Fun brewery or distillery tour in or near London?

This site may help you with activities: http://www.camra.org.uk/

The Campaign for Real Ale started many decades ago in reaction to the old-fashioned pubs being bought up by big, consolidating brewer companies. Now it promotes the riches of the brewpub phenomenon, well known in North America. "Real", by the way, means ale that is drawn by hand pump or electric motor, not frothed out by gas propulsion.
Other sources include Fancy a PInt and the lists in Time Out.

The current fad in London, by the way, is gin bars, also a traditional quaff now being tarted up for connoisseurs.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything similar in the London area. The Fuller brewery offers some tours in their historic brewery, interesting, may not allow kids though, and not sure if they have any activities other than the tour. Several smaller breweries (Meantime, Camden....) but mainly tasting rooms with cursory tours.

The Camra site mentioned before, as well as Fancy a Pint are great for finding well managed pubs, but less for the type of thing you are looking for. Used to be Vinopolis in London, more tourist trap than entertainment, but that shut down.

There are also a number of gin distilleries that can be visited, but these are often based around mixing your own choice of botanicals, and not so much of a theme park atmosphere.

Yes, my impression is that the focus of the gin events is on tasting/blending, and hence children will probably not be allowed in.

Off the top of my head...

Sipsmith Gin in Chiswick
Meantime Brewery in Greenwich, mostly beer though.
Fullers Brewery again near Chiswick.
There is a brewery in some rail arches a little east of and near Tower Bridge, sorry dont know the name.
There is a brewery in Camden.

Whisky is more of a Scottish/Irish thing... London is big on Gin and beer/ale.
I believe there is a stall in Borough Market that sells ‘locally’ produced spirits. Maybe go there, try a few, buy a bottle of the one you like and see if you can tour the factory.

Thanks so much, all. I could not find an age requirement on Sipsmith or Meantime but I was definitely not getting a "kids allowed" vibe from their websites. Fullers explicitly says guests must be 18+. Oh well, will save the brewery/distillery tour for a time when we come back without the kiddos!

Dont know how old the kids are, but you could book them into ‘Kidzania’ in Westfield White City; its like a whole world of stuff where parents can leave the kids in safety for a few hours while they go shopping... except you’d be going on a brewery tour. Chiswick is very close to White City.

We enjoyed the Fullers brewery tour. Very easy to get to by public transport.

Denbies Vineyard in Dorking is very child friendly - 360degree film and train ride through the Vineyard if I recall rightly. It's a train ride out of London into Surrey, but it's a nice bit of the country.