Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting

REVIEW · BOGOTA

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting

  • 4.9120 reviews
  • 3 hours
  • From $58
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Operated by THE TRUE COLOMBIAN EXPERIENCE · Bookable on GetYourGuide

Beer in Bogotá comes with stories. This small-group tour pairs a Tapazo warmup with bar-hopping stops that connect the country’s brewing past to what you drink today, with guides like Melissa or Luis often bringing the history to life. I especially like the mix of Colombian beer culture lessons and real tastings at local places, not just a generic pub crawl. One heads-up: if you want lots of non-beer options, you may find some stops have fewer alternatives than you’d like.

You’ll meet at the CRANKY CROC hostel (Cl. 12d #346) and spend about three hours sampling your way through Bogotá’s craft scene with an English-speaking guide. I also like the social angle: with a max group size of 10, you’re set up to talk with locals and other visitors instead of shouting over crowds. The pace is casual, but you are drinking—plan to pace yourself and wear comfortable shoes.

Key things you’ll notice on this craft beer tour

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - Key things you’ll notice on this craft beer tour

  • Tapazo icebreaker: You start with a traditional game to get comfortable with your group fast.
  • Beer history, not just beer: You learn how Colonial, Republican, and Modern eras shaped brewing and drinking culture.
  • Local breweries and craft bars: Stops include Huitaca, Manigua, Medellin, and a Bogotá bar that brews its own beer.
  • A tropical beer stop: You’ll enjoy a pint at Huitaca, plus additional pours and samples.
  • A big choice for the finale: The last stop is built for options, so you can steer toward what you like.
  • Small group size: Limited to 10 participants, which makes the whole evening feel more personal.

Why a 3-hour craft beer tour is the smart move in Bogotá

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - Why a 3-hour craft beer tour is the smart move in Bogotá
Bogotá has plenty of nightlife, but craft beer takes local context to taste well. That’s what I love about this tour: you don’t just get handed a glass. You get a quick, clear storyline for what you’re tasting and why it matters in Colombia.

In three hours you can cover enough ground to feel like you actually explored the city, without losing your whole evening to line-ups and slow pacing. The tour also includes multiple servings—a bottle of beer and 5 pints/glasses plus samples—so the price doesn’t rely on you ordering extra.

The small group setup (10 people max) matters more than it sounds. You’ll be able to ask questions, compare notes with other guests, and chat with your guide while you’re on the move. In a city where nightlife can be loud and chaotic, this structure keeps it fun instead of frantic.

You can also read our reviews of more food & drink experiences in Bogota

CRANKY CROC meeting point and the Tapazo warmup

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - CRANKY CROC meeting point and the Tapazo warmup
You start at CRANKY CROC hostel, Cl. 12d #346. That’s a useful detail because you’re not hunting down a random street corner—your group converges in one place and heads out together.

Before any tasting, you warm up with a traditional Colombian game called Tapazo. It’s not just for laughs. It helps you meet people quickly so you’re not stuck awkwardly standing around with strangers while the first beers arrive.

This part also sets the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The tour is built around short walking stretches and quick conversations, so being “on” from minute one helps. If you’re solo, Tapazo is a great way to make friends without trying too hard.

Practical tip: wear comfortable shoes. You’ll be moving between spots, and Bogotá’s sidewalks are not always smooth.

The old house stop: where Colombian beer history starts

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - The old house stop: where Colombian beer history starts
After Tapazo, the tour heads to an old house tied to the first beer brewed by a Colombian. That stop is brief but meaningful because it gives you a starting point. Brewing didn’t start as a modern craft trend—it has roots in how communities organized work, trade, and daily life.

Then your guide lays out how Colombia passed through three big periods: Colonial, Republican, and Modern. The key is not memorizing dates. It’s understanding that each era changed what people had access to, how brewing was organized, and how beer fit into culture.

You’ll walk away thinking about beer differently. Instead of treating each pint like a random flavor sample, you start connecting what’s in the glass to the story behind it—what survived, what evolved, and what became part of local identity.

One more reason I like this structure: it gives you context before the tasting ramps up. You’re not “learning after you drink.” You learn, then you taste with a better filter.

Huitaca and the tropical pint you’ll want to remember

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - Huitaca and the tropical pint you’ll want to remember
Next comes a brewery stop at Huitaca, where you get to enjoy a pint of tropical beer. This is where the tour shifts from history class to flavor playground.

Tropical beers can be polarizing if you expect a standard crisp lager. The point here isn’t to prove a beer is good or bad—it’s to show how local tastes and ingredients shape what brewers make. The guides tend to connect these flavors to regional culture, so the tasting feels purposeful rather than random.

After Huitaca, you continue to two more local craft beer spots: Manigua and Medellin. You’ll keep sampling flavors and building your own “preference map” as the evening goes on—something you can’t do easily on your own if you don’t know what to order.

A useful detail from past tour experiences: some beers you might try are built with local ingredients like chocolate, coffee, and passion fruit. You don’t need to love every style, but having variety helps you learn what Colombian craft means in practice.

A trendy Bogotá bar with its own brewing setup

Midway through the tour, you hit a trendy Bogotá bar that brews their own beer. This stop is valuable even if you’ve seen breweries before, because it’s the combination of small-scale brewing plus the bar atmosphere that makes it feel real.

You’ll get a chance to see a mini-brewery in action, and you’ll also have time to mingle. The timing is part of why this works: it’s a cooling-off moment after work, when the room tends to feel more lived-in and less like a staged tourist stop.

This is also where conversation really helps. Your English-speaking guide can translate what you’re seeing into plain language: what the brewing process means for flavor, and what makes a craft setup different from the mass production you may be used to.

If you like the idea of “watching how it’s made,” this is your moment. If you’d rather talk than watch, you’ll still have plenty to do—people are generally friendly in the kind of places that host a small tour group.

You can also read our reviews of more drinking tours in Bogota

The finale at Casa Magola: big selection, real choices

The last destination is designed for one thing: choice. The tour ends at a spot with one of the biggest selections of craft beers in Bogotá, so you can land on the style that suits your mood by the end of the evening.

In at least one version of the tour, this finale is Casa Magola, and the vibe is part of the appeal. It’s not just about getting one last pour. It’s where the group usually relaxes, compares favorites, and decides what to do next.

This is also a good moment for picky drinkers. By the time you reach the end, you’ve already tasted enough variety that you know what you like—fruity, roasty, light, hoppy, etc. If you’re thinking about what to order, you’ll have a better instinct than if you were making decisions from scratch.

If you want other local drinks besides beer, it can be a good time to ask your guide what they can offer. Some guests have arranged additional Colombian drinks like chicha or aguardiente depending on preferences, so it’s worth bringing it up if beer isn’t your only goal.

How the tasting servings work (and how to pace it)

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - How the tasting servings work (and how to pace it)
The included drinks are a core part of the value: you get a bottle of beer and 5 pints/glasses of beer plus samples. That’s a lot of drinking for three hours, even for people who like beer.

I’d treat the tour like a guided tasting, not like a race. If you tend to drink quickly at bars, slow down early—by the end you’ll thank yourself. A practical approach:

  • Take small sips during the earlier tastings so you can enjoy later beers more.
  • Alternate between tastes and conversation so you’re not just consuming.
  • If you feel unsure about a flavor, don’t force it. Samples exist so you can experiment.

Also remember this is nightlife. Expect a bit of buzz, and don’t plan anything too stressful right after. If you’re hungry before you go, you’ll enjoy it more. The tour data doesn’t promise meals, so plan a proper dinner either after or elsewhere.

Price and value: what $58 really buys you

Bogotá: Craft Beer Tour with Tasting - Price and value: what $58 really buys you
At $58 per person, this tour isn’t about bargain-basement drinking. It’s priced like an experience: three hours with a live English guide, structured history, and multiple tasting servings at several stops.

Here’s why I think it works as value:

  • You’re paying for more than beer. The history framing (Colonial, Republican, Modern) helps you understand what you’re tasting.
  • The tour includes a meaningful quantity of drinks: one bottle + five pints/glasses + samples. You’re not expected to buy most of your way through the evening.
  • You visit multiple distinct locations, including breweries and a bar that brews its own beer, which is harder to assemble on your own without local knowledge.

If you already know exactly what bars you want and you’re confident ordering like a local, you might save a few dollars doing it independently. But if you want a smooth plan plus context plus a social group, the price makes sense.

Who should book this Bogotá craft beer tour (and who should skip)

This tour is a great fit if you:

  • Like craft beer and want to taste a range of styles instead of just one type
  • Enjoy meeting new people in a small, friendly group
  • Want local guidance on beer culture, including how history connects to what’s brewed today
  • Prefer a plan that feels guided but still bar-like and social

It may not fit you as well if:

  • You don’t drink beer and want lots of non-beer alternatives at every stop. Some guides can offer options (like chicha or aguardiente) for certain groups, but you shouldn’t count on a full alternative menu everywhere.
  • You’re pregnant. The activity is listed as not suitable for pregnant women.
  • You’re traveling with big bags or pets. Those aren’t allowed, and the walking pace is designed for light movement.

One more plus: because it’s wheelchair accessible, you’re more likely to find it workable for mobility needs than random crawl-style bar hopping—though you should still use your own judgment based on your comfort with uneven city sidewalks.

Should you book this Bogotá craft beer tour?

If you want a beer night in Bogotá that includes real craft tastings plus clear cultural context, I’d book it. The combination of a warmup game, beer history, multiple local stops (including Huitaca, Manigua, and Medellin), and a final spot with a big selection makes it feel like a complete afternoon/evening—not just “drink at places.”

Choose it especially if you’ll be in Bogotá for a short time and want to hit the right kinds of places without guessing. If you’re on the fence, the biggest decision is your drinking comfort. This tour includes a lot of beer, so pace yourself, and ask your guide what other drinks can be arranged if you want variety.

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