like. John told the group about the history of the brewery ( very informative) and then Hayden took over for the tour. Really interesting to learn how the beer is brewed from start to finish, Hayden really knows his stuff and made the tour enjoyable.Afterwards you return to the bar where you can pull a pint and drink as much as you want ( soft drinks for the drivers), was surprised as this but a great end to a great tour. If you love real ale , this tour is for you.

A tour of the brewery is both a great experience and great value for money if you are looking for something different to do, or looking to get someone a tour as a present. I've done this twice now and would go again.The guides were entertaining and knowledgeable, and the tour from start to finish was informative, with the obvious sampling experience to look forward to at the end of the tour.Thoroughly recommend it to ale (and even non ale) drinkers.

Went here on a day out with my brother and father for his birthdaywas a little worried as it looks like a small site compared to some other brewery'sI was happy to find the people who worked there were all very helpful, had a great sense of humour and were extremely informative.Quite possibly the best tour I have been on, as good if not better than whichwood.great samples alsoEven if you are not a beer drinker you will still be entertained but the story behind the brewery and how they make it.

I have visited many breweries but had never been to Ringwood. Made the effort and it was well worth it. Started with a couple of halves of the Bitter in the bar where we were read the riot act (Health & Safety bit) before John, our guide, gave us the history of the brewery. It was very interesting to hear how prolific a brewery builder Peter Austin, the founder, turned out to be. Moving then in to the brewery to learn about the ingredients and the process and having all the vessels explained to us (don't look too deeply into the fermentation tank!). Then on to the cask racking area (but bottles are filled else where) before returning to the bar to sample all their other beers (now you know why you must bring Des). The half pint glasses were ours for keeps as a reminder of our visit. Great visit.

Sat 25/01/15 1400I think I was on the same tour as PartTimeFoodie123 and also pulled a pint. This was my second visit, so impressed with the first one and the Amazon offer (2 for £9) was too good to miss. Great tour, squeezed in two halves of Best before the tour, was a lot more informative that my first, plus quite a few afterwards.Top Tip - take along 6 empty bottles for 10% off in the shop. Beer is quite pricy in the bottle compared to some of the offers in supermarkets, but picked up a great hoodie.Definitely needed a driver though as I was quite merry and all for £4.50 with a half pint glass thrown in.