Big Fatty's BBQ / Crowler Pit

Was pleasantly surprised to find this within walking distance of where I was staying on vacation. Decent food and good taps. Plus the bottle shop was good for putting together a package of brews scarce in Ohio. Plus River Roost was across the parking lot.

Bar.
Buh.
Cue.
25

Friday afternoon departing River Roost, having timed them for opening like a champ. Samples sampled and growlers a-gotten, I’m now looking for a bite before I hit the road for that leisurely run down I-91 through Vermont & Mass into northern Connecticut where the action that is my college reunion be. Heard some things about Big Fatty’s, or more to the point, I smelled some things; they being a big 100 feet across the parking lot…

It’s a single room restaurant space, not terribly spacious. Drop ceiling with tracks & pan lamps, lino tiled floors, and yellow & red painted walls with pig things and country décor art. Front door and windows up front, flats on 2 walls, upcoming music performers on a board near the door, a big blackboard displaying the BBQ menu, and the ‘big fatty’s challenge’ information posted. It’s a giant goddamn sandwich and fries for $23, you get an hour to mash it. The amount of ‘Wall of fame’ recipients (names & time) is dwarfed by the ‘Wall of shame’ recipients, complete with taunting middle name nicknames. Oh, it’s like that, huh? Salad bar in the corner if you want to feed the thing you’re going to eat.

Order at the counter to the rear, get your number & go sit down; your food will find you. A half dozen or so tables set horizontally and vertically (‘battleship’ style). Long picnics, low squares, and hightop bar counter one siders on split tree planks; shared benches, wooden chairs, and the hightop stooled. And there is seating outside if that’s your thing.

A wood plank counter top shelving piece on the back wall holds 20 taps on a stainless-steel barbell tower 10 & 10, with a mix of brewery logo’d & non-descript handles. Glassware tucked behind it for the easy grab and shelved below. Coolers on each end of; one with soda and the other with beer. Long horizontal blackboard above listing draft selections (brewery, beer, style, state, ABV, price, & serving size).

As I’ve done hard time on BBQ at Fette Sau, Brooklyn, I know all too well how to avoid rookie (over)ordering mistakes, and went with the ¼ rib & 8oz brisket combo. Served atop coleslaw and “yes, a beer will be good”, I said, as she began to speak of the coca-cola products they carry, thank you, but no. My food arrived instantly in a checkerboard papered basket. It’s a pretty good trick. Damn. And even as I went small, there was a lot of food. Not crippling, thankfully, and really good. Brisket was solid, the ribs were excellent, and I dug on the slaw.

12 of 20 taps hold VT craft offerings (Hill Farmstead Edward Pale Ale, Double Nelson DIPA, Conduct of Life Pale Ale, & Brother Soigne Saison, River Roost Soaked in Sin Barleywine, UnFallen Imperial Stout, & Fear of Flying Pale Ale, Harpoon UFO White, Upper Pass Fred’s Red Ale, Foley Brothers Prospect DIPA, Four Quarters/Zero Gravity collab Biere de Mars, Citizen Cider Unified Press). Half of the remaining taps are craft from the other New England states (Allagash Copain Spelt Sour Ale, Maine Zoe, Cambridge Brewing The Hopheads Guide to the Galaxy IPA, Two Roads Irish Exit nitro Dry Irish Stout), and the others are American craft from elsewhere (Founders Double Trouble DIPA, Lagunitas Summer Lager, Une Annee Le Seul X American Wild Ale with Passionfruit), and wherever (Bud Light).

Started with the Une Annee Le Seul X because I’m not, you know, stupid, and was looking fo’ something else now. Oh, I don’t know, kids behind the counter, what thinks yous? She suggested the Hill Farmstead Double Nelson (Please. That was soooooooooo yesterday drankeded at Hill), and he suggested the Cambridge Brewing The Hopheads Guide to the Galaxy IPA (tasted and yes, it’s quite good, but it’s just that I’m like, in the parking at River Roost, how do I not go with one of their beers?) And so opted for the River Roost Fear of Flying Pale Ale. It was a good decision on my part.

They do Fatty flights of (4) 5oz glasses for $12 and oh yeah, Heady & Focal cans for $8. Did I mention the attached beer store next door? It wasn’t open when I was there Friday in the lunch hour, I don’t know why. Highly suspect! Food was good and they’ve got a solid beer list. Conveniently(ish) located at the intersection of highways to here and there. I need a nap now, but I’m looking at 2.5 hours to CT.

Go here for the beer, skip the food. While they have a great beer selection the food suffers on so many fronts. First off... Don't kid yourself. This is by no mean even close to BBQ. Brisket was ok, tender but no smoke flavor... It tasted like grandma's brisket. The chicken on the sliders was boiled and hard with zero flavor. This all comes down to laziness. They are always out of something and twice I've been told they are out of something a good ten minutes after the order has been placed. Lazy and disorganized. I can't emphasize enough that this is not BBQ.

Quality BBQ joint and a crowler filling, beer boutique kinda place all in the same location? Oh and its cross the parking lot form a micro brewery as well as an upscale restaurant??....small beer store with a wealth of quality bottles, cans, crowler/growler fill options....In the BBQ spot they also have a load of quality craft beer options and I sampled the sausage, brisket, pulled chicken, beans n coleslaw...all on point and quite tasty...take care of your hunger, thirst and go ahead and stock up on the local Vermont goodies you have been wanting to try....well worth gettin of the highway(s) and paying this business and visit...

This place was quite the surprise. A big, buzzing, barbecue joint across the parking lot from River Roost with an excellent taplist and a little craft shop attached to the side. There is just about everything BBQ you can think of and the food was about as good as it gets. The taplist and bottle list featured a very thorough (to my eyes at least) cross-section of NE/East coast beers with some classics (UFO, Allagash) and some modern classics (HF, Lawson's). Attached to the restaurant is a little mini-store with a decent-sized crowler fill station, a cooler full of new-fangled local NEIPA and a really disparate selection of other styles from brewers from across the US and around the world. The staff was very friendly and helpful and there were actually quite a few beers I'd never heard of or seen before which is a good sign if we're talking about what is effectively an oversized coatroom at a restaurant.

 

Started here today; 1/12/2018.
BBQ sandwich was superb! Coleslaw was done nice and crisp and the rest of the smells all around seemed absolutely legit. I had a great vibe from this place since I'm a bit of a country boy myself. I can see why "city slickers" wouldn't like this place, but I get it, to each their own, whatever, I'm only noting so that people like that don't come in here and "down rate" this place to their "pretentious" ways.
Quality was superb with a fabulous selection of high end-ish sort of beers, yes, they do have some of that BMC stuff to cater to those types of people but still, the selection I tend to go for was there as well - the Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, Good Measure, and Zero Gravity were the ones I noticed the most.
If I lived in the White River Junction area, I'd make this my go to place as I was even impressed with their little "crowler pit" off to the right before you walk in.

 

 

A sandwich shop with a killer tap list... they were having a HF tap takeover when I was there.. nuts. Counter order, food delivered to communial tables. Had the catfish...meh. Another plus: their across the parking lot from River Roost.

 

Great local beer selection. Great bottle shop and Crowler fills attached. Great barbecue.

You can get some hard to find Vermont brews here. Hill's, Fiddlehead, and even brews from next door at River Roost Brewery; one of the best new breweries in the Country. Big Fatty's is a BBQ place. I had their brisket which I thought was a little over cooked. But the beans were A1.

 

Good, old fashioned BBQ. Order at the counter and they will bring it to your table. Sliders are excellent. They have all the norms including ribs/pulled pork/brisket/brined chicken/burnt ends and a few other options including burgers, dogs, wings, catfish.

The vibe is comfortable with some large tables and counter space. A small front porch has about 6 tables for outdoor seating.

The taplist is one of the best in the Upper Valley area. A few from Hill Farmstead, Foley Bros., and some national options as well. They also have some decent can and bottle choices. The beers are served in shaker pints, which is not my favorite, but at least you know you are getting your moneys worth.

The food and beer prices are pretty fair. The food is large portions, I brought home as much as I ate.

Also, as a bonus, there is a small but quality bottle shop attached and accessible through the main entry way. They have local and national craft bottles and cans as well as about 15 taps available for crowler fills.

The location is right near the up and coming downtown WRJ area and in the same parking lot as River Roost Brewery, which is worth a stop.