Thoughts on VT beer tour?

Not sure if Lawson's is open to the public. But I would add River Roost in White River Junction and Fiddlehead in Shelburne to your list.

 

Lawson's is not open to public. New place opening in 2018.

Alchemist has samples and then cans to go. Not a tap room for hanging out.

Hill Farmstead has food trucks (time of year dependent) and offer cheese plates. You can have 2 pours per person in the tasting room. Can sample others as well. Always a great experience for me (about once a month).

Lost Nation is close to Hill Farmstead and Alchemist. They have a restaurant and its a fun place to hang out. Great experience for me.

Foam in Burlington is great. They have small food options. Can get full pours of their brews. Great location. Great experience.

Burlington Beer Co. has a nice taproom to hang out. They had charcuterie plates when I was there last summer. Not sure of their overall food situation.

Fiddlehead you can get samples. But can also get a growler and drink it while getting a pizza at the pizza place in the same building. (new facility now?)

Waterbury has the popular bars/restaurants for the beer crowd. 15ish minutes from Stowe. Great place to hang out for a night.

River Roost is great on your way up in White River Junction. Samples and growlers to go. There is a BBQ place in same parking lot (Big Fatty's) with excellent tap list (Hill Farmstead, etc.)

Tree House is to go only other than a few occasions when they got a temporary license.

Foley Brothers is a fun stop if it fits your schedule and driving route.

Check out other threads in the New England forum. Lots of VT Beercation threads with great info.

 

In the Burlington area, I'd also plug Zero Gravity/American Flatbread (bar and full service restaurant) and Four Quarters (small tasting area). As far as bottle shops, the Craft Beer Cellar in Waterbury and Beverage Warehouse in Winooski should have you covered.

The Cabot cheese factory and Cold Hollow Cider Mill are good stops, especially if you like extremely plentiful free samples of cheeses, crackers, jams, spreads, cider, maple syrups, etc.

Not sure when it starts up, but the Burlington Farmers Market is huge and awesome.

And if you want to get out and stretch your legs, Mt. Philo State Park (about 30 minutes south of Burlington) is worth checking out. You can hike to the top, or if you're pressed for time, you can actually drive all the way to the top. Incredible views of all of Champlain Valley once you get up there.

 

As a former Masshole now living inVT I would do this: If flying into Boston hit Trillium in Boston grab cans, drive north hit Nightshift full pours cans and bottles. Depending on time of day, get room in/around Boston or hit the road north, it's just under 4 hours to Burlington VT . In Vermont spend a night in Burlington ( Burlington more urban/ nightlife/ choices) or Stowe/ Waterbury. Burlington area: foam, fiddlehead, Burlington beer co. 4quarters are all worth hitting. dinner at Farmhouse for sure From Burlington head south to alchemist open at 11, on to lunch at lost nation,then hillfarmstead. You could easily keep heading east for a night in Portland Maine: bissel brothers, allagash, foundation, Austin street liquid riot, or Circle back to Burlington.
Your only problem will be how to get all the great beer home and an empty wallet

 

Tough to spend a whole day at Trillium. More like a couple hours and then you'll want to see more of what the greater Boston area has to offer.

 

Having done this trip several times from Boston, I highly recommend that you stop on the ride north and have a burger and beer at Worthy Burger. It's only a short distance off route 89...outstanding burgers and fantastic tap list.

 

Since you're flying, I would guess youre not really looking for a stockpile of beer to go. Alchemist serves 3-4 small samples. HF you can get 2 pours. Worthwhile destinations but not really places to spend a prolonged amount of time

Worthy Burger, Foam, Blackback Pub, Doc Ponds, Parker Pie....

These should get you more beer than you need (HF and Alchemist included) and some pretty good eats too

 

Agreed. Spending a whole day at Trillium's tap room is not recommended. Worth a stop for tasters and cans. I'm sure you'll want many opinions on Boston for a night but my favorite spot is Night Shift. I would hit that early and then migrate to Cambridge area for dinner and after drinks. Cambridge Brewing, Meadhall, Lord Hobo are all walking distance to each other (I'm sure you'll want to be walking at this point). I would do dinner at CBC.

Realistically you aren't going to have room to bring back all the beer you should be getting so it's more a question of what to bring back. Consider checking an extra bag if you buy as much as folks around here would with that kind of tour.

Otherwise for locations there are many good threads in this forum.

 

I'd stop at Pro Pig in Waterbury. You can get good food and great beer in one stop.
Fiddlehead is a great stop and if you keep going south you can hit a couple of places in Middlebury. Drop In is an interesting place if you want to talk brewing.
As someone else said Foley Brothers is very much worth a stop and is only 20 minutes from Middlebury.
I don't do this often but - I was disappointed in Bobcat Cafe & Brewery. Seemed like the brewery was an afterthought.
Get the Vermont Breweries passport if your into swag.

 

Had Worthy Burger on my last VT trip a few weeks ago, wasn't impressed. Had Doc Ponds on the same trip and very much was!
Idletyme Brewing has a long beer list, its not great but the food there is pretty good as well.

You wont find a bigger Foley Brothers fan than me, most underrated brewers out there IMO.

Fiddlehead makes good stuff but its very small, you have to buy and leave (though they are attached to a good pizza place.

You could legit spend a long time at Hill. they say 2 pours per person but Im not really sure if they enforce it.

Long Trail and Harpoon both have food and are fun hang outs. Long Trail in particular has a patio out back on the water.

Whetstone Station is also a good stop, great food.

 

If you are going to go from Trillium Boston to Nightshift, stop also at Mystic to give you a break from the hoppy stuff. Mystic does some very interesting takes on some of the more traditional (and not so traditional) styles. Just thinking a little variety and breaking away from the hops theme might be good. They have a great pizza joint within walking distance, and I am not sure but I think they can get deliveries. You can message them on FaceBook and they usually respond pretty quickly.

 

worthy is a solid stop on the way back to help cut the drive down. I hit brick and feather on the way to treehouse if you can time it right. solid stuff. I'd say foam and burlington beer if you go that way. bb always has good selection and a good vibe, never too crowded. underrated. armsby abbey between treehouse and boston is a must. I'd second portland too, awesome place. do the drive up to hill from there - if you do it to get there a lil before open its a gorgeous drive. I did a night there, then a night in vt, th way home. deciduous is also highly underrated, though not near anything. need any info man, feel free to hit me up. do it up!

 

Like others said, you probably wont be able to bring much beer back with you if youre flying. If I were you I would focus more on good locations where you can try a variety of stuff, and less on the kinds of places where the only thing you do is stand in line to buy cans.

Hill Farmstead is excellent, but its very out of the way and is going to suck up a lot of your time. Lawsons does not currently have a taproom. Alchemist will be on your way up most likely, so its worth a quick stop.

Waterbury and Burlington will be your best bets I think. Waterbury has Pro Pig, Reservoir, Blackback Pub and several other good locations all within walking distance of each other. Most have lots of local beers on tap and usually have a couple HF Alchemist and Lawsons beers.

Burlington has a ton of good breweries in the area. Burlington Beer Co is one of my favorite stops. Foam is quickly becoming a popular choice. On top of that you've got Magic Hat, Fiddlehead, Queen City, Citizen Cider, Zero Gravity, VT Pub & Brewery, Groennfell Meadery, Switchback, Four Quarters and a couple other locations all within reasonable distance.

 

I don't have a whole lot to add here. Great suggestions above.

But additionally,

• Hired Hand in Vergennes has been dazzling me with their beer & food (their unfiltered IPA and steamed korean bbq buns are a winning combo). It's about 20 min south of Fiddlehead.
• While you're at it you can hit Otter Creek (fantastic smoked wings w/ Citra Mantra!) and Drop In Brewery in Middlebury.
• From Middlebury it's only another 20 minutes to Foley Bros which @JLK7299 above correctly pointed out has awesome stuff, an ancient farmhouse taproom, and beautiful grounds with outdoor games and tables abutting a golf course.

You will not regret a drive through Addison County (prettiest part of the State in this Vermonter's opinion) in the Springtime.

 

I'd consider driving the whole thing depending on where you are in Minnesota, if you've been to Boston before, and if you like your friend to the tune of 40 hours in the car together over the course of a week. A friend does Chicago to Vermont a few times a year has no real preference between flying to Boston then driving versus driving Chicago to VT (though Minnesota is another 4-6 hours beyond Chicago). You can loop around the Great Lakes so it's a different trip out and back, and would afford you the opportunity to bring a bunch more beer back.

 

What's your budget? Hotel Vermont in Burlington is incredible. The bar downstairs and the restaurant next door, Hen of the Wood, are both top notch (seriously the restaurant is top 5 in VT), both with excellent beers on tap. The bar even has an outdoor fireplace with Pendleton blankets on loan for chilly nights. Meanwhile, the Best Western is...... a Best Western. Better to stay here http://www.oldstagecoach.com/ for charm and proximity (walking distance) to Waterbury. Just my 2 cents.

 

Warning on Hen of the Wood- you likely need to make a reservation 3+ weeks in advance. If you get there right at opening you may get lucky but other than that, it's very popular.

Was just up at Stowe/Waterbury/Burlington 2 weekends ago. Couldn't believe how many place you could get Heady and Focal at. Like Disney for beer lovers!