Wait for the glass to finish its slow backward flex, wait for the line to unfurl, then launch your forearm forward. Corona, California: One hour; $10 (adults), $8 (seniors), $6 (ages 13 to 17), free (ages 12 and under). Don’t Miss: The inspection at the end of the tour, when factory workers eyeball every inch of the newly made guitar. Spend an afternoon taking a tour, watching a live demonstration and tasting complimentary samples. The rollers have to be reinked every four prints—each one slightly more faded than the last. To me, it was just another father–son outing—a chance to see something new and learn something interesting. The other only a little. From a 40-foot observation deck you'll see coins—tens of millions each day—sliced from metal coils that weigh 6,000 pounds and stretch five football fields. Don’t Miss: The roller test, when each motorcycle is started and ridden on rollers that serve as a simulated road. Plan your next trip here. Tours, activities and experiences bookable on Tripadvisor, ranked using exclusive Tripadvisor data, including reviews, ratings, photos, popularity, price, and bookings made through Tripadvisor. Make sure to bring home some Johnny Cake mix. Factory tours are a great way to learn more about a company and how some of your favorite products are made – and here in the Northwest, we make everything from airplanes to cheese and chocolate. —Kendall Hamilton. Veuve Clicquot. In the right conditions, three men and a Wood-Mizer can mill enough lumber to build an entire pole barn or a fishing cabin in just a day. What kind of dad takes his five-year-old son on a brewery tour? I knew as much about college football and black-eyed peas as I do thermonuclear fusion. He wasn't complaining. Places of interest and tour operators are then listed, promoting those where there is at least one tour or activity available to book on Tripadvisor. Strummer was thousands of miles from his London home that night. The Tour: Visitors see the company’s largest production facility (230 acres), along with the manufacturing and assembly areas where the famous hogs get put together. The highlight comes at the halfway point: a basket brimming with potato chips plucked fresh off the conveyor belt, intercepted between fryer and bagging station, and offered to you for sampling. Landscape layout. The Tour: A trek through the heart of factory operations where baseball’s most famous bats are fashioned. He smiled, pointed to a poster of Jimi Hendrix, and simply said, "Him." And every one of those rivets is drilled in by hand. But why stop there? "Harley offers some of the best tours," says Axelrod. A Visitor’s Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums. Whether you’re a local, or visiting from afar, these are some of the best factory tours … Don’t Miss: The Autostadt theme park, home to what Volkswagen claims is the most-visited automobile museum in the world. The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. With his tongue sticking out in a pose of concentration, he showed me the basic ten and two. Fast Facts: Tours are offered twice daily on weekdays. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Since 1934, the family-owned company has made gloves the same way: hand-lacing and stitching American rawhide, then beating it to hell with a mallet until the pocket is ready to snag a one-hop grounder. The Tour: After a short film on this company’s colorful history, visitors see how the hot-pepper sauce—invented after the Civil War on this 2,200-acre island in the bayou country—is made, bottled, and packaged. Lowell Kappers, the 80-year-old former Kohler employee who led our tour, worked at the Wisconsin factory, north of Milwaukee, for 44 years—31 of them as a cast-iron grinder. The Tour: After learning about the history of glassmaking and of Riedel, a centuries-old, family-owned company, visitors watch glassmakers mouth-blow the meticulously crafted glasses, considered by many the finest in the world. There are so many kilns. Reservations are required and a jacket or sweater is recommended, as the caves can be chilly. Visitors can also test cars and participate in an off-road driving program. In a cavernous brick loft called the pottery, liquid clay pumped from basement tanks filled plaster-of-paris molds before getting glazed and fired in 2,450-degree industrial kilns. Bowling Green, Kentucky: One hour; $10 (adults), $5 (ages 10 to 16). How we test gear. Don’t Miss: The panoramic view of San Francisco from the brewhouse and, of course, the free tasting at the end. For oenophiles: the gift shop sells every champagne made by Veuve Clicquot, including Cuvée Saint Pétersbourg, which is not easily found in the United States. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. "There's the big cat," I exclaimed, like some kid seeing a ballplayer parking his car. Sometimes you'll even get candy. The guy on the line heard me. You sidestep moving forklifts. What part of me do you think it would eat first? Places of interest and tour operators are then listed, promoting those where there is at least one tour or activity available to book on Tripadvisor. Chocolate is an $83 billion industry dominated by a few very large chocolate manufacturers. Whatever's in your pantry seems like wafer-shaped Styrofoam in comparison. The finished instruments have been the favorites of musicians from Les Paul to B. The Best Factory Tours in England. Exterior design. It's just one of several snack breaks on the tour. Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations, York, PA, Volkswagen Factory at Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany, Caves de la Veuve Clicquot, Reims, France. That someone will always be me. That wondrous machine had been born less than an hour south, in Fullerton, California, where in the early 1950s self-described tinkerer Leo Fender revolutionized the electric guitar. "Maybe," I said, explaining that they've been in business since 1879, and have worked with just about every musician you can think of—from Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello. In the enameling shop, an employee in a silver heat shield coated a cast-iron shower floor in enamel powder, then slid it into the orange maw of another kiln. Veuve Clicquot, Credit: Be sure to call ahead for availability and tour … Fee is $14; free for children under 16. See where every KitchenAid(R) Stand Mixer in the world is assembled during this unique factory tour. I smiled and pointed to my factory-supplied earplugs. Tours, activities and experiences bookable on Tripadvisor, ranked using exclusive Tripadvisor data, including reviews, ratings, photos, popularity, price, and bookings made through Tripadvisor. No rushing. The only time he really lingered was when we got to the aisle where he had worked, the spot where he jockeyed that heavy grinding wheel all those years. Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $10 charge. Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $1 toll to visit Avery Island. At the end, the guys put each finished Harley on a dyno machine and steadily bring it up to 77 mph, running the bike through all the gears. While Martin, which dates back to the 1830s, does have a production plant in … Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Avery Island is only three miles wide, so most of the growing happens in South America. Factory Tour. Before the inspection, some even dance while they paint the instruments. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Then the wheels were attached and the custom motor mounted. You're a lucky man. Woolrich has been churning out fabric since 1830, including blankets for Civil War soldiers. It is tiny next to the Utzes and Pringles of the world, and touring its 700-employee Birmingham facility can feel like visiting a friend's home-brewing shed, if instead of beer he churned out Chili Lime Pork Cracklin Super Strips. New Particle Could Be Portal to Fifth Dimension, China Swears It Isn't Building a Time Machine. Three decades machining crankshafts and rail-track components. (This must be booked in advance and costs an additional $7.50.). Graphite rods cast like rocket launchers, and spooky trout require a delicate approach. The Tour: At the factory of this perfume maker, one of the most storied and venerable in France, visitors learn about the flowers, plants, and trees that are used in fragrances, and how they are distilled into essential oils in the laboratories. Learn what else this company makes, including chocolate-covered almonds and … Two giant slabs of granite—each more than 150 years old and weighing more than 2,000 pounds apiece—pulverize whole grain and corn into meal and flour. They balance rods by feel and sight alone. But near the end of the tour, I was frantically crunching numbers in my head, trying to figure out how many meals I could skip in the coming month. Jackson Center, Ohio: One to two hours; free. Returning the gesture, I pointed across the room, to a display about punk. Reservations are required; no charge. Fortunately, the gift shop sells only hats and sweatshirts. During the Ben & Jerry’s Tour, you can experience both. Here is a list of many of the best factory tours in the USA, although admittedly a few of these are simulations of actual factory tours and some are service-oriented instead of product-oriented. FDA restrictions keep you from the factory floor, but you can still watch through glass as workers cook soybeans, roast grain, and press mash with six tons of force. It wasn't easy to detach my son's nose from the observation window, but over the clack of the machinery, Daddy discerned the siren song of the samples that await responsible drinkers of legal age at the end of the tour. I always hoped for the peppers—because I am afraid of alligators and ghost stories but mainly because, like all good Louisianans, I am obsessed with hot sauce. ... France has been the world's most popular tourist destination for … So I decided a tour of the Hatch Show Print letterpress was in order. If anything, it’s probably impossible to precisely quantify. Hammond’s Candies Factory Tours, Colorado08. They then are able to watch the entire creation process, from distillation to bottling, of scents like Belle de Nuit and Suivez-Moi. Courtesy of Louisville Slugger, Credit: You can't get in while the factory is running—it's way too dangerous—but once a year (during April's National Cornbread Festival, naturally) Lodge opens its doors to tourists. Courtesy of Parfumerie Fragonard, Credit: For me, the moment I recognized the familiar machine occurred right in the turn of that U, after the powdered orange paint was kiln-dried onto the steel frame. To aid visitors, monitors show close-up shots of the work being done. Tip Top Vent d'Arguin, Arcachon. He was proud. Seeing how things are made is pretty cool, especially when said things are Texas-based companies that have grown to national or even international popularity (think Dr Pepper). Hosted by Kellee Edwards. I was 14, and Joe Strummer was next to me pounding out the chords to The Clash's "White Riot"—the two of us shouting the lyrics along with a few other teenage punks who had also scrambled onstage during the encore. For an extra five grand you can hop on the assembly line at the Bowling Green factory and help build your 650-hp engine, which gets emblazoned with a plaque commemorating the experience. Is it coming to get me? You can taste them at every stage of the tour, but save your appetite. Since that encounter with Strummer, I've seen hundreds of other Fenders—as a music journalist as well as in my short time as a drummer, which included a stint with punk legends Bad Religion. B. "They make music posters," I said. In the summer, crowds for the twice-daily tour average 50 people. There's no shouting. There's a free tour, but it keeps you on the periphery of the shop. From this wood, about 400 employees—more than a few aging longhairs among them—shape, sand, seal, and paint the classic Telecaster and more angular Stratocaster bodies. When my wife and I moved from New York City to Birmingham, Alabama, five years ago, I'd braced myself for culture shock. Be patient, son. I don't own one—I'm just another fanboy—but I do have a hat. The Tour: After watching a film on the history of champagne and how it is made, visitors descend into the caves, where they see how the bubbly is preserved until the dégorgement, when yeast sediment is removed from the bottle. But Kappers didn't break a sweat, despite the heat and constant walking. Tours only last thirty minutes and … Don’t Miss: Sniffing the residue of the perfume essence found on paper filters before the distillation process—it’s a blast of pure aroma. Fairfield, California: 40 to 60 minutes; free for the self-guided tour, $47 for a guided tour that takes you on the factory floor. Exhibits explain ingredients, malting, mashing, etc., while affording a look at impressive mechanized assembly lines that channel endless rivers of freshly filled cans and packed cardboard cases in perfect perpetual motion. Or how they print the posters for your favorite concert. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. ", This tireless, meticulous labor accounts for the cost of the rods: ranging from $500 to $3,000. N95 Vs. KN95 Masks: What's the Difference? These subtle inconsistencies are what make Hatch Show Print posters so special: No two look exactly alike. But when that torment is over, take them to a different kind of theme park, one you'll both enjoy: an American factory. While visits to large breweries can be more like amusement-park … Here are the ones worth the trip. There's notable focus in the workforce—risen from pride, taken from ownership (the 34-year-old company is entirely worker owned)—that permeates the movement and pace from loading dock to shipping dock. Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2021.