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Jelly Belly factory

I'd find it hard to believe that we don't all have a little kid in us that wouldn't want to eat a Jelly Belly jellybean. How lucky are we that we have the factory in our own backyard. Long a staple of family outings and tourist stops, the Jelly Belly factory tour is one place that many of us find ourselves going to over and over again, myself included. My past outings had always been on weekends. Problem is, they aren't operating on the weekends. The tour goes through a quiet a building. So I took the opportunity of a recent weekday off to go and do the tour again so I could see the place in operation.

Jelly Belly gift shop

The tours run from 9 - 5 with the last tour leaving at 4. Depending on the time of day, year, and just plain luck, you could end up waiting in line for about an hour if school is out or it's a holiday. I got there bright and early on a normal weekday so that I got into the first tour of the day. Even so, the first tour didn't leave until about 9:20 and so I had a chance to do a quick run-through of the gift shop to see if there was anything new.

Finally the little paper hats were passed out and we were told to put away the cameras. Bummer. It's not like they have any secret, Willy Wonka style processes going on in there we can see. Besides, the tours are done from high above as you walk enclosed catwalks.  First stop was for picture taking. This is a new addition since I was last there. Makes sense to add it. Like so many other attractions, people want that souvenir photo and frame with you sitting next to Mr. Jelly Belly bean. Just that it takes a bit of time. I skipped around the line to wait for them to finish. We were given a couple of beans to chew on while we waited. Then we were off.

The nice thing is that there are short little videos that are shown at each stop along the catwalk. They explain a little about the history, the process, and other trivia tidbits. They also give you tasting beans along the way. First was the jelly center. They say that they put flavoring both in the jelly and in the coating. I didn't taste any flavor in the supposed red raspberry center I was given to taste. Later we got a finished wild blackberry bean and that definitely tasted like blackberry. And everyone loves that at the end of the tour each person gets a sample bag of assorted beans.

What many folks don't know is that you can go on a more intimate tour if you are willing to pay. The JB University tours are $47 and take you out in groups of six onto the actual floor of the factory. I'd love to hear from anyone who has gone on this tour.

What surprised me as I went on the weekday tour was how few employees were actually working on the floor. It was so automated with robots and conveyor belts that there were a lot less employees than I expected. But I was happy to finally see the machines in action and the beans flowing down the lines.

Most famous Jelly Belly fan, Ronald Reagan

It's always nice to see the artwork as well. Some of the pieces can take months to finish and have over a million beans.

Jelly Belly tasting line

The tasting station is a popular line. You can go through and taste a few flavors. The gross flavors are no longer related to Harry Potter because I guess they lost the contract or it expired. So now they call them BeanBoozled flavors. You can see above that there is barf, rotten egg, boogers, and more. I watched some people try those and make horrible faces. That told me to stay away from those! During the tour they made a big deal that it took forever for them to perfect kiwi. I tried it and have to say that they've still got work to do. It didn't taste like kiwi to me. My favorites are all the berry flavors, sours, and pomegranate.

There is also a fantastic chocolate counter. I successfully stayed away from purchasing any this time. Boy, was that hard. I love some of the gigantic whipped chocolate haystacks they have with all sorts of add-ins like nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, toffee, etc. Mmmmmmmmm.

I also found the bulk sales room by the cafeteria. They sell ten pound boxes of single flavors there as well as some other decorative and farmers market-y type stuff. If you really love one flavor, then a 10 lb. box is $90!

Most people stay in the gift store and buyout the belly flops - the reject beans that are too small, too big, or stuck together. I grabbed a bag to take up for Thanksgiving next week. I also wanted to try their soda pop and selected the green apple. They are made with cane sugar and are very brightly colored. I tried it later, at home, and found it way too sweet. I ended up pouring most of it out. Another favorite item I like is their Sport Beans which have caffeine and some electrolytes. I use these when I go on long hikes and need a burst of sugar and energy.

If you are hungry they have a large cafeteria with a lot of offerings. I've never bothered to eat there myself. But I can see that some families get caught there at lunch time or need a snack. There is also an ice cream counter with JB flavored ice creams.

If you are one of the rare locals who hasn't already gone on a Jelly Belly tour, then you are overdue. Time to venture forth and pay them a visit.

Jelly Belly car

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Budweiser factory tour - Fairfield, CA

We are all familiar with the drive to and from San Francisco and the Bay Area. The drive down I-80, through Davis, Dixon, Vacaville, etc. As we pass Fairfield and Suisun City we notice the giant Budweiser plant in the not-so-far distance. Many of us venture in that direction to take the kids to the Jelly Belly factory tour. How many have stopped for the Budweiser tour? I decided it was time to check it out and report back to you, my faithful audience.

As you drive up to the front of the plant you won't find too many signs or indications that they even offer a tour. The hours are 10 - 4. In the summer they run every day but Sundays. From September through May they run Tuesdays - Saturdays. You'll park in the parking lot to the right side of the complex. You won't see a gift shop or entrance right away. Instead you will need to go through the corporate entrance at the front of the building. The receptionist will then lead you into the factory and up to the gift shop/waiting area on the second floor.

My first frustration was rather minor. I had arrived at 10:25 and the receptionist told me that the tours started on the hour. So the next one was going to be at 11. I could look around the gift shop and wait in the waiting area. We all know I don't drink, so there was definitely no interest in buying something with a drinking motif. But the gift shop did have quite an array of items that you would expect to see: clothing, drinking accessories like coolies and bottle openers, and signs and more. I did a quick once over and then sat and waited.

Budweiser tasting room

At 11 an employee came in and told us he was there to take us next door to the tasting room for the tour. He explained that there was unlimited soda and pretzels for everyone. For those of legal age, they could go to the counter and choose to taste from a selection of beers available. They did not pour just a dixie cup full. You got an 8 oz. glass of beer. You were also given a ticket that was for your second taste selection. You could choose to have that as soon as you polished off your first glass or you could wait til after the walking tour was completed.

The big frustration (for me) then came up. The walking tour would not start until 11:30.  So now I had another half hour to wait! Sigh. I suppose this serves a purpose. People are enjoying their samples and maybe, if they drink them both before the tour they won't have to worry about their sobriety when it's time to drive away from the facility later. Still, I found it annoying. Why wasn't this disclosed before? They should have said that the walking tour starts on the half hour. I felt a bit misled.

At about 11:20 the guide started to give an introductory spiel about the company and facility. There was also a short video explaining the five most important ingredients: barley, hops, rice, water, and yeast. Finally safety glasses were passed out and we were able to begin the walking tour.

We first stopped and took a look at the conveyor system for bottling beer. It was not working. The guide explained that most of the beer these days is put into cans as the bottles are less popular. So this line was not running most of the month. Our next stop was to see the tanks.


The beer goes through a series of processes. The first set are the hot processes. Water is combined with ground barley to create a mash. The mash is combined with milled rice and boiled. Enzymes start to break down the mash's startch into fermentable sugars. It is then brewed with the hops, which give it flavor. It is now called wort. The wort is cooled down so that they can then start the cold process.


Yeast is added to start the fermentation process of the wort. The wort is transferred to giant tanks that hold hundreds of gallons. The yeast ferments the sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Now we have beer. Budweiser is known for its beechwood aging. They place a foot and a half high layer of beechwood chips in the bottom of each tank. The beechwood aids in continued formation of flavor and carbonation.

Our stop was to see the cold tanks where the beer was aging with the beechwood in the bottom. The tanks were about 10 feet in diameter and 72 feet long - giant! The cold room we were in was at about 42 degrees, had three stories, and had a total of 120 of these tanks. We did not get to see any part of the hot process.

Our final stop was to see the canning line. Millions of blue Budweiser cans were speeding down lines being filled with beer and then packaged. It was definitely noisy.


And that was it. Really. We saw an idle bottling line, some giant cold tanks, and the speeding canning line. That's it. What a huge disappointment. Basically, if you go to Pyramid or River City Brewing downtown you can see the same storage tanks, just smaller. You're just missing the assembly lines.

Now you know why I titled this post "Skip the Budweiser". There was really nothing worth seeing. The only benefit I could see to going on this tour was if you love their beer and you want a total of 16 ounces of free beer to drink and some souvenirs from the gift shop. It's much more interesting to just hop on down to Brew it Up (now closed 2013) and make your own.


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In another instance of "it's in my own backyard all these years but I've never gone...", I ventured to the Blue Diamond Gift Store yesterday. I'm going to a food blogger conference this weekend and we are supposed to bring a gift that either represents our blog or our area. I had been stuck on what to take until someone said "almonds". This made perfect sense to me and so I headed to Blue Diamond.


Located at 1700 C Street, the building is considered an historic landmark. The site is still in operation today. In fact, it turns out that 2010 is their 100 year anniversary. Blue Diamond has 80% of the world market in almonds and sells to 95 countries.


I was surprised by the size of the store. It was very large and open with colorful and attractive displays of all their products. I had no idea they made so many items. But with the push to healthy foods you will find everything from the nuts to almond milk, butter and paste. There were also the logo items like t-shirts.

For those of us who like to bake, they sell 4 and 7 lb. cans of almond paste as well as 4 lb. cans of slivered and sliced almonds. Most of the gift packages revolve on the different flavored almonds. The gift I ended up with had almonds, chocolate almond milk, and almond popcorn.

If you are in need of a gift representing Sacramento, then consider checking out the Blue Diamond store yourself.

Search Amazon.com for blue diamond almonds