Road Trip ideas? CO to VT

Don't forget crooked stave while you are still in CO. That would be a huge mistake.

 

Why not follow the south shore of Lake Erie and go through Cleveland? You could hit any or all of the following: Fatheads, Brewkettle, Great Lakes, Market Garden, Nano, Tremont Tap House? For purchases, Roz's or Lilly's. A great selection in a small geographic area. (And I'm sure I missed a few spots.)

 

I'd certainly hit Founders if I had the chance!

 

If you hit Founders, don't forget about Brewery Vivant near by, and HopCat.

 

Capital if you like Lagers, and Tyranena. Bell's is about an hour south of Grand Rapids. And then you are almost to Dark Horse. And , based just on what I've heard, if you go via Detroit Kuhnhenn

 

you could spend almost a week in Michigan alone

 

If you go to FFF again then you'd better look at their to-go list beforehand...it's down to almost nothing. However, if you go to FFF again, then after that you can head up into Michigan on I-94, thru Detroit, and then into Canada to Toronto. Along I-94 in Michigan are no less than 15 breweries that are within 5 miles of the highway. The notables are (from west to east) Greenbush, The Livery, Bell's, Arcadia, Dark Horse, Jolly Pumpkin (Ann Arbor location), Arbor Brewing, and Corner Brewing. If you want to swing through the northern route above Detroit and up to the bridge to Canada at Port Huron, then you'd come close to being able to stop at Kuhnhenn in Warren. All of these are tough choices and very worthy visits.

If you are looking for fun tourist places along this route then you'll have beaches in the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph area; Kalamazoo has the Air Zoo; nearby Hickory Corners has the Gilmore Car Museum (one of the top 5 in the US); Battle Creek has a really nice zoo; and Detroit also has a great zoo in addition to Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn.

Welcome ahead of time to Michigan.

 

If you go up through Wisconsin, stop in Decorah, IA for some Toppling Goliath. Then why not New Glarus?

 

I'll add that if you reverse your route thru Nebraska and Iowa (which is probably how you drove on your trip out) then if you stop in Omaha you can hit Nebraska Brewing which is a good one. If you stop again in Des Moines then Racoon River is okay (sometimes they have something really good), but more interesting is El Bait Shop with its 100+ taps. (Not sure if it's appropriate for a 2-year old.) If you skip FFF, then nearby you can hit Crown Brewing. I was there earlier this week and I was impressed. It's a small place, but good beers and good food. Then you can head for Michigan and Canada.

 

I would go Interstate 70 on your way back... There are a ton of great brewery cities along that route. on the way down you could hit up the harrisburg, pa area (pizza boy and troegs) then hit up pittsburg, (fat heads, church brew works) then Columbus, OH (columbus brewing company), Then indy ( tons there), st louis ( perrenial, 4 hands, square one, ect.), kansas city ( boulevard, tall grass is a little outside of KC), then its denver. plenty mentioned there already above.

 

I guess you could reverse that list b/c i just realized you were already in CO, and now coming back.........

 

Goose Island-Founders-Dark Horse-Kuhnhenn...all top notch candidates in the swing through the lakes.

 

I'd hit Founders and reach out to the good folks here for a shop that you can replace those FFF bottles.

 

If you have time make a sprint to Colorado Springs and hit Trinity & Bristol.

 

By dinner time I'd think that you'll be too far east for Bell's, Arcadia or Dark Horse to eat again (although each has very good food and beer and worth the gluttony ), so I'd suggest Jolly Pumpkin in downtown Ann Arbor for great food and beer. In case you're not familiar with JP, their beers are mostly funky/sours, so if you're not into that style they also have stuff from North Peak Brewing. Or, within two blocks is Arbor Brewing and Grizzly Peak Brewing, both also with good food and beer.

Edit: if either Bell's, Arcadia or Dark Horse are your preferred choices then the distance from I-94 is about the same 4-5 miles for Bell's and Arcadia (although Arcadia can be reached more quickly because of the I-194 spur to downtown), and 3-4 miles for Dark Horse.

 

To the OP....

...would be curious to what places you stopped at along Court Avenue in Des Moines? Were you referring to the Brewpub - Court Avenue or the Court Avenue entrainment district of downtown. I agree....either of those are just OK.

As one of the other posters mentioned, very close to Court Avenue and worth another stop in Des Moines is El Bait Shop....great bar with awesome food and over 110 craft taps (kid friendly). Also worth stopping at is Confluence Brewery, which is just a few miles away. They have a fantastic taproom where you could stop and have a pint and fill a growler.