I have a need to visit as many breweries as I can and have been making some serious progress throughout New England. I am merely looking for like minded folks to share your travels and has anyone had an epic experience with any one NE brewery? Do you track and review your visits? Where have you been? And what is on your wish list? Sincere Apologies if this is a re-run topic but I am a noob and I look forward to reading about the journey as well as the destinations !
My wife and I have slowly been doing this and I blog about each one...sort of like an online travel journal meant only for brewery visits. But I do have a few posts in there not about a brewery visit, but visiting and writing about breweries is definitely the focal point. I have 21 under my belt since I started keeping record (actually I still need to write the 21st visit - which was Foolproof). If you're interested in reading it's at http://discoverbeerinnewengland.blogspot.com/ Wish list to get to right now includes TreeHouse, NEBCO, Blue Lobster, and the guys in maine like Allagash and MBC. But I want to get to everyone. Mainly I've been picking off the easy-to-get-to ones around me. Epic experiences you ask? Meh... all have been various degrees of fun. The route with HF, Alchemist, Trapp, Rock Art, and Lawsons (though no brewery) is of course fun and beautiful...especially if you combine it with other activities like hiking/skiing. No brewery visit really caught me off guard as being waaay better than I thought it would be. But there have been many pleasant experiences. I just like doing this...it's a fun little project and it gives us an excuse to visit them all. If you get started I'd be interested to hear how it goes for you! Have fun!
NEBCO in New Haven is awesome, as you can hit that, then Amity Liquors 1/8 of a mile away, then Delaneys, then Prime 16 and Cask Republic. Throw in there Pizza at Modern, and there's your whole day. Hotel/DD REQUIRED!
I'm going rafting at the end of the month in The Forks, ME and I've been looking at places to stop on the way/on the way back. I'm not a big brewery visit guy, I like to drink the beer but don't care much about touring the facility. I recommended Blue Lobster and Rocky Coast Brewery to my friend as possibilities. I want to go to Tree House, but haven't found an excuse to go out there besides having beer and BBQ.
I want to go to Tree House, but haven't found an excuse to go out there besides having beer and BBQ What other excuse do you need? :-)
In Maine you definately want to check out Allagash and Oxbow, MBC if there is time at the very least.
Mfoleybrews - which breweries have you already visited in New England? I took a look at jbertsch's blog and I would recommend a few of them, particularly the one's in MA, since I'm from here. One thing I am a fan of, particularly when I have guests in town who also like beer or are newbies to craft beer scene is to take them on a brewery tour of a few breweries. This way you get to experience more than just one in a day since they are somewhat scattered and someone else does the driving so you don't have to worry about drinking too much. What makes it "epic" is that the tour company also takes you to a gourmet lunch spot and the lunch is paired with more beers. Fun experience and a nice way to spend the day. The tour company I go with is www.newenglandbrewerytours.com. Good luck on your quest! Sounds fun.
Those are all solid choices. I'd also add Rising Tide in Portland, ME - the brewery isn't all that much to look at, but the folks running the tour took their time, answered lots of questions and seemed to be good folks all-around. While at Blue Lobster you could also add in the ladies at Throwback (just up the road) and Earth Eagle (15-20 minutes beyond that.)
Yep I definitely want to check out those places too. If I was around Portland doing a brewery tour, I wouldn't leave Rising Tide out of the mix, I just forgot about them for a moment. I did check out Earth Eagle...they just didn't make it into a blog post for a couple reasons I won't bore you with. But I hope to go back. They impressed me.
I am sorry I did not mean to confuse. I wasn't looking for suggestions just to hear cool stories from others. My wife and I have hit it hard over the past six years. I found it to be my civic duty to show her some finer things as she used to only drink Crap Lite. We have visited 74 breweries to date and I would like to plan our 75th to be memorable. I have collected my thoughts on paper and have plans to share some stories but right now it's just a bunch of scribblings. Keep some cool brewventure stories coming. To me it's always more about the journey than the destination. We don't drink at all of them mostly just fill the cooler along the way.
Agreed all around. I'd also add that while you're checking out Rising Tide, walk up the block and visit Bunker Brewing as well (and Tandem Coffee Roasters in front of Bunker). On my visit, Bunker was pouring three beers for samples and pints, including a very tasty Munjoy Mild with the low ABV that was perfect for a day of brewery and bar-hopping. The place just had a great vibe, in a small old industrial building with a deck outside. I didn't have it until the next day at brunch, but the Coffee IPA brewed in conjunction with Tandem was excellent.
