Boston, VT beercation

if you get to Hill at open you could easily hang for a couple hours drive to burlington to check out Foam and have some food at Farmhouse and then head to waterbury for dinner and to check out all the spots above.

Hill 11:30-1:30
drive to burlington 1:30-3
foam/farmhouse 3-5
Waterbury 5:30 on.

Obviously a very rough estimate of timing but something like that is totally doable.


Also, 1 trip to Treehouse and skipping Canton are good suggestions.

 

Doable, but worth it? HF to Stow/Alchemist to Waterbury is a full day with more quality food and beer than you can possibly deal with. I'd rather save the extra hour of driving and just spend more time checking out the Waterbury spots.

 

I'm personally a sucker for Burlington and really like Foam so thats how i would do it.


If you wanted to skip Burlington i would to HF>Stowe (lunch at Doc Ponds (drink backacre!) and stop at Alchemist)> waterbury.

 

Im going to chime in again strictly for your own safety here man. Ive been to stowe a ton for skiing and hanging out. Theres only one way through stowe/waterbury. If you are planning on actually having beers and hitting different spots......... rethink those plans. Vermont cops are NO JOKE. When I go to waterbury I take an uber from stowe. You have out of state license plates, huge red flag. Spend the night in Waterbury/stowe but to include burlington in that day is going to be a pain and expensive. Burlington is not that close to Hill Farmstead, talking 90 minutes of driving.

To those who are trillium fanboys, I just cant. The beer is not the same and its not my taste palate. Its very very average. Yes, the fort point location is great and the roof deck is awesome. But what is used to be........ Fort Point growlers made my week after killing myself all week. Its like watching Roger Clemens pitch in a yankee uniform.

 

Day 1, while you are in F'ham hitting Trillium Canton isn't that difficult. And once you've hit Canton there is no reason to go to Fort Point. Outside of that there is no beer specific reason to come back to Boston, unless you just really want to see Boston. Spend the rest of your time in VT & Portland. Maybe 2 days each spot?

 

fanboys. gtfoh. you dont like them anymore, fine. a lot of people still do.

 

Huge fan of Burlington, we go for mini vacation quite often. Here are some of our favorites:

1) Worthy Burger in Royalston, VT is a great stop if you need food/beer near the VT border. Very surprising a place like this exists where it is (not much around!). We hit every time we go up to Burlington from southern NH which is quite often. Great food, great beer.
2) We are fond of the bar at Hotel Vermont, solid taplist and chill scene and mice patio if nice out.
3) Highly recommend Folino's next to Fiddlehead in Shelburne for lunch or dinner as well. Grab a growler next door at Fiddlehead, drink it with your pizza, and return it afterwards for your deposit!
4) Citizen Cider in Burlington is a great change of pace from beer and a cool spot. On another thought there is a wood fired bagel spot across the street from Citizen that is super cool and unique.
5) Foam is can't miss IMO.

 

Allagash is better than any brewery in the Boston area(and all of MA IMO) but other than that Portland has nothing that Boston doesn't. I'd rather hop around the many fine breweries and bars of Boston(and add in a Red Sox game or a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts or something) than drive 4 hours round trip to hang out in an industrial park.

 

What are the Boston breweries you like the best? When in Boston (5 or so times a year) I tend to hit Idle Hands, Mystic, Trillium and sometimes Lamplighter.

In Portland (about 20 times a year) I go to Oxbow and Austin St. most of the time, Industrial Way sometimes. I also always check out Novare Res. Other spots based on whether or not something interesting is around.

 

Yeah, the only thing with that is that the Boston breweries are very spread out, in a way that makes it pretty much suck to try to visit a bunch of them in one day. If you're at Trillium during rush hour (which of course lasts like seven hours), Aeronaut might as well be on Neptune.

Boston is just as walkable, IF you're more interested in doing stuff besides just ticking off as many breweries as possible. But if that is what you want to do, Portland is set up much better for it.

 

Fair enough, I just really enjoy walking around in Old Port. Portland itself is an attraction to me, not necessarily the breweries.

And while Allagash is obviously a top notch brewery, if you don't like sours/wilds/belgians you probably won't like them.

 

I love that after a bunch of advice and suggestions, the OP tried to absorb them and change his plans, and then we all doubled down on offering even more advice and suggestions

Best wishes to the OP for sorting through everything!

 

You would be happy with this trip

Vermont

HF
Burlington = Foam, Fiddlehead
Waterbury = Alchemist, Lawsons , Von Trapp. -
dinner at pro Pig

Mass

Day 1
Treehouse
Lunch at Armsby Abbey
Julios - Westboro
Jacks Abby - dinner

Day 2
Trillium Fort Point - Lunch
Row 34 - Dinner

Maine
Amatos - love their Italian sandwich , fresh bread, no beer here
Bissell Brothers
Allagash
Craft Bier cellar
Novare res for dinner

 

Personally I keep finding myself heading back to VT and I would recommend more time there. Like others have mentioned Waterbury is an awesome spot to stay, there's a couple of airbnbs or the old stagecoach inn that are walking distance to several of the bars/restaurants (pro pig, blackblack and res). HF is a must, also keep in mind that lawson's tasting room is also now open a little further south from waterbury. Personally I would recommend spending more then a day in VT, I'm usually there for around 2 or 3 days.

I don't understand why you would want to go to boston then to VT and then back to Boston area again. It makes more sense to lineup the days you want to spend in one area in a row to minimize driving. i.e. 2 days vt then 2 days in mass/boston/maine or however you want to split it up. keep in mind HF is only open 12-5 wed-Sat.

 

It’s Bier Cellar. Craft Beer Cellar is a franchise with tons of locations. There was one in the Old Port that closed down. Bier Cellar is different with locations it Portland and Gorham. Just posting for clarity.

I like your itinerary otherwise. I’d sub Blackback with Pro Pig for dinner in Waterbury, but both are good.

I love Novare Res, but prefer them for lunch or snack food. So many great dinner options in area.

 

If you go from Tree House north to Vermont, stop at Brick & Feather in Turner's Falls or Honest Weight in Orange. Totally worth it.

 

Bier cellar, you’re right, thanks for the correction

Always find something good, interesting and different there

 

I’ve done this very same thing the past two years (from Ohio as well). I agree with what others have said - spend less time in Boston and more time in Vermont. Making the trip again this fall and have cut Boston out all together and replaced with a night in Portland ME if that tells you anything.

 

No one ever mentions our "Pint St. Walkabout" in Burlington. It's actually Pine St., and you can do a walkable circuit on good sidewalks (or have Uber drop you off at south end) and visit all of these on-foot if you need some "walk-it-off" time in-between. Many food options along the way. End in downtown for taprooms and/or dinner, and you're good! South to North, they are:
Switchback Brewery
Zero Gravity Brewing
Queen City Brewing (directly across street)
Citizens Cider
American Flatbread/ZG Brewing
VT Pub & Brewery (meh)
Foam

 

For a culinary experience as good as HF -- Hen of the Wood is a must. The Waterbury setting is stunning -- old brick milll building located next to/at the base of a rock/ledgy waterfall/river. Walkable from both the Waterbury hotels and downtown beer epicenter. The restaurant is located in the basement and is multilevel w/windows that look out at the water and a large sunken single table seating area for maybe 10-12 people. Gorgeous - classic Vt. The kitchen is visible and atmosphere cool w/massive shards of ledge making up the stone walls. You start w/VT cheese...drink either Heady on tap or usually one of a couple of HF beers...food is simple/ locally sourced and incredible. While I love Pro/Pig -if i'm inVT for one or two nights I'm hitting HotW. Need a reservation. Make it on line a couple weeks out. Also - nothing pretentious about this place -- we've always had super cool servers willing to help explain the menu/cheeses/wines etc etc.