Hey guys, I'm sorry to start yet another Vermont trip discussion, but I'm needing help and the last thread I had commented in is locked and not open to further responses so here I am. The current plan is to fly into Manchester-Boston airport on a Wednesday and fly out of Burlington on a Sunday. My challenge is to try and hit as many breweries as possible, but also mix in just enough cheese, foliage/views, food and other fun experiences to keep the wife happy as well. We have other things planned for some of these days, but I tried to keep the listed itinerary and questions beer and food related. Here is a list of a few things I am trying to hit for each day along with some questions. Please tell me where I have screwed up or overestimated my options. Thanks in advance. Wednesday - Woodstock area Quechee Gorge – View?? Whistle Pig Parlour - It says its temporarily closed. (Will it be back open in Sept/Oct??) Sugarbush Farm, Billings Farm and Museum, or Plymouth Cheese (which is the best experience?? What's a good place for dinner? Thursday: Waterbury & Stowe (current brewery hours listed) Hit the Ben & Jerry’s tour maybe around 10:30am Lunch – Prohibition Pig/Blackback or the Reservoir Lawson’s Liquids (12-8pm) Freak Folk Bier (3-8pm) Alchemist (11-6pm) Vonn Trapp (1:30-9pm) Thursday seems adventurous to make it to all of those places, but I certainly want to try and hit as many of those places as possible even if it's just a quick stop before going up to Stowe to stay the night. Will any of those places be a problem getting into on a Thursday? Does the current order make sense assuming I can even pull it off? Friday: Greensboro and back to Stowe Butler's Pantry breakfast Hill Farmstead (11:30-5pm) Get there as close to 11:30 as possible. We'll be in a rental car, but other than having the directions mapped out on paper in case phone issues is there any other advice for this trek? Saturday – Burlington Foam and/or Burlington Beer Dedalus Wines/Bakery?? Dinner at Hen of the Wood We'll be driving to Burlington after breakfast. I don't have much of an order for things yet, but figured we'd cruise around Church Street Market and then maybe hit Foam and Burlington Beer. Is it worth heading down to Shelburne Farms and possibly Shelburne Vinyards & Fiddlehead? Again, sorry for another trip posting, but I appreciate any advice you all can give. Thanks.
Realistically I think you’ve answered your own question. You’re going to need a hyper local to chime in, but overall your plan is pretty much rock solid. I would work Fiddlehead in. Great trip being planned!
Wednesday: * Hard to know on Whistle Pig. That area got hammered with flooding in July 2023. Will probably need to watch and call as trip gets closer. * If you're staying in Woodstock, Worthy Kitchen is a good dinner option. * River Roost Brewery in White River Junction is definitely worth a stop on the way up I-89. And Big Fatty's BBQ in the same parking lot is a great lunch spot depending on your timing with an excellent tap list. Thursday: * The order makes sense, but seems a little aggressive, might need to save Alchemist and/or Von Trapp for Friday. Friday: * I'll defer to the locals but The Parker Pie Co. is usually recommended on excursions like this one. Saturday: * I'll respectfully disagree with @Jbrews - I don't think Fiddlehead/Shelburne Farms/etc. is worth the drive. Once you're in Burlington, there is so much good food/drink that you don't need to venture out of the city in my opinion. And Fiddlehead is on tap everywhere around Burlington. Depending on when you're visiting in Sept./Oct, the 40-minute roundtrip to Fiddlehead could easily be an hour or more with leaf peepers (and just something to keep in mind generally for this trip). * In addition to Foam and BBCo, Four Quarters is a short drive/Uber away in Winooski. And Mule Bar in Winooksi has one of the best tap lists in the area, along with Farmhouse Tap and Grill in Burlington (this is also a good brunch spot depending on your flight time Sunday). * Make sure to get your reservation at Hen of the Wood on the books as early as possible. Otherwise you're fighting for limited bar seats.
I actually don’t think the Thursday is too aggressive for the most part. Those places are all pretty close to each other, especially for VT. Since fall is a busy time up there, Ben and Jerry’s could be the one thing that kind of derails - it would help your day a lot if you’re on a tour that early. I do think the tour is cool so I won’t be one of the people telling you to skip it. Assuming early tour, you could do Lunch & Freak Folk 12-2 (next door to each other) 25ish min drive Lawsons 230-330 45ish min drive, Stowe 415ish Von Trapp and Alchemist are basically across the street from each other and in Stowe As far as order, I think b&j->downtown waterbury-> lawsons->stowe makes the most sense to do. b&J opens earliest, plus it would be the least amount of backtracking as freak folk is right across the street from reservoir and there are (paved) back roads from lawsons to von Trapp. Lunch to lawsons to freak folk would definitely add car time and looking for parking an extra time. the only downside I see to this plan is that the view from Von Trapp is pretty majestic, so there’s incentive to get to Stowe before it’s dark.
If you like cheese, on Friday check out The Willey's Store in Greensboro either before or after your Hill visit. They always have a good selection of Jasper Hill cheeses. Also, I second Parker Pie for a late lunch/early dinner option. That's our favorite pizza in the whole state (biased b/c I'm local!) Also, I'm sure you're aware but I'll warn anyway: mid-Sept to mid-Oct is peak leaf-peeper season. Everywhere you go will likely be crowded, so be prepared to either wait or shift plans as needed. Good luck and have fun!
Wednesday Dinner - Restaurant @ Simon Pearce in Quechee is pretty nice. Thursday is doable but I would skip Lawson's personally. You'll already be in Waterbury for B&J and lunch. Skip the 1+ hour roundtrip drive to Lawson's and save the time for Freak Folk, Alchemist, and Von Trapp.
That would save a ton of time and you can find most of Lawson's beers pretty much everywhere, good call
Thank you! Thank you. I'll look into Worthy Kitchen, Parker Pie and also hope the WP Parlour is back to normal by that time. The Burlington info is great too. Hen of the Woods doesn't take reservations until 60 days out so I'll just have to keep an eye on it until then. My initial reasoning for driving down to Lawsons was to give Freak Folk time to open as the current listed opening time is 3-8 on Thursdays. Lawsons is pretty iconic for me so I'd like to make it there if possible, but I also don't want to screw up opportunities at Alchemist and other places for it as well. I've never been close to Vermont so i have no idea what to expect from traffic and parking. Thanks for the info!! Thanks. I love Cheese and actually have Willey's as a stop. I just didn't add it on here for some reason. Like I mentioned above, I know things will be busy, but I don't know how much slower that will make drives compared to what's listed on google maps today (and wait times at breeries/restaurants). Thanks. I'll check out Simon Pearce and will keep thinking about what's the best options for Thursday. Thats the day I'm the most excited about so I want to maximize it, but I do have a few places that are must hit for me that day (at least in my head). True and that might just be the best option overall if traffic is a nightmare. Thanks.
Skipping Lawson’s gets said every time this thread happens and I disagree every time. Should someone try to fit in HF, Stowe, and Lawson’s in one day as is often asked? Doable, but probably not without shortchanging time somewhere and having to have a late dinner. But is it worth going when staying in/spending a significant amount of time in Waterbury, which is legitimately 20 minutes away? Absolutely imo. Beautiful space, big taplist (often with a brewery only option or two), solid snack menu…idk, for me the only place up there that offers a brewery experience more obviously worth going out of the way for is HF. (I’ll throw a side shout out to FF’s wild program, I wouldn’t blame anyone for prioritizing that over Lawson’s or Alchemist or any of the Burlington breweries.) Not trying to argue with OP’s plan at all, just a pet peeve that “don’t bother” has become the local expert opinion here.
Oh damn, did not see FF doesn’t open until 3. If you do go Waterbury->Lawson’s->Waterbury->Stowe, you tack on prob 20 minutes of driving vs the road from Waitsfield to Von Trapp. Not the end of the world, I actually don’t think it would affect your plan that much.
Put me on the list of people who say don't skip Lawsons as well. You can find a decent selection of their beers elsewhere, but Double Sunshine (the OG) is worth every roundtrip minute, and you really can't find that anywhere else. If the weather is decent, their patio is fantastic, but their taproom is very pleasant otherwise. I would go there first and then circle back up for lunch and the Waterbury joints. I would also postpone either Alchemist and/or Von Trapp to the next day. Depending on where you're staying in Stowe, you could easily squeeze in one or other other before dinner (actually the Bierhall at Von Trapp is a fun experience -- good beer and kid-friendly German food with a view). Then, whichever one you don't hit, do up after HF the next day.
I think there's lots of solid feedback here, so I won't chime in about breweries/food. But one thing I advise everyone coming to the NEK...download maps for offline use. I use google maps and while I know my way around pretty well, offline maps have been a huge help on many occasions.
The current plan is the Lodge at Spruce Peak, but nothing is 100% set yet. It looks like it’s easy enough to navigate to everywhere we plan to go.
My one thing I’ll add in. I love the alchemist beer and always have. But, the fact you still can’t a draft pour there(outside of a pull heady) sometimes keeps us away. I guess when I’m going out of my way to be somewhere I hope to try it in a different format than cans. Not a knock to them, just wish they offered draft. I’ve only had a full draft pour of heady once since I guess the pub and then post cannery expansion. The sample pours at the cannery don’t count ha. Pro Pig, had it draft after the cannery closed in 2013 and I vividly remember absolutely loving it. I forgot I have a photo of it.
I agree with this. Me & some friends made reservations when we were there in Feb. Really expected to spend a bunch of time there. But we all had our hand-pulled headys (which were killer btw) and left. It just isn't the same when they are serving you a can at the brewery. Cool spot though & definitely worth a quick visit.
TBH, I was kind of bummed to read that they didn’t have a draft list when I was originally doing my research. I still have to make the stop to get the hand-pulled Heady and maybe some cans, but I’m not expecting to be there any longer than 15-30 minutes. Overall, it’s still #2 on my list behind HF though. Will I need to make reservations to be there during that time (even if just grabbing one heady)? I’m guessing I’ll be there sometime between 4-6, but it’s just a guess at this point.
I don’t think so at this point. Possibly to have a place to sit? I know when we last went in October it was disaster crowds and we still walked in, got a hand pull and found a high top table right away. I’d say you’re gonna be good. At worst you can get to go cans and split. Also good to keep in mind, we’re all just nitpicking on a rainy/cranky weather end of week. Your entire trip up there will be amazing even if something doesn’t work out. All the stops are far better than most of what any of us can get at arms reach. Just drive safe!
They are doing a pretty major expansion of the tasting room right now, I wonder if it will finally be the draft haven many of us hope for. I've been stopping for one beer in recent times to try whatever Skadoosh I missed. And I would definitely agree with the idea of it being worth a stop even if just for 15 min. It's right by Von Trapp and I am very much of the opinion that the brewery only cans are almost always worth going for (Crusher being my favorite they make, but Rapture and most Skadooshes being no slouch either).
Hand pulled heady is one of my all time favorite beer experiences so The Alchemist is a must stop for me every time. Would be interesting if they added some other taps but it’s an amazing stop as is.
Throwing my $0.02 in: Yes, your Thursday is “doable,” but I don’t think it’d be all that enjoyable. I also say don’t skip Lawson’s. You can easily shift Von Trapp and/or Alchemist to Friday after HF. Given your current Thursday plan, I’d bet you’ll be rushing to make Alchemist before close. You say Thursday the day you’re most excited about, so why feel rushed at those places?
