Meantime offers ‘virtual reality’ tour

Meantime Brewing Company has announced the launch of its “Virtual Reality Brewery Tour Experience” at this year’s Taste of London food festival.

Meantime claims it is the first brewery in the UK to offer a 3D virtual tour (Photo: Meantime)

In its first piece of publicity since being bought by global beer producer SABMiller, the London brewery is reportedly the first in the UK to offer a 360-degree virtual reality brewery tour.

With the plan being to take the virtual reality equipment to festivals and pubs across the country, the Greenwich-based brewer will have the ability to bring “a fully interactive tour” of their facility to those outside London, the company claims.

With shots of the brewery filmed using 3D digital cameras, the headset comes complete with a so-called “head-tracking module” and “360-degree directional sound” which allows users to explore the Meantime brewery.

Claiming the virtual reality tour is just one part of Meantime’s constant efforts to “push the boundaries”, Rich Myers, marketing director at Meantime Brewing Company, said, “It’s this sense of invention and desire to reach craft-beer drinkers outside of our traditional London heartland that has led us to create the Meantime Virtual Reality Brewery Tour  Experience – something we believe is a game-changer in bringing the brewery to them”.

The technology was developed on behalf of Meantime by virtual reality videographers, producers and developers Visualise. Henry Stuart, CEO of Visualise, praised Meantime’s “pioneering” approach.

He said, “Having been given the opportunity to work so closely with the brewing, marketing and sales teams on what is an ‘industry first’, it’s a rare moment that we are truly privileged to be a part of.”