Busch Entertainment Corporation announced that free samples of Busch’s premier product no longer will be provided to theme park patrons. The taps will stop flowing at Busch Gardens on Jan. 25.
The theme park had been giving away the beer since 1959 – 50 years!
Mark Albright and Rodney Thrash say the announcement is”like a sobering slap to the face…”
Now where are we gonna go for free beer?
Ryan
1 year ago
Stopping through the hospitality house on the way to taking the kids to Land of the Dragons is a family pasttime for us! We just went on Friday and got our last free beer
Our annual passes are up for renewal in Feb – it’s still a great value if you live in Tampa, but come on!
HARTride 2012
1 year ago
Give me a break! This is all InBev’s decision to make the parks more “appealing” to all age groups. It’s almost the equivalent of Rhonda Storms trying to “fix” the Dewey Decimal system. For gosh sake! The free beer samples aren’t something that is “broken”, so don’t mess with it!
Golightly
1 year ago
Stop buying A/B products & the taps will be reopened.Boycotting their theme parks will expedite this process.Talk is cheap,hit em in the wallet!
Rick
1 year ago
This is very very poor decision on their part…it was an opportunity to TRY and SAMPLE the different brews that came out during each year you would normally not buy unless you had tasted them. As an example, I had sampled Shock Top once there, and when I saw it, I remembered the sample, and had purchased in stores and bars…
junebee
1 year ago
They must have been giving it all away at Pepin this morning. I drive by there every day to take my kids to school and this morning there were many, many cars lined up waiting to get in. Included in that queue was an inordinate amount of TECO trucks. See, they have given all the beer to TECO.
pc
1 year ago
Like Rick, I tried several beers there for the first time. I now go out of my way to special order Redbridge (a gluten free beer) that actually tastes pretty darn good. If you get to go before the taps stop, just ask for the redbridge- they have the bottles under the counter.
Clyde
1 year ago
American business is progressively being sold off to foreign owners. This is just one example of the changes we have in store. Dude! What happened to my country?
junior
1 year ago
Remember very little is free these days. Abstinence for all beer drinkers at Bush Gardens.
jason
1 year ago
I remember at one time you had to take the tour of the brewery to get beer. This was well before my time, an old teacher of mine would go there in her college days in the 60’s and take the tour to get the free beer. Then she would take the tour again. After about five or six times you had the tour speech down pat and a nice buzz. Sad to see it end, hopefully the park will be able to get it back again but honestly I don’t go anymore unless I happen across some free tix. It just isn’t worth it to me anymore.
paul
1 year ago
no beer, no attend.
amy n tampa
1 year ago
I hope they plan on doing something else to supplement this change. Maybe like a 5.00 drinking pass? Otherwise, it is just plain stupid. I was first introduced to bud select during one of my many free samplings, and as a result I purchased many cases of it in the months to come.
The free beer is a great marketing tool and I doubt that the loss of money from providing free beer will outweigh the loss of future purchases!
SUE
1 year ago
ALL THIS TIME I THOUGHT THE REASON TO GO TO BUSCH GARDENS WAS TO SEE THE ANIMALS, GARDENS, ETC., NOW I FIND OUT IT WAS TO DRINK FREE BEER !!!! COME ON PEOPLE, IF THE BEER WAS THAT IMPORTANT YOU SHOULD STAY HOME & DRINK.
phil young
1 year ago
I live in Iowa. I have a daughter and two grandchildren who live in Tampa. I visit them at lease once or twice a year for the last 5 years, and everytime we visit Bush Gardens. I enjoy taking the grandchildren there. I also enjoy tasting the free samples of different beers. I have drank numerous different beers over the years and now have selected Michelob products as my preferred beer. Please re-evaluate.
jdohe
5 months ago
Busch Gardens used to be a place to see animals, gardens, parrots, and a few rotating type rides, oh and beer factory tour.
Now its little more than every imaginable kind of roller coaster. Great if you like roller coasters.. a waste if you don’t. I love roller coasters.
The free beer was a nice treat that I always looked forward to.