Cross country trip. Looking for 'creative' beers

I just did something similar (in the west) and will offer my own itinerary plus my own personal recommendations of places that I didn't hit. Please take the advice of locals in a particular area over mine, though, and I do not know everything in every state, so I am skipping some. I don't know where you're going north, so some of these may be out of your way. I am listing all great breweries that you shouldn't miss but will bold creative breweries. They're in my personal order of "must see" Be sure to plan your trip around when breweries are open, because many are open only Thursday-Saturday.

SoCal: Alpine (best hoppy beer in CA for my money, and that's a close race), The Bruery, Lost Abbey/Port, Stone, Modern Times, Noble Alewerks, Alesmith, Ballast Point, Toronado for a bar
Arizona: Arizona Wilderness (pretty creative, but I think the execution is lacking still), SanTan
New Mexico: La Cumbre (amazing hoppy beers, and high quality all around), Marble
Texas: Jester King, Lone Pint, Saint Arnold
Oklahoma: Prairie
Missouri: Perennial/Side Project, Boulevard, Schlafly
Alabama: Good People, Straight to Ale
Florida: Cigar City, Funky Buddha, Peg's Cantina/Cycle, 7venth Sun
South Carolina: Westbrook, COAST
North Carolina: Wicked Weed, NoDa, Foothills, Duck Rabbit, Oskar Blues, Sierra Nevada (the latter two if they're operational)
Virginia: Hardywood
Maryland/DC: DC Brau
Delaware: Dogfish Head
Pennsylvania: Voodoo Brewing, Tired Hands, Victory Brewing, Troegs, Spring House
New Jersey: Kane
New York: Peekskill, Plan Bee, Southampton, Ommegang, Sixpoint, Brooklyn, Other Half
Connecticut: OEC Brewing, New England Brewing Company
Massachusetts: Tree House, Trillium, Jack's Abby, Cambridge, Night Shift, Pretty Things, Spencer (the only Trappist brewery in America), Mystic
Vermont: Hill Farmstead (on the off chance you haven't heard of them, don't miss it, no matter how out of the way it may seem), Lawson's Finest Liquids, The Alchemist (not open to the public, I don't think, but spend some time in Waterbury), Lost Nation, Fiddlehead
Maine: Allagash, Maine Beer Company, Tributary, Oxbow, Bissell Brothers

Phew. Hope that helps some. Have a great time, don't drink and drive, and spend a whole lot of money on excellent beer! Cheers!

 

No problem, man. Welcome to the boards and all that jazz. Kick back and stay a while, update your profile, and rep that Aussie pride in the location spot on your profile.

Go to each brewery's page here, read the place reviews, and in some cases check out the brewery's own websites to check out what they have to offer. Like I said, I put them in sorta geographical order and from left to right in personal preference. I cannot stress enough to check hours of operation when planning the trip, as, like I said, they can be very sporadic. If I had to pick a few to pare that down a bit, I'd go with Alpine, The Bruery, Lost Abbey, Stone (literally just because it's a great location and it's Stone), La Cumbre, Jester King, Prairie, Perennial/Side Project, Cigar City, Funky Buddha, Peg's Cantina/Cycle, Wetbrook, Wicked Weed, Dogfish Head, Voodoo, Tired Hands, Victory, Kane, Peekskill, Plan Bee, OEC, NEBCO, Tree House, Trillium Jack's Abby, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, Allagash, and Maine Beer Co. I know that's still a lot, but if it were my trip those are ones I couldn't pass up. That said, I stand by my original list and anything people more local than I can offer.

Cheers! Feel free to ask me anything else I might be able to help with, and again, welcome to the site!

 

Ok, I would normally recommend Hill Farmstead, but the time spent in line is mind numbing. South Royalton, Vt there is a place called Worthy Burger. They almost always have Hill Farmstead on tap, as well as many other life changing beers. (Two weeks ago they had St. Bernardus Wit...on tap...amazing)

 

If you are coming through NJ Kane and Carton are both top notch and doing interesting things. They are relatively close but both are only open weekends.
In New York you want to hit Rushing Duck. their DIPA War Elephant is awesome.

Enjoy the trip and good luck

 

New Hampshire, Stone Face, or Throwback. Both are on the coast, and both are amazing.

 

CARTON. I knew I was missing a good NJ brewery.

 

I wanted to edit my original post to include Stoneface, but the edit time had passed and I figured an NH resident would correct me. Good call.

 

Another thing about Vermont. I live right here...the beer is amazing. I'll go on and say, pound for pound, best beer in the nation, but don't get sucked into the Alchemist Heady Topper Waterbury experience. Waste of time, in my opinion. Lost Nation, GREAT experience, awesome food, hot waitresses and bartender.

 

Stoneface IPA is amazing! Have you had Great Rhythm Hopstock? Ooooh Man good stuff!

 

In my opinion Kane's Overhead is one of the best DIPAs in the country. right up there with Pliny, etc.
But Carton is the better brewery top to bottom.

 

I haven't had the pleasure. ANtEAD was really good when I had it; I still can't believe it was 13%, though I wish it had more barrel/bourbon presence. I haven't had any Carton, but I would've included it solely on the things I've heard. When an American pale ale is making waves, you know it's gotta be good. Regular Coffee sounds brilliant, too.

 

While I'd be willing to say there are equally amazing IIPAs out there, I don't think he can really come to the VT from Australia and not get Heady somewhere, even if it's only on tap. I agree that the best brewery in VT is not Alchemist, though when talking about great VT breweries it's pretty much splitting hairs.

 

For Maryland: Either hug the East Coast to hit Burley Oak and DFH Brewpub (the brewery is a few minutes inland), or stop in at Max's in Baltimore on your way to Stateline Liquors.

Otherwise, nothing to see here; especially, when compared with the class of breweries you plan to hit.

 

Oregon: Block 15, Ale Apothecary, Cascade, Hair of the Dog, Upright, Breakside, The Commons and de Garde.

 

I'd really try to hit both if you can.
They are 20 minutes apart and both are open Saturdays. They very different yet great.
If you can really only do 1 though I'd go with Carton. 077XX and Head High are equals for IPA type drinking. Beyond that Carton is the more unique experience. Kane makes world class versions of beers you can get most places. If you miss ANTEAD there are plenty of exceptional barrel aged strong stouts on your journey, same with maple cinnamon stouts or pumpkins. On the other hand pretty much all of Cartons beers are one of a kind. Salad beers, wasabi sours, blunt beers, a ravioli beer with butter added to it, and so on.
If you want best in style go to Kane, if you want unique in the world go to Cartom. If you want Best of NJ hit both.

 

Addition to Florida Proof brewing co. in Tallahassee, Kickbacks Gastropub in jacksonville 150+ taps I think at this point? also all of asheville pretty much if your looking for a lot of diversity and a great craft beer culture over all. Of course Wicked Weed and Funkatorium if they are into sours is a must.

 

If you come across PA to do Troegs, Victory and Tired Hands, and then plan to get into Philadelphia itself, then by all means schedule a visit to Monks Café.

 

I agree with you. But is the guy looking for great beer, or great beer experiences? You can't go to the Alchemist cannery anymore, so you're left to hunting it down, and spending hours in line for it. It's just that I rather sit an enjoy some really great beers instead of wasting my time looking for it. Like Lost Nation, Rock Art, Von Trapp Lodge...all within 15-20 minutes of each other, and all have great beer.

I went to Hill Farmstead, then Lost Nation, Rock Art, and Von Trapp in one day. The beer at Hill Farmstead was the best overall. By far (I think that goes without saying). But doing it again, I wish I had just gone to the other breweries and spent my time there than waste my time in line at Hill Farmstead. Like the Von Trapp Lodge...not only is the beer good, but it is probably in the most beautiful area in Vermont. And sitting on the deck of this place, looking out over the hills and sipping their dunkel....awesome beer experience.