Yes Red Clover has pretty high quality beers. Worth trying. They seem to have gone downhill some since they opened.
My wife is from the area and we got married just south of Burlington. We make an annual visit to celebrate our anniversary. Hen of the Wood is the best dining experience. Full stop. Make a reservation in advance, otherwise be there a few minutes before open to grab a seat at the bar (first come, first serve). Alchemist available in cans. Best restaurant with large local tap list is Farmhouse Tap & Grill. All locally sourced ingredients/farm to table. Usually a Hill Farmstead tap or two. The Archives has great tap list and cocktail program. Especially if 80s and 90s classic video games are your (NBA) jam. We had good food at Zero Gravity when we there last Fall. A few other breweries in that area if you wanted to do a little crawl (Queen City, Switchback, BBCo). All sorts of great restaurants/bars in Burlington depending on what you're looking for. Just over the river in Winooski, Mule Bar is possibly the best tap list in the area (I just counted 5 HF taps currently). Also food, but more of a limited classic bar menu. Four Quarters is just up the hill from Mule Bar. As is Onion City Chicken & Oyster - excellent food. Across the street/other side of the rotary is Howl Bier - lager focused bar with highly curated local offerings/imports and a focused snack offering. Any other questions, ask away!
I agree on most counts. Mule beer usually has a good tap list.often several Hill Farmsteads. Farmhouse usually has a good list,but it has gone down over the years. I shouldn’t say it, but they have leaned too much to just Vermont beers. Hen of the Woods is a great restaurant. I usually find some good beers at Zero Gravity but their snacks are somewhat limited
Lots of good beer options in Burlington. I think Foam has some of the best beers and a really cool site on the lake (much better in summer). BBCO has a really good space (though lots of families with kids), lots of beers, though the quality isn’t as good . Farmhouse is a good place for dinner,good beer list. Beer list at Mule Bar in Winooski is always good.
Day trip to Alchemist would be great, but stop at BlackBack pub in Waterbury on the way - best beer list in the state. Before Christmas they had 15 HFs on the tap list. If in Waterbury, Freak Folk has really great beer. And why not drive down 100 to Lawson’s…
What are people’s thoughts on Lawson? I acknowledge HF may have the best beer and I acknowledge Heady Topper, but my favorite brewery and brewer is Lawson’s. Why aren’t they more popular?
I think that's a flaming hot take these days. I can't remember the last time I had a good Foam beer. Great branding though.
Too easily available at every bodega in New England, hence poor rep on here But yeah - the quality on it has certainly decreased over the past decade.
I like Lawson's well enough, their IPAs are decent to great when I try them, but I feel like they all have a slightly syrupy quality to the mouthfeel, vs Tree Houses's creamy mouthfeel, which I tend to prefer.
OG Maple Tripple (or was it Tipple?) is still a top 3 all-time beer for me, and i don't foresee any VT hazy ipas dethroning it ever. I also have a lot of respect for Phil at Two Roads, so anyone who trusts their beer with him is a smart cookie IMO
Simply put, they aren’t as good as Alchemist or HF. And despite its small size, Freak Folk makes higher quality beer too. I also prefer River Roost. Lawson’s brewery space is great, and the beer is good. When it comes to the “best brewer,” I just don’t bother with such things because I just don’t know. What makes you say Lawson the best, anyway?
Like you said, the perception of scarcity makes people think more highly of a beer. I can get Lawson's very dialed-in IPAs at gas stations. Contrast this with Treehouse, who makes more beer but only sells through their retail branches, adding a veneer of false scarcity that beer geeks cant resist.
I just like Lawson’s better than Alchemist. I tend more towards WCIPAs rather hazy (NE). I still think HF has the best beer. Also,everything I’ve had from Freak Folk has been great. Treehouse has some good beers,but most of them seems the same. Somewhat muddled in taste. When I said Lawsons is the best brewe,I should be more specific - the best guy,not a jerk or primadona, like some….
