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Tacoma: Whisky Row History & Drinks Tour

By PNW Adventures And Tours
Free cancellation available
Price is AU$110 per adult

Features

  • Free cancellation available
  • 2h 30m
  • Mobile voucher
  • Instant confirmation

Overview

This isn’t a typical bar or brewery tour—it’s a storytelling experience set in Tacoma’s historic Whisky Row. Through live narration and Robert Service poetry, you’ll step into the lives of the railway workers, lumbermen, and sailors who built this frontier town. With drinks included throughout, the experience blends history, atmosphere, and performance to create something immersive, memorable, and uniquely Tacoma.

The evening begins inside the historic Olympus Hotel building, where you’ll enjoy your choice of a cocktail, beer, or wine at the Forum while learning how Tacoma transformed from a rough railway outpost into the “City of Destiny.” From there, we explore Whisky Row, uncovering stories of saloons, vice districts, and the characters who shaped early Tacoma.

We’ll also explore the unique interior of the remarkable McMenamins Elks Temple before concluding at Odd Otter, Tacoma’s most whimsical brewery, where an exciting game caps off a truly memorable evening.

Activity location

  • The Forum
    • 815 Pacific Avenue
    • 98402, Tacoma, Washington, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • The Forum
    • 815 Pacific Avenue
    • 98402, Tacoma, Washington, United States

Check availability

Tacoma: Whisky Row History & Drinks Tour

  • Activity duration is 2 hours and 30 minutes2h 30m
    2h 30m
  • English
Language options: English
Starting time: 5:30 PM
Price details
AU$109.96 x 1 AdultAU$109.96
Total
Price is AU$109.96
Until Wed, 10 June

What's included, what's not

  • What's includedWhat's included
    Historical Narration and Storytelling
  • What's includedWhat's included
    Alcoholic Drinks
  • What's excludedWhat's excluded
    Tips and Service charge for Guide

Know before you book

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Public transport options are available nearby
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Activity itinerary

The Forum

  • 1h
Guests begin the tour inside the historic Olympus Hotel building, home to The Forum, in the heart of Tacoma’s original Whisky Row. Here your guide introduces the frontier storey of Tacoma’s founding, when railway workers, sailors, and lumbermen filled the saloons of this booming port town. Surrounded by the atmosphere of one of Tacoma’s most storied buildings, guests enjoy a classic “beer and a buddy”—a Rainier tall boy paired with a shot of whisky—echoing the working-class drinking culture of the era. As the experience begins, your guide brings the past to life with dramatic recitations and performances of Robert Service poetry, setting the tone for an evening of history, storytelling, and Tacoma’s rough-and-ready beginnings.

McMenamins Pub at Elks Temple (Pass by)

The tour concludes inside the historic Elks Temple, a grand 1916 building that now houses multiple bars and hidden spaces. At this final stop, guests visit one of the building’s unique bars while the guide explores Tacoma’s experience during Prohibition—when saloons were forced underground, bootlegging thrived, and the city’s “open” character was tested but never fully disappeared. You’ll hear stories of speakeasies, enforcement efforts, and how Tacoma’s drinking culture adapted during the era. Guests enjoy a final drink while reflecting on how Prohibition reshaped, but never erased, the social life of Whisky Row.

Odd Otter Brewing Company

  • 45m
Guests visit a local craft brewery in the heart of city centre Tacoma to explore the city’s deep-rooted brewing history. Here your guide traces Tacoma’s beer culture from early frontier saloons and working-class taverns through Prohibition and into today’s craft revival. You’ll learn how brewing was tied to the daily lives of lumbermen, sailors, and railway workers who helped shape the city. Guests enjoy an included pint of locally brewed beer while hearing how Tacoma’s brewing traditions have evolved yet still reflect the independent spirit of its past.

Location

Activity location

  • LOB_ACTIVITIESLOB_ACTIVITIES
    The Forum
    • 815 Pacific Avenue
    • 98402, Tacoma, Washington, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • PEOPLEPEOPLE
    The Forum
    • 815 Pacific Avenue
    • 98402, Tacoma, Washington, United States

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