Have you ever wished you could see Memphis through the eyes of a tourist? Or maybe through beer goggles? Or better still, through the eyes of a tourist wearing beer goggles? If so, Meagan May of Backbeat Tours wants to help you fulfill that fantasy.
“One of our constant goals at Backbeat is to help locals play tourist in their own city,” she says. “We have music tours, history tours, ghost tours, walking tours, and bus tours.” Last year, over the Fourth of July holiday, Backbeat also launched its first beer tour — Red, White, and Brew. Now it’s back for a second installment and looks like it’s destined to become a semi-annual event.
“It was so wildly popular we ended up doing another one in November and started getting calls last month about the Red, White, and Brew tour for this year,” May says.
Backbeat’s Red, White, and Brew tour departs from B.B. King’s on Beale and goes straight to High Cotton Brewing Co. in the Edge neighborhood for a brewery tour, sample tasting, and souvenir glass. The next tasting, at Memphis Made Brewing in Cooper-Young, includes delivery pizza from Aldo’s.
“Last year, I think we had only one out-of-town couple, and the rest were locals,” May says. “That’s what we’re aiming for again this year.”
As is often the case with Backbeat, live music is provided on the bus.