Road Trip, Stopping in CT, Which Brewery??

My #1 is Counter Weight in Hamden. That would require the drive to the New Haven area but you could also hit NEBCo as the two are only 10 minutes apart.
#2 is Fox Farm.
Can variety and quantity fluctuates at all three week to week if looking for take home options.

 

I guess the big question is what day of the week will you be traveling? I would say Fox Farm is the place to go. They are only Open Thursday through Sunday though, and don't open till 2:00 on Thurs-Friday. That may work if you plan to stop after lunch though.

My suggestion would be to have Lunch in Mystic and then head to Fox Farm. (Provided it's not Mon-Wed). Lunch options I would recommended in Mystic are The Engine Room and S & P Oyster Company.

Enjoy your trip.

 

Coming from RI, Fox Farm is more on your way than going across to the New Haven area, especially if you swing down to Beer'd and Grey Sail, and if you want the full New England experience, FF are in the middle of beautiful nowhere. If you're trying to save time, Plum Tomato down the road from there has great pizza that you can take to eat at the brewery.

 

Fox Farm is spectacular and a very very special spot. Counterweight makes my favorite beer in the state and I believe their New England IPAs are currently better than Tree House, as was said before, they are farther west near New Haven. NEBCO is a craft beer OG and also makes rock solid beer. IMO that is the 1st tier of CT beer and all worth going out of your way to go to. Check the hours carefully though as they all have limited hours.

 

Counter Weight is my favorite but Fox Farm may be a better visit, just because of how beautiful it is. Their beer is incredible too! Can't go wrong with either, really.

 

Five Churches is worth a visit if you're in the Hartford/New Britain area. Great atmosphere and great pizza

Also I can't believe New Park has not been mentioned!

 

A lot of people are not huge fans of theirs. I personally dont like their beer or the spot very much. I find their IPAs very hot.

 

You're talking about New Park not 5 Churches, correct? If so, I agree, not a fan of theirs.

 

Correct. Not a big fan of New Park.

 

In all honesty I am partial to CounterWeight. However with your stops being Rhode Island then Treehouse you are probably best to stay in southeast CT. Maybe Grey Sail, Beer’d, Engine Room for Lunch then Fox Farm and finally Treehouse. Cheers!

 

I like all of Counterweights stuff to be honest. However, the Inundation series or Vulture Culture is as good of an example of the Juicy, Tropical, creamy NEIPA that you'll find anywhere.

I do think right now their IPAs are better than Tree House. Unfortunately, while still very good, I dont think the Tree House IPAs have the consistent greatness that they used to have at their old location (although some would hotly debate this). That being said, Tree House is definitely worth going to.

Counterweight distributes their flagship beer Headway across CT and its pretty easy to find. So grabbing some fresh Headway and hitting Fox Farm would be a bad plan considering you're out east anyway.

 

I love Counterweight but I'd echo earlier comments that Fox Farm is probably your best bet for location and timing. As the above comment mentioned, Counterweight does distribute, so you may be able to hit Fox Farm and also find some CW on the shelf instead of having to drive across the state. Besides Headway, their double IPA Crucial Mass has also been appearing on store shelves for the past month and their pilsner Workhorse (my personal favorite) goes out as well.

Also I might be in the minority on this one, but while I like Counterweight more overall, I tend to prefer Fox Farm when it comes to IPAs. I really miss the first ~6 months of Counterweight IPAs when it seemed like they were hitting a happy medium between NEBCO and NEIPA; now that they've gone full haze I don't care for their hops as much as Fox Farm or Tree House outside of a few exceptions like No Hope for the Kids and Talisman.

 

I havent been there in a while, but Waterford Wine and Spirits always had a nice craft beer selection. Might be a good option. Right off of 95.

 

I agree. The OG chill haze Headway is still my favorite, and the first examples of Space Coyote were stellar.

 

I hope you're doing it on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday because for starters, Proc doesn't open until 3pm on the other days they're open. Even with the noon opening I don't know how you're going to fit that trip in one day with all those stops and driving.