Boston Historic Tavern Walking Tour with Three Included Beers
The Freedom Trail with a drink in hand. Ten historic sites on a one-mile walk from Boston Common to Faneuil Hall, and a stop inside three taverns where a beer or cider comes with the ticket.
Boston has no shortage of Freedom Trail walks. This one is built around a claim most of them skip: that a great deal of the American Revolution was argued, planned and paid for in taverns, by men who were drinking at the time.
Ye Olde Tavern Tours has run this walk since 2013. The route covers ten historic sites, among them the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, Old South Meeting House, Faneuil Hall, and the burying ground that holds John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Between them the group goes inside three taverns and sits down.
Two hours, about a mile, and a group capped at twelve.
Afternoon departures only, and only four days a week. The booking page is where you pick the day and the time.
Every guest must be 21 or over and carry valid photo ID. The operator states there are no exceptions.
Boston's Revolutionary and Drunken Past with Beer IncludedYe Olde Tavern Tours · 2 hours on foot · up to 12 guestswww.viator.comThree Taverns, and the Drink Is Already Paid For
The ticket covers a drink at each of the three stops. The operator's own ticketing page puts it plainly: a beer or hard cider at each of the three taverns is included in the price.
Local craft beer from New England breweries is the default pour. Cider is the standing alternative, and the operator lists it as an equal option for anyone who does not drink beer.
One tip is already settled and one is not. Gratuity for the tavern staff is bundled into the ticket. The tip for your guide is listed as excluded and discretionary, so bring a little cash if you want to leave one.
The booking page never names the three taverns. What the operator does say is that the three are places Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and John F. Kennedy drank in, so you find out which ones on the day.
A Mile on Foot, Starting on Boston Common
The walk begins on Boston Common at the corner of Park Street and Tremont Street. Your guide stands under the black hanging sign that reads Boston Common. For a map app, the closest address is 1 Park Street.
From there it is about a mile of city walking, which the operator rates as suitable for all fitness levels. There is no bus and no pickup. Everyone meets at the same corner.
Granary Burying Ground is on the route, and Hancock, Adams and Revere are all buried in it. The Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, Old South Meeting House and Faneuil Hall are on it too. The operator frames the whole sequence around one question: how much of the Revolution was argued out over a drink.
The tour is not recommended for pregnant travelers. Service animals are welcome.
The Person Who Built the Route Wrote the Books
Ye Olde Tavern Tours was founded in 2013 by Brooke Barbier, who holds a PhD in American history from Boston College and still guides tours herself. The Boston Globe reported the same credential in October 2023, while covering her biography of John Hancock, so it does not rest on the company page alone.
She has written three books on the Revolution. King Hancock came out from Harvard University Press in 2023 and its publisher lists two 2024 book awards for it, the New England Society Book Award and the James P. Hanlan Book Award. Boston in the American Revolution came earlier, in 2017. Cocked and Boozy, an account of how much drinking sat behind the Revolution, is the newest.
The company guide page lists five guides in all. Each of the other four gives a history degree in their bio, from Saint Joseph's, Grinnell, Boston University and the University of Scranton, with graduate work at Harvard, Boston College and Tufts. That is the operator describing its own staff. Nobody outside the company has checked those bios, and you are not told in advance which guide you get.
What the Ticket Locks In Before You Pay
Two rules on this booking are harder than most, and both are worth reading before you choose a date.
All sales are final. The operator and the booking platform both state there are no refunds, exchanges or rescheduling once the ticket is bought.
- Departures run Thursday through Sunday, at 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM
- Booking closes 60 minutes before the departure time
- Confirmation is immediate, and the ticket is a mobile ticket
- Twelve guests maximum, per the operator
- Every guest signs a liability waiver
- Bring valid photo ID to check in
A departure can also be cancelled if too few people book it. That is the one case where a refund is on the table.
The published schedule currently runs through the end of December 2026. Dates beyond that are not yet loaded.
The walk does not loop back. It ends near Faneuil Hall, about a mile from where it started, and the operator says so on its own tour page.
That is a good place to be let go. Faneuil Hall Marketplace is right there and the streets around it stay busy into the evening. You will have had three drinks, walked a mile, and heard why the men who signed the thing were so often holding a tankard when they did it.