Recent Brewery Visits (2025)

Can anyone expand on the experience at schilling. Eyeballing it as the center of my next beer trip. The campus and area looks beautiful. I feel like I could spend a couple days around there. Any tips on what else to around there or any other breweries nearby (besides the obvious hill farmstead)

 

Yesterday, I went to my favorite brewery in Vermont - Lawson’s - and, as usual it was great. Weather was so good most people were outside. Lots of kids, many people in ski clothes.

 

For beer stuff, there's Rek Lis in Bethlehem. I haven't been there since soon after they opened, but I know their beer/food is good and they always have a large crowd when I drive past in the summer.

If you're looking for non-beer stuff, Littleton is a great home base for White Mountains hiking. Tons of options for all experience levels. Also, the Littleton Food Coop is excellent (and has a nice beer selection).

 

A few weeks ago, I went on a tour of small breweries NE of Albany.
Some had reasonable beer, but overall it was sad.
The owners were enthusiastic but the towns are so small and depressed that keeping them open is probably impossible.

 

Curious of the towns Northeast of Albany. I'm out in Pittsfield, MA so that's relatively close to me.

 

I was just there for the first time and live about an hour east of Littleton. I can't speak to much about things to do in the town but the Schilling campus is beautiful. There is also Wildbloom beer in town, Copper Pig north in Lancaster, Iron Furnace in Franconia and Rek'lis is close as dubdrop said. You're close to lots of outdoor activities at Franconia Notch area and Bretton Woods area. Sugar Hill is close by and a quintessential New England Town.

 

There's two killer places for dinner in town too. The names escape me at the moment, but they were both awesome.

To make a weekend of it we stayed in town with my parents. I probably went to Schilling about 8 times and in about a day they knew me on a first name basis.

We did Reklis, the two dinners, had some nice lunches in town too. Ate at Schilling a couple times, plus the huge sports bar around the corner. There's also Crumb Bum Bakery. And we popped over to the Omni to stroll around that area as well for a day trip.

 

Great hiking nearby as people said. But one additional corney thing - dont laugh - is this candy store down the street called Chutters which is in the Guiness book of world records for having the longest candy counter. Granted I'm typically there because of my daughter but even adults have fun in there grabbing old candy they haven't seen since they were kids, or finding twizzlers in flavors you otherwise never see. Just throwing it out there.

I'll second a visit to reklis brewing. Some of the best steak tips I've ever had and I enjoyed the beer there too.

 

I haven't been there in quite some time, but my wife and I have had very nice meals at The Beale House in Littleton. Unfortunately Vulgar Display of Poutine closed a few years back...my favorite spot for food in Littleton. I think they do occasional pop-ups at Wildbloom Beer during the summer though.

 

I knew I had a trip write up somewhere. Post number 194.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/schilling-beer-co-2021.654785/page-10#post-7421308

 

Went to Thirsty Robot in Fitchburg on my way up to Honest Weight and found the beers to be solid. Nice taproom near the municipal airport. Really good Czech Pils and solid IPA's. Would visit again.

 

Need to hit Lawsons next time I’m in Vermont. The taproom looks awesome. Do they have any on-site exclusives?

 

I was thinking to make a weekend of it at least. 2 full days to take it all in. Any advice on how to split time between the 3 sites on campus - the tasting room, the brewery pub, mill street restaraunt. I feel like I want to enjoy a beer at each spot. As well as indoors and outdoors. Catch all the vibes.

I also remember hearing they have a draft exclusive. Was it their Hefeweizen? I forget.

 

That trip was a couple of years ago, but unless its changed, this should be really easy.

The Tasting Room and Store are about 50 feet from the Pub and Restaurant. There's some different beers at each place. In between the two they have an outdoor area you can sit in, and there's usually a food truck there too.

I would highly recommend sitting on the patio at the Tasting Room overlooking the river, it's beautiful. Their pizza is great at the restaurant and I LOVED the pretzels. The food truck I think I got a burger which I recall being good as well.

We stayed almost literally next door so it was super easy to pop over the entire trip.

 

Food truck is long gone but those smash burgers live on at Mill St. Kitchen. I kind of prefer it to the actual restaurant, more informal, quick, although I like to pop by all of them when I'm up there. Usually different stuff on tap at each spot.

 

Schilling now has one liquor license for the whole campus so you can move around pretty much wherever you want, except the restaurant indoor tables and deck. My move is to order the smashburger at the yellow building (Mill Street Kitchen?) go get a beer from the restaurant since it’s usually the best tap list, and then try to get a seat on the deck of either the tasting room or yellow building. If I’m not mistaken they’ll still bring your food to you.

 

Timbir Alley is closed now, but if you're looking for something with a similar cozy vibe, definitely try Sour's Taverna. It's attached to the same building as Thayer's Inn. Incredible tapas place, we've been many times since they opened last October.

 

Made a quick stop in Plymouth, MA on Saturday en route to a spa weekend with the wife. First stop was Second Wind Brewing which I had wanted to get to for a while. I was caught off guard by how small the location is - I drove right past it the first time and never saw it, had to loop around again (no parking onsite or on the street in front of the brewery, have to find parking nearby or in the public lot a block away). Once I found it and got inside, it was pretty crowded as well with seats at the bar for just a handful of people and a small table with two seats in the corner. There was more standing room outside, but again not a lot of space. As I sipped on a few IPAs over my time there, multiple people walked in and turned around and walked out given how crowded it was. Kudos to the one female bartender that was doing her best to keep up with the crowd. I enjoyed both drinks that I had, but not a must-return spot for me.

On the other hand, I was surprised at how big and scenic the Vitamin Sea spot was just the road overlooking Plymouth Harbor and walking distance from Plymouth Rock. As I walked in, most of the outdoor seating in the large patio space was accounted for, as was most of the seating indoors, and there were two lines about 6-7 deep for beer/food. Full pours only, which was slightly disappointing, but reasonable given the space and crowds. And the line moved at a medium pace. Lots of people enjoying sandwiches from the menu as well, which all looked good but took a little while given the crowd so I passed this time around as I was on a bit of a time crunch (had to make my massage appt.). Lots of cans/bottles/merch available for takeaway. Will definitely look to get back another time on an off-peak period to try the food, as I suspect weekends and/or nice days will be a mob scene.

 

Second Wind announced recently that they are opening a second and bigger taproom and kitchen. Staying right in Plymouth, and the original very small spot you visited will also remain open

https://www.patriotledger.com/story...-bacon-champion-microbrewery-coe/82351450007/