Thoughts on this whirlwind tour

I don't think it's a bad plan at all but there are a couple spots where I think you'd be just as happy cramming less stuff in.

-Not sure if you meant Boston or Canton, but imo don't bother with Canton Trillium unless it's close to where you're staying. Given the amount of stops on your trip I think right off the bat you'll be happier just grabbing cans in Fort Point and then spending the rest of that evening in Boston. Night Shift is a great option if a brewery is a must, and Trillium is on tap lots of places.

-NEBCO: The beer is good (especially if you have a soft spot for the Alchemist end of the spectrum) but not so good that it warrants the extra driving. If it's a matter of filling in the large blank on your schedule between TH and Suarez, you could do worse than NEBCO and staying in New Haven, but I wouldn't go that far out of the way just for the beer as "very good" can be had almost everywhere you're stopping.

-Burlington: I'd prioritize having a fun chill evening walking around the city and just make sure you hit Foam. Fiddlehead and Foley are fine (and I've never been to either taproom so maybe they're great spots) but if it were me I'd prioritize just getting settled in Burlington and spending the night walking around eating awesome food, drinking at Foam, and having tap HF and Heady/Focal cans virtually everywhere.

-As much as I love Waterbury, the Stowe bar options are good enough that you don't 100% need to hit Pro Pig if you find yourself shorter on time than expected post HF. Burlington -> HF -> Waterbury -> Stowe is a lot of driving when The Bench and Doc Ponds are more or less the same as the Waterbury bars. And at some point driving safely is a concern, too.

The shit parts of your plan are fitting in Suarez and the drive from Stowe to Portland. But given that the first is a top 3 brewery on your trip and the latter is almost surely the most fun city to do solo on your trip I'd say both are worth it. Suarez is in the middle of nowhere so if you can just trade for some that's reasonable, too, and would ultimately net you an extra night in Burlington or Portland.

 

*commence yelling*

THIS IS GREAT ADVICE

 

Dude is staying in Ludlow and lives in Utah! Telling him not to go to Tree House is laughably try hard even if I have 0 disagreement that HF/Foam NEIPAs are just as good as any big name Massachusetts option.

 

Not trying to be a try hard at all. I don’t find value in going to a brewery where you have to wait an hour to get beer to-go. I don’t care how highly rated it is. I’d rather go to any one of the four places I mentioned instead. That’s my opinion. He doesn’t have to take it.

I’d hope someone would give me the same advice if I was traveling. “Everyone is saying go here; Go here instead.” Then I could take that advice or not.

Otherwise, every single “I’m coming to New England thread” is just littered with one suggestion.

 

I know it's not fun to follow line groups on Facebook and keep checking them, but I've rarely waited an hour for a beer at Tree House. If he has the flexibility, it's easy to time it right and get in and out with beer to go -- and even grab a pour if you want. Most of my recent trips have been 30 to 45 minutes and included lines barely to the door and a pour.

 

I mean, I don't really disagree with either of your points - waiting in line sucks, and varied suggestions are valuable. And the way you phrased it was reasonable, agreed that no beer fan visiting New England should feel like they "have" to hit Trillium or Tree House when there are comparable options elsewhere. I just thought it funny that given wasatch's trip is taking him to Boston and central Mass regardless, plugging three breweries that make primarily farmhouse ales was a goofy way to make that point. If I'm being ungenerous, akin to telling someone visiting Brooklyn "you don't need to get pizza, what you REALLY need to do is drive upstate for some farm to table filets."

 

“You’re in Brooklyn? You just HAVE to go to (insert place here). Sure you’ll have to wait in a long line and eat it in the car, but it’s brookyln pizza!”

 

I'll add to this that on your way back hit Old Klaverack Brewing in Hudson. It's about 20 minutes from Sloop and has some great beers. Tiny tap room but a lot of fun, and they often fire up the grill and cook burgers and dogs in the evening.

Vanished Valley already got mentioned, they are great. I like Iron Duke as well, but they don't open until 3:30 on Thursday so that might not work based on your timeline.

 

I wanted to pop in to mention if you were trying to decide, do not waste your time with Honest Weight. I was massively underwhelmed when I went there last Thursday by everything I tried. Plus they charge $4 per taster seemingly as a way to convince you to buy pints instead. Hugely below average overall.

Brick and Feather is a solid brewery to stop by but nothing they do is worth going hugely out of your way for. I was quite happy with their pale ale in a recent visit but the double IPA was a bit muted in hop aroma for me and not worth much hype. Not too far from them is the fantastic People's Pint that has great food and most of the beers are going to be to style and well made. They are more of a neighborhood spot and haven't gotten the NE IPA style down yet.

 

If you're going to Suarez on Friday, consider spending the night before in Beacon, NY, and spending Thursday night at Hudson Valley. I did that around a month ago, and really enjoyed HV that night. It was relatively quiet, mainly locals (I think), and really enjoyed the place, the people who work there (really good people) and the town a lot. You may be able to buy some crowlers at HV, and it'll put you an easy hour's drive away from Suarez. Beacon is a real nice town, and you can have a good start to your day there before heading north.

 

I think your trip sounds good. I agree with a lot of people that you shouldn't hold yourself to going every single place on your list (which I don't think you necessarily are). Sometimes, you get somewhere and you feel at home and nothing else matters. I'm sure one or two of the places on the list will really grab you and you won't want to leave. This isn't really advice on any brewery. I think it's good that you're going for it on the trip. I'd personally try to see more and end up seeing less than not setting goals and not seeing enough.

I'm glad you're going to Suarez.

 

I'd disagree with most of this. People's Pint is fine, it's a restaurant that makes beer. Most of their beer while "to style' as this poster says, is not worth a trip to Greenfield from Utah. I'm sure you all have guacamole out there. Honest Weight is a fantastic spot. "Taster" is a bad word -- they sell pints and half pints basically. Their hoppy beer is excellent and is basically a side-project to pay for their fantastic saisons, old ales, barrel-aged belgian style beers, sours, etc. Their Oat Pale is fantastic and their growler prices are great -- granted yes you have to deal with weird Mass growler laws. Brick and Feather make excellent pale ales. Their taproom experience is not the best, but they have started canning and so you can enjoy that aspect and convenience. Only open Thursday-Saturday though (I think). Anyway, both of these places are a bit out of the way, especially Honest Weight, though if you're taking 91 to VT, Brick and Feather is not far off the route.

One last thing is that I will again mention Building 8 -- a great IPA brewery in Northampton that doesn't make "NEIPA" but has nailed an excellent bitter and aromatic IPA. They only sell cans and the brewery itself only offers cans and actual "tasters" -- don't worry, sdhopaddict, they're free. Funky location in an old mill area. Do yourself a favor afterwards and drop the beer off in your car and then head into The Office, a bar on the same parking lot. You'll get some actual Northampton flavor there...

 

Well Honest Weight clearly had tasters and pints as the two sizes when I visited. $4 for a 5oz taster is ridiculous unless you are serving barrel-aged sour beers. I intentionally focused on their saison, grisette, and English bitter hoping that I would find something great and was still massively disappointed. I certainly wouldn't call their hoppy beers excellent but to each their own. I did not try the barrel aged sour they had when I stopped by because I was already disappointed by the quality of the rest of the lineup. I love a great grisette but found most of their beer lineup lacking. I did complement them on the growler fill prices but of course I didn't fill one considering I didn't enjoy most of the beers.

And yes I did stop by Building 8 briefly and they were solid though the focus is more so on bitter bite and dry finish than aroma there. I was mostly in the area for Tree House so Building 8 was not to my tastes in the same way.

 

I relate with way too much in your post @wasatchback.

 

Sounds like you wasted a ton of time, money and carbon emissions.

 

Sounds like an epic trip. Wondering if you use the term raw as many use the term green to describe sort of a harshness that comes with super fresh hoppy beers.

 

ITT: Exactly how I feel -- good and bad -- about Suarez, HF, Notch, Mystic, Foundation, Definitive, Industrial Way as a whole (with the exception of Allagash), Tree House, Bissell.

In short, Suarez, HF, and Notch FTW!