Thoughts on VT beer tour?

If you do get there right at opening it's dollar oysters (4-5pm) and 5 dollar cans of Heady! But yeah... book in advance for dinner...

 

I agree and I really enjoy the Old Stagecoach. Get room 8. They say its haunted! I was there for a few nights last month and did not see anything spooky though. They have a really good breakfast and about 200 yards from Blackback, Pro Pig, Res, etc.
If you want more action, Burlington would be the choice though.

 

Agreed. Hotel Vermont is one of my favorite hotels anywhere. Awesome place. And they have a beer concierge!

 

If you stay in Waterbury, Old Stagecoach for sure.

 

And the Old Stagecoach is.... well, old. For what you pay. I don't think the Best Western can be beat. Yes, it's further than Old Stagecoach, but really not a bad walk - weather permitting.

 

I like Old Stagecoach, but I often stay at the Best Western because they don't have a two-night minimum when Stagecoach does. You'd be fine at either place. Both are walkable to the bars in Waterbury (tho Stagecoach is much closer). There is also a Hen of the Wood in Waterbury, a very short walk from Best Western.

 

Re: Hotel VT. My wife and I just spent a weekend there with our young one, and it really is the best hotel in town, by far. We spent both nights after going out (Farmhouse, Trat are A+) hanging by the fire on the big ottoman chair, drinking beers from the bar above.

We actually had our dog hanging out with us both nights as well. I know babies and dogs make people's heads explode when mixed with craft beer in other settings, but this was a nice experience

 

I always feel like people are happy to minimize the difference. Old Stagecoach is literally a simple, flat, less than one city block walk to the Waterbury bars/restaurants. Best Western (and the new Marriott property) are an incredibly steep walk, on a state highway, right by an exit from the interstate. Happy to admit you can prefer the atmosphere of Old Stagecoach or the chain hotel, but comparing them in terms of walk ability is not fair. (I'm in the Old Stagecoach bucket.)

 

Just spent a week traveling in New England (also from MN!) -- Not sure I have that much to add but here are a few (edit: many, many) of my thoughts.

1. If you are flying, you can fit roughly 20 cans of a 16 oz beer into a suitcase while staying under the 50 pound weight limit. I would fly Southwest so you can check two bags. (On an errrr.... totally unrelated note, I hope some stranger at BDL enjoyed the cans of OH Citra and SoS I was forced to abandon in front of the check in.)

2. I spent basically one day in Burlington, on a day where they got 25 inches of snow... so I'm not sure I got the full experience. I loved Foam. My fiancee, who is not nearly as into beer as I am, said it was maybe her favorite stop on our whole trip. The IPAs I had were both very good and the sour was outstanding. Foam has a really nice patio that would overlook the lake on a day when it wasn't snowing so hard that you couldn't see in front of your face. We stayed at the Sheraton, which, on a nice day, would be about a 20 minute walk (or $6 Uber) from downtown.

We also stopped in Waterbury, although many places were also closed because of the storm. The craft beer store on Main St is really nice and the options were honestly a little overwhelming, given the limits of what I could transport home. Sadly, the roads were pretty rough, so we missed out on Alchemist and Hill Farmstead. A stranger at Foam (Matt -- if you're on here, thanks for the beer!) hooked me up with a random can of Heady to bring back for a buddy of mine who has never had it.

I also really enjoyed several of the Portland, ME beers I had, but that would be a pretty significant detour if you are driving Boston>VT.

 

Another vote for HV -- when we stayed last summer -- this was waiting in our room when we arrived. Sold -- forever!

 

Matt is awesome, I really need to get back there soon.

 

Wait, what?! That wasn't waiting for me!

 

This thread is great! My wife and I are planning a similar trip (from Ohio) but I think our time in Vermont is going to be limited. Is it pretty easy to find Lawson's in bottle shops on any given day or does it depend on the delivery schedule? I think we plan to be in Burlington, Waterbury and Stowe on a Friday and Saturday, think I'll have luck?

 

By Lawson's do you mean Sip of Sunshine or Super Session? If so, stores have delivery days listed here:
https://www.lawsonsfinest.com/find-our-beer/
It has been hanging around a decent amount of time recently so you may have luck.

If you mean the limited bottles, that is a different story. Delivery day is most likely your only option. 3 stores get bottles, listed on the Lawson's Website in their Monthly beer news.

 

Sorry, I meant Sip of Sunshine, I appreciate the information.

 

If you're traveling through Connecticut and Massachusetts, there's a chance you'll be able to find SoS as well, since it's brewed/canned in southern Connecticut.

 

That's great to hear! I think the initial plan is to spend a couple of days in Vermont, and then over to Portland for a few days before staying with a friend in Hampton, NH. Boston, Salem and then a stop at Tree House to round it out. So I'm sure we'll hit a few different shops along the way.

 

On Saturday you should be able to pick up 2 four packs at Beverage Baron in Barre. They release some of their weekly shipment on Saturdays (Heady too). Its not too far from where you will be, and may be on your way out depending on route.

 

I hit up The Alchemist two Saturdays ago and stopped at Hunger Mountain (Montpelier, VT) on my way home. Cases of SoS were available and it was a one-case limit per person, I believe. This was at roughly 12:30 pm.

 

Yeah, its been hanging around a lot of places recently. This time of year is the slowest too, when skiing tourism starts to slow down.