“Smell it,” she directs. “Now taste!”

The five of us chosen to be special tasters on this Budweiser brewery tour raise cold glasses to our lips and swig the frothy beverage sparkling inside.

“Well?” our tour guide wants feedback. The rest of the crowd is staring at us with looks on their faces that can only mean “let’s get on with this so we can have our free beers, too!”

“Crisp,” offers the older man standing to my left.

“Very carbonated,” says the lady in pink to my right.

“A little bitter,” I say, mostly just to get this show on the road.

Turns out that both the beers we taste are Budweiser-one fresh off the assembly line and the other around two weeks old. The difference is very apparent, with No. 1 tasting super clean and refreshing and No. 2 a little heavier and on the skunky side.

Anheuser-Busch prides itself on the freshness of Budweiser, going so far as to list the “born on” dates on each of its bottles and cans. Today I learn that not only can I find out when my beer was born by reading its label, but also where it was made. “D” is for Denver, explains our tour guide, because “F” was already taken by Fairfield, Calif.

This giant operation has 12 breweries in the Unites States, pumping out not only Budweiser but also Michelob, Busch, Natural Light and O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer, among others. Our very own Fort Collins factory sends out 170 truckloads and 18 railcars packed with product on a daily basis.

Our tour, complete with tourists from Maryland, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, winds through labyrinthine hallways with little windows peering down on men loading bottle caps into huge machines, driving forklifts and pushing buttons on mysterious gadgets. The stainless steel beer vats in this enormous factory are larger than my house and gleam like polished ships. Images of rice and barley malt decorate the walls, explaining two of the five ingredients in the magic Budweiser recipe. The other three (water, hops and yeast) along with the famous addition of beech wood in the fermentation tanks create this all-American favorite.

A quick glance at the ridiculously large Clydesdales and I’m ready to head out of this barbed wire facility. But not before downing the rest of my free Budweiser, born right here at the “D” factory and fresher than the fruit I ate for breakfast.

Destination: Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Distance from Fort Collins: It’s in Fort Collins!

Directions: From Mulberry Street, take Timberline Drive to Mountain Vista Drive. Turn right (east) onto Mountain Vista and follow it to Busch Drive. Take a left onto Busch Drive and follow the signs to the Tour Center. From Interstate 25, use Exit #271 and take a right onto Busch Drive, then follow the signs.

Money Spent: $0

Need Help Planning? Visit www.budweisertours.com or call 970-490-4691 for hours, driving directions and more details on tours at any of Anheuser-Busch’s 12 U.S. breweries.

Lisa Parker