Beer-Cation Suggestions

A recent thread on the subject :
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-cation.167533/

 

Portland, OR seems like the place for you.

 

Except that OP says:

It's a looooooong way from Miami to Portland!

 

East Coast? Asheville seems a good choice (one I'll be making soon).

 

Vermont Brewers Festival is July 18-19 although the tix sold out day they went on sale. Still, it's a small state, and not a lot of driving. Plus, maybe 10%, a generous estimate, of their brewers actually btl and distribute. North Carolina is a very good pick. Hot spots like Asheville, Charlotte and Durham have multiple breweries. Some across the street from each other. Of course, the Hudson Valley has a recent explosion in craft breweries. I think 7 have opened in the past couple years w/multiple gold medal winners including Crossroads out of Athens and Peekskill. Capt. Lawrence, Rushing Duck, Newburgh, Brewery at Bacchus, Chatham, Defiant, plus a large selection of local cideries

 

google maps would have me believe, the Alchemist is about 40 minutes from Burlington
Hill Farmstead is about 1hr40 min from Burlington
Lawson's is about 1 hr from burlington
Assuming you're staying in Burlington, yes they are all within close driving distance.

 

Lawson's & Alchemist are not a breweries you "visit" though. You either go to Warren Store or Waitsfield Farmers Market to buy bottles of Lawson's or you go to Waterbury to buy cans and visit Pro Pig/Blackback/Res for Toppers.

Farmstead really is a huge huge destination brewery and totally worth it. In the middle of NO WHERE and absolutely serene and beautiful.....plus, they have world class brews. Plan to spend an entire day driving there, waiting in line and totally enjoying yourself though.

That being said, Burlington/Waterbury/Montpelier have great beer scenes and have a lot to offer.

 

San Diego. Although a DD would be nice because it entails driving.

 

Philly Beer Week starts next week... http://www.phillybeerweek.org/

Even if you can't make it this year, it might be something to pencil in your calendar for another year. Philadelphia has it's share of non-beer attractions too... Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, sporting events, Eastern State, and lots of great restaurants for foodies.

Yeah they are each about an hour or more from each other. There are other smaller, lesser known breweries along the way between them, though. Anyway you look at it, be prepared to do a lot of driving, which doesn't always combine well with drinking beer.... The VT summers are really nice though... not too humid and there will be lots of nice scenery on your drives, which makes the long drives quite relaxing. FWIW...I grew up in VT, and when I go back to visit I'll drive an hour somewhere without batting an eye, but if I have to drive 20 minutes in my local Philadelphia area traffic I want to kill people.

 

I stayed in Stowe (very central location 30-ish from both Burlington and Montpelier) a couple weekends ago and have to say VT must be the ultimate "beercation."

Waterbury with Prohibition Pig is right down the road and they had Topper, Lawson's sip of sunshine, and 3 or 4 HF's on tap.....plus there is a killer new bottle shop just around the corner where I picked up some Topper and Evil Twins Even More Jesus for cheap. The locals I met in Pro Pig gave me a VT Beer Passport which is worth checking out also.

From Stowe I think Farmstead was like an hr drive but I passed Rock Art, Crop Brewing, and possibly another along the way so it's quite the golden road of beer.

 

yup..Diego

 

i want to be clear, that VT totally gets my vote. just wanted to answer some of your questions.

 

If you don't need to rent a car and public transportation is not repulsive in your travels, I suggest either Chicago or Portland. Portland, ME, not OR. Chicago, for its easy access from either ORD (Blue Line) or MDW (Orange Line) and its easy to navigate block and grid street numbering system. Portland, ME, for its quaintness and its lobster. B
eer and lobster belong together. Fly non-stop either way. Have paid fun and thank your boss. My only question is 3 days, you got 5 days before, why did you lose 2 days?