My girlfriend and I are currently planning a trip out east later this year (either early summer or early fall). It's a trip for beer. I'm coming from Indiana and my plans are to go as far northeast as Bissell Brothers and as far south as Tree House and everything in between. Where all can I go to buy beer to go? I'm pretty new to the east coast beers but have had several here in the last 6 months and loved them so we've decided to take a trip. It'll be a 7-10 day trip so we will have plenty of time for different places and other sight seeing.
if u are coming this far north you might as well keep heading north and hit mecca in Greensboro Bend. Cheers and best of luck.
That will be a great trip! Alot of other travel threads in this forum, but definitely try to incorporate some time in Vermont. Depending on your route, you could hit Fiddlehead, Foam, Burlington Beer, and a few others (all in Burlington, possibly stay a night or two there). You could then drive to Alchemist, Lost Nation, Hill Farmstead all in one day. Drive to Portland (Bissell, Foundation, and more). Then down to Boston (Night Shift, Trillium, various others......must take the drive out to Tree House but check their schedule and if you want cans only or cans/growlers, the first post in the TH thread in here spells out most of needed info, depending on timing of your trip, their new location could be up and running which would have to be a MUST visit). Gotta give some love to some NH breweries too (Great Rhythm, Stoneface).
I agree with a lot of what @ScottDawg7 said. With 7-10 days, you can probably spend two to three nights in Boston, a night in Portsmouth, two nights in Portland, and 2-3 nights in Burlington/Waterbury. Depending on when you come, you'll definitely need to factor in traffic. All else being equal, early Fall is likely to be a little easier travel if school is back in session.
How many of these Tap rooms allow kids? We are trying to decide whether or not it'll be worth taking the kids or not. I'd like to take them with us as none of us has ever been to the northeast. Being from Indiana we usually go southeast to Florida for vacations.
Most of the tap rooms that I assume you'll be seeking out allow kids. Some of the breweries do not have tap rooms - Treehouse, Alchemist, and Fiddlehead come to mind. Trillium Canton has a tasting room, but not Trillium Boston. Depending on when you might plan to hit Treehouse, the kids could play outside while you wait in line.
Looks like I'm in the same boat as Steele84. We have a group of 4 flying out to Boston in the Fall. Then doing a road trip to Trillium, Tree House, then up to Vermont to hit up Alchemist and Lawson's (however, I read Lawson's brewery isn't for the public). As far as Tree House, looks like they only sell cans and/or fill growlers - depending on the day - at their location (no drinking on site), is that right? Also, I assume the retail shop and the location to buy cans/fill growlers are one in the same? If we go there on a Friday, I assume we should get there right at (or before) they open at 4:00. Sounds like it can get crowded. Do you have to get one or the other, or would I be able to purchase both cans and growlers, during my Friday visit? Much appreciated!
Regarding Lawson's, there should be several bottle shops and stores that sell Sip of Sunshine and Super Session #2 in Massachusetts and Vermont, and you might even find some other Lawson's bottles at stores around the Sugarbush area.
Sorry for the two posts, but for Tree House, I have only been on Wednesdays for can sales only. Correct - no drinking on site unless they get a special permit for that day (from what I have heard). There is a tree house thread in here, with a little reading you'll get a feel for the best times to get there on Fridays and when they usually sell out.
Its hard to say what things at Treehouse will be like in the fall as they will have opened their new facility in Charlton by then. Plan to check in on the monthly treehouse thread in september. Right now, you can get both cans and growlers on thursdays, fridays, and saturday, cans only on wednesday. Lawsons website has detailed info about weekly days/locations of drops in VT. For mass drops, there is essentially no info, I've heard its only every 2 weeks or so. In the fall, you shouldn't have too much trouble tracking down SoS and lines at alchemist shouldn't be bad.
Just finished a trip that included NYC, CT, VT, and ME. Here are a few placed I enjoyed: 1. Foam Brewers in Burlington. A lot of people have mentioned this place above, but don't skip it. One of my favorite taprooms that I've been to. Great beer, cool vibe, and has a patio overlooking lake Champlain. Not sure about kids, sorry. 2. Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier. Great small-town bar. Excellent food... had a great taplist when I was there that included a couple HF taps, SoS, etc. 3. https://craftbeercellar.com/waterbury/ -- This is where I found plenty of Sip to fly back with... not sure if I got lucky or if they normally have it, but they definitely had quite a bit when I was there. They also had bottles of the Lawson's maple stout and about 800 other beers I might have purchased if I had room in my suitcase. It sounds like they also get regular drops of Heady Topper. 4. Bissell Brothers. The hype is real. 5. Austin Street Brewing. Seems like foundation and Allagash are more popular but the DIPA I had from Austin St. was one of the best beers of the entire trip. I didn't actually make it to the brewery, but this spot had a couple of them on tap. Tree House and Alchemist obviously have great beer, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for the experience -- they are more of a "pick up and go" thing, which is just something to consider if you are going to bring kids.
That's good new about SoS. Because I don't think we'll get up there until Saturday. I read on their website they don't deliver to their retail shops on weekends. So getting SoS - or their other stuff - might be hard to find on weekends because they sell out so fast. We'll see I guess.
Don't mean to thread jack, but my wife and I will be traveling in the NE for our honeymoon, which is going to include a 4 day stay in Portland, as well as a couple of days in Waterbury Vermont. So it seemed like a good idea to simply add on to this thread. We'll be in Portland from 4/4 thru 4/8, and then in Waterbury from 4/8 to 4/10. Obviously, we don't have nearly enough time to do everything we want to accomplish, but I do want to make the most of our time while we're here. My wife is not the biggest beer fan, but knows coming out here is obviously a big deal for me. We've been to Portland before, but it's been a few years, back when visiting Ebenezer's, Allagash and Novare Res was the thing to do in Portland. Otherwise, I would definitely like to visit HF and the Alchemist, and am certainly open to any other recommendations. Based on the reviews and comments in the Bissell Brother's thread, I of course want to stop by there as well. Anything else that you feel are must visit stops? I'm open to anything, but don't want to kill my wife by driving all over the country from one brewery/beer bar to the next (especially as we've only been married for 5 months). One quick caveat... nothing against Trillium and Tree House, but I have no interest in visiting either brewery. Maybe if we had more time, but I feel as if we have to draw a line somewhere, and based on my (admittedly limited) experience with the beers from both place, I just feel as if our time could be more profitably spent elsewhere. Thanks in advance for all your help!
It would really help any broadcast post for recommendations if you explain what beers you like. For instance, it's a waste of time recommending Allagash and Oxbow if you only like IPAs.
Mea Culpa. Good point. Other than AAL's and wild ales, I like pretty much everything. I'm particularly fond of IPA's and BA stouts, but I've always been a huge fan of Allagash, as I like their Belgian beers. Even some of the cool ship stuff has been interesting, if not exactly right up my alley.
A plug for the SoMe/New Hampshire seacoast... Deciduous, Great Rhythm, Portsmouth Brewery/Smuttynose, Stoneface and Tributary Brewing are all within a stone's throw of each other and mid-way between Boston and Portland.
My shout is for River Roost brewery in White River Junction, VT - small place near the NH border, but superb beer
Might as well check out Oxbow's taproom if you are in Portland already. Their core beers are fairly hoppy, although not considered IPAs. They definitely focus on the farmhouse style but tend to have 'clean' beers on tap and any wild/sour beers in bottles.
