I am flying to Boston in a week to buy a car and drive it back to Georgia. Looking for somewhere to pick up some good local stuff while I'm in the area. I will also be staying in Hartford, Ct. Thanks!
There is a brew pub, city steam in hartford that is pretty good. If you have some time to check out breweries, Jacks Abby, Trillium, and Night Shift are all pretty awesome and in the Boston area. They sell bottles and growlers of their stuff (in MA you can only use growlers you buy from each brewery). On your way there or back stop at Treehouse Brewing in Munson, MA for some ridiculously good beers. They only fill growlers (you would have to buy new ones) and their can be lines, but the beer is worth it. Then on hour way soutb stop at New England Brewing in Woodbridge, CT. They make the best beer in CT and only do growlers and sales (you can bring your own growlers in CT). Their website is misleading, but they are bound to have some good beer on. You can buy some of their stuff in stores in cans in CT (Gandhi Bot is semi difficult to get in cans but you may get lucky). Amity Wines right by the brewery gets a decent amount when it comes out.
If you don't have time for all I would say definitely try to check out Tree House, New England, and Jacks Abby. You can find Jacks Abby in stores in MA. If you have extra time in Boston, Cambridge Brewing Co. Has really good food and beer. Their sours and barrel aged stuff is ridiculous.
I'm a big fan of Trillium - walking distance from downtown Boston (you can park your new car too...but with slight difficulty!). They now sell about 4 different bottles - I'd stock up on them but they're probably not too well known in Georgia if you're looking for tradeables. Then shoot out to Jack's Abby in Framingham and stock up on them - they're pretty good on the trading circuit. Then Tree House in between Boston and Hartford. Check on the hours before you go for Trillium and Tree House. As far as liquor stores - lots of great options but Julio's in Westborough and Yankee Spirits in the Sturbridge area could provide you with pretty much all you need for a one stop option. Enjoy the road trip!
Thanks! Sounds like lots of great places to check out! Wish I had more time. I will definitely be going to Trillium since we will be in downtown Boston. Hopefully I can get by several of the other ones as well.
hartford is shit, but there's tons of great shops in boston. trillium is pretty amazing so don't miss it if you have a choice. in between boston and hartford you might want to get off 84 and head to willimantic brewing company (it's a brewpub). very good food, and occasionally spectacular beer. they've been around since before the craft beer revolution really kicked in, and they're still under the radar. not the consistent greatness of NEBCO or the boston up and comers, but a worthwhile stop. weirdly enough, i've had barrel aged, soured IPAs from them before, and they were awesome. i would get a sampler, and don't ignore the guest beer menu; they unassumingly double as a really good beer bar (also under the radar, mainly due to the location--willi is a dump, but the pub has ample parking). in hartford proper there's nothing, but you can get some decent beer and food in west hartford. city steam is alright, but i've never been impressed.
Trillium has a lot of their beers for sale in bottles right now so I would definitely go there. It would be cool if Sprang was still on tap while you are there. One of the best hoppy beers they've made so far IMO.
Tree House and Yankee Spirits are right near eachother and pretty much on the way as you cross from CT into MA. Tree House some of the best beer I have ever had. Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge has a huge beer selection, and there is BTs Smokehouse and the Cedar Street Grille right around the corner which are both amazing.
Beware that next weekend is American Craft Beer Fest in Boston, some breweries may be closed or crowded and downtown may be more crowded than usual. Also know that Trillium is super tiny and set up pretty stupidly so if you want to sample stuff you wait in line (there will probably be a decent sized one) and then suddenly they want to know what growlers or bottles you want. Then it's like you go to the other side to sample and then you have to get back to where the line is for growlers and bottles. But the beer is good, especially the hoppy stuff.
I'm not from the area but was up there last week and stumbled into The Urban Grape in South End. Pretty nice selection of local brews and some other good stuff (DBL Jesus, Agave Maria).
