Today we’d like to introduce you to Shane Orr.
Hi Shane, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In the summer of 2015, a group of friends and I were discussing the exploding Austin beer scene. Somebody wondered how many breweries were in Austin at the time. We googled it and discovered there were 35 breweries in Austin, and we were blown away. I immediately wondered if anyone was doing brewery tours in Austin. Again, I googled it and found that no one was really doing it full-time. Pretty much right then and there, I decided to go for it. I immediately bought the austinbrewerytours.com domain, and I bought a van within the month. I figured if I bought the van, I would have followed through and actually started a tour company. Next, I reached out to the breweries, and they were very receptive to me bringing groups by. After creating a website and getting permitted by the city, I was up and running by November 2015. Through trial and error, we developed a pretty good tour over time. The online reservation system proved to be very popular and within three months I bought a 2nd van. Since then, I’ve been running at least two vans every Friday through Sunday. Now six years and a global pandemic later, Austin Brewery Tours is established as one of the most popular tours in Austin.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Creating Austin Brewery Tours took a lot of dedication and hard work. Without this follow through, we would not be here today. The biggest struggle was learning how to be an excellent tour guide. We had no experience running tours before this adventure. We were very fortunate in timing, however as we founded right when tourism and craft beer started exploding in Austin. Our most recent struggle was weathering Covid, but we made it. We are thrilled to be back hosting groups and sharing the Austin experience.
As you know, we’re big fans of Austin Brewery Tours. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Austin Brewery Tours is the top brewery tour in Austin for six years now. We specialize in providing a hands on guided tour of Austin breweries with an emphasis on sharing the Austin experience. Our tours are hands on, guided tours hosted by a knowledgeable and friendly Austinite. We care deeply about our customer experience. Living in Austin for over 30 years, I’m well acquainted with the city and its history. We share this great insight with every customer. We are proud of our brand, Austin Brewery Tours. It places us at the top of the heap having Austin in our name. I think this is important because we are selling, again, the Austin experience. This is why so many people visit Austin for a taste of what is special here. We would like our customers to know that we are here to provide whatever experience they are looking for, whether it’s joining a public tour and making new friends or a fully customizable private tour. Also, we love hosting special events from bachelor/bachelorette parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. Recently we started offering distillery tours as well. Look for public whiskey tours to start early next year.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
My favorite thing about Austin is the people. My least favorite thing about Austin is the traffic(and the summer heat).
Pricing:
- Brewery tours start at $85 per person all-inclusive
Contact Info:
- Email: owner@austinbrewerytours.com
- Website: www.austinbrewerytours.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinbrewerytours/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austinbrewerytours
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/austinbrewtours
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/austinbrewerytours
Image Credits
Photos courtesy of Austin Brewery Tours
