My Life's a Treasure: Beans and Bud

Today we enjoyed our 2nd Family Fun Day of the new year. This month we headed to Fairfield to enjoy the factory tours at the Jelly Belly Factory and the Anheuser-Busch Factory.
We went to the Jelly Belly Factory first. They offer a great tour in which you can view production from windows above the factory floor. We also viewed various videos explaining the history and production of this yummy candy. During the tour we were given samples of candy as it went through the various stages of production for us to enjoy. One thing about Jelly Belly beans, they are yummy from start to finish. With the exception of the rotten egg flavored one Jim decided to taste at the tasting bar. Yes I said a tasting bar! Before you purchase any of the candies you can try them out and see if you like them. It is amazing how many flavors they have. We were also surprised to learn that they also produce Gummy Bears and these chocolate covered orange slices Jim enjoys eating. He polished off an entire bag on the way home since he knew it was his last opportunity to eat them. Tomorrow begins Lent and he will be giving up chocolate. Jacob found that he really loved the candy corn they make and Alexa, well she liked everything!

We had to wear paper hats during the tour. Alexa was the only one who would allow her picture with the hat on in the blog. I was unable to take pictures in the factory but I could take them in the visitor area. Don't you love the Harry Potter portrait made of Jelly Belly Beans? They also have a John Paul II portrait in the factory. I was so bummed that I couldn't get a picture of it.

After the Jelly Belly Factory and lunch we headed to the Anheuser-Busch factory. Home of Bud and Bud Light. This was a much anticipated tour for Jim because they offer FREE Beer. In fact you can actually get two free beers and they also gave us a taste of their new beer which came out during the Super Bowl. I actually didn't like it much which is why I don't remember the name. I did try a Shock Top Raspberry beer which was very good. I did come to a realization, I can't drink anymore. Ever since having Alexa I've been getting migraine headaches after I have even a small drink of alcohol. It's weird, but I figure I'm better off not drinking anyway so I'm not going to worry about the reason why. This factory offers two types of tours, one that cost $25.00 per person and one that's free. We took the free one which was very limited. We spent most of the time in a tasting room listening to the history and stats of the company by our tour guide. We watched a video that described the process of making their beer and the job of the brew masters. We then were able to go to the part of the factory where all the beer is stored during the fermentation process. This was an interesting tour but not the best for Alexa because it required sitting, being quite and listening. It was a good thing she decided to take her nap while we were there.