One Day. 166 Miles. 9 Stops.

I've done Lagunitas, Russian River, Bear Republic and Heretic in a single day before. So many good IPAs.

 

I started planning an Amtrak trip two yeas ago from Michigan to the west coast via Chicago using a travel pass, but I still haven't finished an itinerary to get going. I'd be curious about any tips you have for the planning process and the route taken west of Chicago.

 

I made no plans .Started in Boston and then to connecticut for 3 days .each stop I'd spend 3 days and then just google a brewery and look for a hotel near by. Another 3 days and another random city. Was In Chicsgo for 5 days and lost my debit card so I had them mail a replacement to my sister in ********* Az . Spent Thanksgiven there , 3 days in Winslow , 3-4 days in Flagstaff , then Denver , then Vegas , Then San diego , then up to Russian River , Then Deschutes. Then I got a call that my 90 yr old brother in law was in the hospital so I started heading back east .Couple days later I found out he was o.k. so went back to Denver for Christmas , The shot over to Founders and a few bars in that area , , then Asheville N.C. for New years . Then a couple days in Philly and then home . Might have been a couple other stops but can't think of them off the top of my head .
Plenty of others I wanted to hit but the weather was nasty the whole time .Day before I left I was outside in a t-shirt by the time I hit Chicago it was in the 30 with snow and 35 mph winds . Rained or snowed in every city / state I visited and all I brought was a leather jacket . Even with the drought in Cali I arrived in San diego during a hurricane. Hope to do it again , only next time it will be spring / summer.

 

I did a very similar trip when I was in VT for brewing school last year with some classmates (and very generous DD's too!) My advice: skip Magic Hat, go to Queen City Brewing in Burlington, and make sure you check out The Resevoir - just up the street from Pro Pig, taplist is just as good most of the time and the food ain't half bad either. Have fun.

 

Sounds like a really cool trip.

 

Just spent five days in the same area, and I didn't hit all the spots listed. That said, I got beers from almost all of your destinations, many just by hitting CBC while waiting for a table at Prohibition Pig. Give it a thought because driving in Vermont is misleading - getting from point A to point B can be tricky and the timing of the trip often differs from what you get from your Google map projections.

 

#beergypsy

 

I once went to 9 breweries in one day. Walked to them all. God bless Asheville

 

I actually called it the hobo brewery tour.

 

Have never done a trip such as this, but would love to do one. 38 craft breweries, maybe more now, that I could visit. Man I hope you have a great trip. Enjoy and be safe. Looking forward to your post.

 

Ouch. Don't be a hero.

 

I enjoy the beer "road trip" and because I travel a lot for work, I get to do exploratory missions quite often. The agenda you selected is fantastic, should be a great trip. Personally, I try to stick to maybe 3-4 destinations and try to meet some new trading partners. Since I love food, it's always good to get some local perspective for dining as well.

Yesterday was a good day trip. Trillium, Row34, Jacks Abbey, and Tree House. Had time to hit the FedEx center and ship a large package back to IL.

 

I've been wanting to take a weekend and hit up Hoppin Frog, Brew Kettle, Great Lakes, Fat Head's in northern OH, then down to Columbus for Columbus Brewing, then down to Athens for Jackie O's. That's a hell of a trip right there.

 

A group of Burlingtonians did a World's End pub crawl (inspired by the movie) downtown last year. They hit up 12 bars around town, drinking at least a pint at each. I ran into them at Vermont Pub and Brewery, about halfway through their crawl, when the group leader gave that epic movie mid-point speech pretty much word for word. Amazing. They invited me along but I was a few pubs in at that point already too and didn't think it would end well for me. Still kind of regret not joining them just to see what happened!

 

Hopefully you can score a Marmalade Sandwich on your trip as well.

 

I should do something like this in NYC - There are a lot breweries in the Five Boroughs and beyond, but figuring out public transportation is the biggest hurdle.

 

1 day. 5.7 miles (on foot). 10 world class stops.

Bailey's Taproom
Hair of the Dog
The Commons
Cascade Barrel House
Baerlic Brewing
BeerMongers
APEX
Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom
Horse Brass Pub
Belmont Station

That's 4 awesome breweries and 6 beer bars with a combined 175 taps, and you can hit the entire thing on foot with only about 2 hours of walking. the truly crazy part is that I had to leave off several worthy spots like Growler Guys because google maps only allows you to include 10 destinations on a route like this. I honestly believe this is the highest concentration of good beer spots in the country.

google map of route

 

Did something fairly similar to OP's (and a few others) VT trip, but covered a bit more of New England and worked in some visits to friends too. Never actually tallied up total spots or haul, so this it a bit self-serving, but from memory-

Philly->Boston for a weekend, hit Trillium, CBC, and Lord Hobo. Then Burlington(ish) for 4 days, hit Beverage Baron in Barre and Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier on the way up. Used Burlington as a base and hit everything in downtown, plus Hill Farmstead and Switchback. Day trip to Waterbury (Pro Pig, Reservoir, Craft Beer Cellar). Then western Massachusetts, on the way down hit Fiddlehead, Otter Creek, Foley Brothers, and Brewfest in Rutland. In western Mass hit up Treehouse and Northampton Brewery. On the way back to Philly stopped at Tired Hands.

Final haul:
-Trillium - Vicinity x3, Congress St x3, Melcher St x3, PM Dawn x1, Fort Point x1, Farmhouse x1
-Heady Topper x36, Sip of Sunshine x16, Second Fiddle x4, 14th Star Tribute x4, Switchback Citra Pils x2, Backacre Golden Sour x4, Foley Brothers Fair Maiden x2 and Pieces of Eight x1
-Hill Farmstead - Double Citra growler x3, Edward growler x2, Anna x6, Dorothy x6, Arthur x6
-Treehouse - Julius x10
-And a bunch of non-locals that don't have regular Philly distro

Takeaways:
1) New England has an absolutely incredible concentration of world-class IPAs/DIPAs.
2) Foley Brothers was great. Incredibly nice people, and Pieces of Eight should be one of the most sought-after DIPAs around.
3) Hill Farmstead was fantastic, but Treehouse is still my favorite beer place and staff anywhere. Great to see them grow so much over time, and they just nail every style they make. Julius will always be my desert island beer.
4) The trunk of a Subaru Legacy is bigger than expected.
5) My wife is a saint.

Takeaways are not in order of importance or value.

 

FIBs will drive 400 miles each way on the drop of the hat for a beer release....on their lunch hour somehow. Sorry OP but 166 miles & 9 stops is a normal weekly effort for those FIBs needing to stock up on the latest citra & honey DIPA from Pipeworks. Traders gotta trade after all.

 

This is my idea of a 'weekend' getaway:
Day 1:


Left work at 2pm, ran up Mt Kilington around 4:30 to finish my VT 4ks. Headed into Waterbury - Dinner at Reservoir and another drink or two at Blackback. Headed to Burlington to Mule bar for night cap then crashed at Burlington Hostel.

Day 2:


It was raining hard, so I slept in (8:00am, lol), grabbed donuts and coffee next door, then chased Lawson's truck around town to get cans of Sip of Sunshine. Then I headed over to Fiddlehead on my way to the Adirondacks. I ran up Mt Giant and Rocky Ridge Peak for my first 2 of the ADK 46 late afternoon (rain had stopped and clouds started to clear!) and then headed to Lake Placid. Checked in at the hostel, showered, then headed into town to check out Liquids and solids at the Handle Bar and Lake Placid Brewpub.

Day 3:
Big hike/run day. 1 day Great Range Traverse. ~25 miles, 9000 ft vertical gain, ADK 46 #2-10, 10 hours. Had a late start due to a bit excessive drinking (for my digestive track). Went back into town for pizza then enjoyed some SoS back at the Hostel.

Day 4:

Another quick run up Cascade & Porter mountains for ADK #11,12 before heading back to Burlington. I originally planned to check out Four Quarters Brewing, but they were closed, despite their website saying they would be open!!! I stopped for lunch and brews at the Farmhouse Tap & Grill before making the long drive back to Tilton just in time to start work.

In total, ~72 hours, ~550 miles, 5 bars, 2 breweries, a couple stores, 13 4000ft+ mountains, ~20000ft Vert. Gain, ~43 miles trail running. Few wasted minutes!

Last summer I did a VT run as crazy. Hit up all three bars in Waterbury after work then hiked Camels hump early the next day, went to Hill farmstead for growlers/bottles, ran up Mt Mansfield late afternoon/evening, then dinner at Picassopie and drinks back in Waterbury. Next day was hunting for Heady in Montpelier, Warren store for Lawson's delivery, run up Mt Abraham & Ellen, then dinner at Worthy Burger before driving down to Kilington. I work up early planning on running Kilington, but I was not feeling well and had to be back in NH for work at 11am. Yeah, I really like cramming a ton of run/hiking and beer in as few days as possible!