We go all the time. The staff is always friendly and knowledgeable and you can get cases of soda with real came sugar for 8 bucks..... Can't beat that we love it and or kids love that they can see the bottling plant when it's not in motion.
EDIT: We tried again to schedule a tour and they were more than happy to schedule one. The tour was a great time and very informative, with the opportunity to taste afterwards. One of the brewers was our guide. It's great to be able to support local breweries. Thanks for the tour and hospitality!
Previous review:
It could be a neat experience. I have attempted to set up a tour 3 or more times to no avail. No one answers the phone or email. So we dropped in and we're still allowed to taste.
Great ole' Time Soda Pop & Microbrewery. Love Ski soda, Flash Bang American Hoppy Wheat, and Lefty's Lager.
Years of waiting were worth finally touring the Excel bottling plant. Walked out with a sled of flavors from my favorite soda company.
Excel has got the best drinks, hands down!! My favorite is their Frostie root beer. It's by far THE BEST root beer I've ever tasted!! I love Ski and am about to try several other flavors. We bought a mix-match case of several flavors. And, we also bought a mix-match of their beers. I'm sure we will love those as well!!
Love it direct from Excel.
Borrow a crate and fill it up.
Freshest & best price.
Tours and gift shop.
Love that ski! Great beer! Great place! Great service! The best!
I was baptized here, in ski. What can I say, its EXCELlent.
Wonderful historic place. Stand right where they make all your favorite Ski soda. Staff was extremely nice and helpful. A definite must stop if you are in the area
Ski killed 3 of my cats including rosy. Rip Rosy, you always did love ski
Some of the best flavors of soda and you can get the return bottles awesome place
I go down every so often to get my Re-fillable bottles of Ski! Friendly staff and great soda. Wouldn't have it any other way
Fun tour at Excel bottling! Great people and delicious soda. Very interesting and lots of history. Highly recommended
Hometown small batch Ski soda and micro brewery bottling company
Friendly home town tour with tasting. Cool diners to lunch at too.
We did not make an appointment, but we were given a personal tour anyway! Super nice, knowledgeable tour guide. We got to sample several flavors of their soda, which was delicious.
The guy up front is great answered all my questions. Products are great as well made with SUGAR not high fructose corn syrup.
I drive 45 mins to get my Ski. Gotta go with the pure cane sugar. Love the returnable bottles too. Always great service and they carry out cases when they can.
Historic little store and factory Apple Pie Soda, Delicious.....
Old time soda bottlers who make the famous SKI soda only available in that area
Ski is the best soda in the world. If you have not tried it, I recommend purchasing the bottled ski as soon as possible. You are missing out on a life experience that will forever change your taste buds!
Kids love the Ski soda. Was great to see what they bottle there. Drank Frostie root beer in my younger days. It's made there. Was neat to see a little place making something unique.
Excellent variety of flavored sodas, made with pure cane sugar and high quality syrup extracts, to slake your thirst.
Besides the best known, Ski, which I would say is most similar to Mountain Dew, Excel has a huge variety of other flavors. All if them are made fresh and bottled on site. Flavors include Orange, Grape, Root Beer, Gooey Butter Cake, Blueberry, Ginger Ale, Orange Pineapple, Life (lemon lime) and others. Beer is also brewed on site. I enjoyed taking a tour of the bottling plant and seeing where and how the soda is made and bottled. This included modern plastic bottles and glass bottles.
This is a really neat place with tons of options and selection. There's something here for everyone.
I have to say wow!..I'm a sweet tea connoisseur, and this is the first time I tried the sweet tea, and it's great!. I've tried them all(other brands), for a long time, I won't mention their names, much more expensive and the taste doesn't compare. Love the glass bottles too. A must try tea if you can find them, as they make other types of drinks also. I wish they were in my local stores for sure. Worth a try!
This fantastic local/regional bottling company is awesome. They give tours and samples, they are friendly and not pushy for a sale. I drive in periodically and pick up several cases.
Excel Bottling is Diamond in the Ruff in Breese, IL! ... My son, Ollie, makes me get Ski Soda for All Special Occasions/Family Get togethers ... Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc... Our Family cannot have a Party without Ski Soda being the beverage of Choice! ... Thx You Excel Bottling!
Tried their frostie rootbeer randomly at a restaurant, didnt even know what brand it was but when I drank it, I needed to know. Its the best darn rootbeer I ever tasted. I craved it every day after trying it for the first time. Then, i tried the r-pep and same thing. Beyond delicious. I m so excited to try the ginger ale, the orange. Great soda! They make it so well! Such a smooth taste and perfect carbonation.
Graceland for Ski lovers. (Which should be everyone.) Staff is very friendly and helpful, even if it's busy. Lots of choices, can mix and match cases as needed with little difficulty.
I've been there twice and their customer service is amazing! I've tried most of their sodas they offer and I haven't found one that I didn't love.
Came off highway to check you out and you are closed! We bought some bottles at the store!
I've been here a hundred times and it's always been great. The staff is very friendly everytime and the sodas are amazing. I tried their craft teas and the Ginger Strawberry was delicious. New drinks all the time. I hope this place never closes down!
Was in town for a few days after Hurricane Irma ran us out of FL. This was one of the highlights of my trip. Passionate people crafting excellent beverages. Bill Meier took us on one of the best bottling tours I've ever been on. Loved to see the old machinery and the care taken to preserve the history as production grew over time. Fun to hear the back story and everything we tried was amazing! Great stuff!
Went in with our Scout Troop for a tour of the factory and they were so kind. It's amazing what they do and all the youth in our Troop had a great time learning how detailed, articulate and special the process is to bring us our favorite soft drinks. There was a mixup with phones in the end and were so sorry and embarrassed, but we hope they don't hold it against us. We'll certainly be back again if they'll have us. Wonderful company and great people! Thank you from Troop 520 girls!
Awesome tour of one of the country's last old school soda bottling plants. Home of Ski soda, an Illinois delicacy.
I love making the short trip out here to get it glass bottle returnable sodas all made with cane sugar. The flavors are great and the price is even better. Also, they have beer.
excelbottling.com
