Hunter Valley Brewery Tours
Beer, Spirits, Your Own Bus.

No. Every tour on this page is a private charter for your group alone. Per head is simply how we work out the price, because the cost of the coach, the driver and the day is spread across your numbers. It has nothing to do with who is on board. The vehicle is booked to your name, we never sell seats on it, and the only people travelling with you are the people you booked with.

From $130 per person for the half day with 20 or more guests, and from $179 per person for the full six hour day with three breweries, a distillery and lunch at the same numbers. Smaller groups pay more per head because the coach and the driver cost the same either way. A group of six pays $200 per person on the half day and $280 on the full day. Every band for every tour is shown on its card above.

Four tastings at every brewery, all tasting fees, your own coach and guide for the whole day, door to door pickup and drop off from one address anywhere in NSW, and your own playlist through the bus. Four of the six tours also include lunch. Nothing on the tour needs paying for on the day unless you have chosen an optional extra that is marked as paid to the venue.

Four tastings at each brewery, so twelve across a three brewery day, plus the spirits at the distillery stop where the tour includes one. Tastings are pre booked and pre paid for your group, so nobody is queueing at the bar or settling a tasting fee. Anything beyond the tastings is bought at the venue in the normal way.

Yes, and most groups do. Each tour above is a starting point rather than a fixed departure. The schedule, the venues, the order and the stops are all customisable during booking, and the run sheet we send after your deposit is the version we actually drive. If there is a taproom you already have in mind, name it on your enquiry.

Yes. Newcastle, Maitland and Lake Macquarie are about 45 minutes from Pokolbin, so a Newcastle pickup makes the half day a genuine half day and leaves the afternoon free. Pickup from one Newcastle address is included in the per head price with no surcharge, exactly the same as a Sydney pickup.

Yes. Pickup and drop off from one location anywhere in NSW is included in the per head price, which covers Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and everywhere between. It is about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive from Sydney. Tell us the address on your enquiry and we will build the timing around it.

Up to 200 on one booking. A single coach seats up to 57, and above that we run multiple vehicles on one run sheet so the whole group still arrives together and stays together. Large groups are the work we do most, and we book the taprooms that can seat your numbers in one piece rather than splitting you across tables.

Four. Groups of 4 to 6 travel in a luxury 6 seater with leather interior and a sunroof. From 7 guests up you are in a 14, 27, 41 or 57 seat coach depending on numbers.

Because the coach, the driver and the day cost close to the same whether 8 people or 40 people are on board. Bringing more people spreads that across more heads. On the half day a group of six pays $200 each and a group of twenty pays $130 each, for exactly the same tour.

On four of the six tours, yes. The 3 Breweries and Distillery tour, the go karting tour, the golf tour and the two night weekend all include lunch in the head price. The combined wine, beer and spirits tour includes platters and a picnic and lets you add lunch for $35 per person or pay a venue on the day. The half day does not include lunch, and adding it costs $30 per person including one drink. The food section above lays all of it out in a table.

On anything paid to the venue on the day, yes. Harrigan's, a premium restaurant set menu and a cocktail bar stop are all settled at the venue, so anyone who would rather skip it simply does not pay. Anything included in the head price is priced for the whole group.

Yes, on every food option on every tour. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free are all standard. Tell us the numbers and the requirements with your final passenger numbers two weeks before the tour and the venues are briefed before you arrive.

It is one of the most booked reasons people call us. The go karting tour and the golf tour exist for exactly that, the coach is yours alone so the day is your group's own, and your playlist runs through the bus. Every venue operates under Responsible Service of Alcohol rules and asks that groups behave accordingly, and phallic or indecent paraphernalia is not permitted inside venues.

Every venue we visit operates under NSW Responsible Service of Alcohol regulations, so service can be refused and a guest who is heavily intoxicated may be asked to leave the tour. Pacing the day is part of what your guide does, which is one of the reasons the tastings are spread across a six hour run with lunch in the middle.

A $200 deposit secures the booking with instant confirmation online. The deposit comes off your final bill. There is a 7 day grace period, so the booking is held for a week while the deposit is arranged. Final passenger numbers and the balance are due 2 weeks before your tour, and your detailed itinerary is sent once the deposit is received.

They usually do, and that is fine. Final numbers are confirmed 2 weeks before the tour and that is the figure your price is based on. Numbers almost always come down slightly between booking and the day, which is why we tend to keep a group of 42 to 45 on the 41 seater rather than moving them up a vehicle.

Every day of the year. Winter is genuinely good in the Hunter, with open fires, darker beers and our best group rates. Weekdays price lower than Saturdays and public holidays, and the taprooms are quieter and more attentive.

They will be fine. Every brewery we visit also pours cider, wine and soft drinks, the distillery stop is spirits rather than beer, and the combined Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries tour puts real cellar doors on the same day. Tell us on your enquiry how many are not drinking beer and we will pick the venues accordingly. There is no separate non drinker price, because the per head figure covers the coach, the guide and the day.

The tour runs. Every venue on the itinerary has an indoor tasting room or a covered space, the coach is door to door, and the only thing weather really changes is whether lunch is on the lawn or inside. We do not cancel for rain and we do not charge extra for it. If a venue itself closes at short notice we swap the stop and tell you before the day.

Whatever the group is comfortable in. Taprooms are relaxed, though a few of the restaurant lunch venues prefer no singlets and closed shoes, and Cypress Lakes has its own dress code on the golf tour. Bring a layer in winter, since tasting rooms sit next to cold tanks, and a hat in summer for the outdoor stops.

Hunter Beer Co at Nulkaba is generally regarded as the valley's oldest operating brewery, and it is best known for its Kolsch. Brewing arrived in the Hunter long after wine did, so most of the taprooms on the trail have opened in the last twenty five years, often on the same estates as the cellar doors.

The minimum is four on the day tours and ten on the two night weekend. A $200 deposit secures the booking and is held for 7 days, so the date is protected while you arrange it. If the deposit is not received in that window the booking simply lapses. Once numbers and the balance are confirmed 2 weeks out, that is the figure the tour runs on. If your plans change, tell us as early as you can and we will do what we can with the venues.

Not on the coach. Alcohol is not consumed on board on any of our tours, and the day is built around the tastings at the venues instead. Food, water and soft drinks are welcome on board, and the luggage bay takes anything you buy at the taprooms.

Yes, and it is one of our most booked tours. The Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries tour does one to two wineries, one to two breweries and a distillery in one six hour day, which is the answer when half the group wants Semillon and the other half wants a pale ale. Full detail is on our Hunter Valley wine tours page too.