Need some help fellow BAs. I’m road tripping to Boston Friday from Philly. What are the best breweries in CT to stop at for lunch?
If you are looking for lunch in a brewery, your options are limited on a Friday especially relatively en route from Boston to NYC. Assuming you are coming the Merritt-91-84-90 route, I'd suggest checking out what food truck New England Brewing Company has that day. It's probably your best option. The beer is certainly top notch. Obviously, food truck will be hit or miss depending on the day. If you are getting on 84 somewhere west of Danbury then probably Counter Weight. They have Ritual Pizza in house, haven't had it myself. Beer is awesome and it's food and brewery under one roof. I would not take the I-95 corridor in a million years on a Friday just to grab lunch (but there aren't great options there anyway). Maybe I am not thinking of something else, but this really would be the best under one roof options that I can think of. Not CT, but you could hang on longer and see what food trucks Tree House Charlton has that day.
As mentioned, Nebco is solid. One caution: last time I was there was on a Thursday but the food truck didnt come until 3pm. Katz's Deli is right around the corner and has great sandwiches. Counterweight is solid. Pizza there is pretty decent you could also consider going to Modern Pizza in New Haven for some exceptional NH style Apizz. They almost always have NEBCO on tap.
Fox Farm is fantastic but is definitely not a place I would want to try to get to on a summer Friday drive from Philly to Boston ... out of any logical way to go between the two places and opening yourself up to even more traffic issues than you will be anyway
If you are willing to do a little roundabout way. You could take the Merritt to route 7 in Norwalk and head north to Nod Hill Brewery in Ridgefield. Underrated and underappreciated range of classic beer styles and pretty cool location and good people. Have had a lot of different beers from them and all have been good to very good. Plus lots of to-go options if you wanna bring anything to share in Boston. They will have food truck(s) for lunch on a Friday. You could then continue north and pick up I84 in Danbury. Might add a little time to your trip, but its a great place that I wish was closer to me. Otherwise NEBCO and Counterweight are both winners for food and location on your route. Both offer range of to-go beers too. Fox Farm is of course awesome, but Friday traffic on 95 will ruin your day and not really sure of food options there.
I live in Ridgefield so maybe I overlook Nod Hill sometimes, but the beers are solid and they pretty much have a food truck every hour that they are open plus an awesome beer garden to hang out in.
Just FYI, there are no food options at Fox Farm, they don't do food trucks, it's all BYOF (is that a thing, Bring Your Own Food?).
If you're going across 84, in and around Danbury there's Charter Oak, Reverie, NewSylum, Housatonic River. If you're coming down 95 there's Two Roads, Lock City, Third Place. All good choices
In the 84 corridor Newsylum, Charter Oak and Housatonic are not open for lunch on Fridays (3 PM for each). Reverie is, but no food on a Friday and several notches down in terms of beer quality compared Counterweight (which I suggested above) or Nod Hill (which would be a fine choice, as well).
