Favorite Vermont Brewery

The usual suspects: Hill Farmstead, Alchemist and Lawson's. I've had only three or four Lawson's. They're all excellent, but it's hard to put even those above Heady Topper.

 

Has no one mentioned McNeill's in Brattleboro?

 

man, McNeill's used to be my go to for beer back in the day. I'd drive 90 min to get there just to have a beer. I just loved that place and went as often as opportunity allowed. That was probably 1991ish until the early 00's. The last several times I've been there have been tremendous disappointments. I heard Ray became a little detached from the day to day and brewing but what the hell happened?

 

For sure - I don't get the Otter Creek hate. They're not the best in VT, but their output is all good - if not great. I love their black IPA and porter. And you can find them, sometimes even out of state, which is nice.

edit: although I still probably like Long Trail more because Brown Bag is love.

 

Not in at least 10 years. ;-)

 

Any recommendations for McNeill's? I always see a few bottles in Winooski Bev Warehouse, but I haven't picked one up yet.

 

I'm usually disappointed in their bottles. On tap is good.

 

This.

Disclaimer: I've only had 3 Lawson's beers, so I don't have a full range to go on.

 

so I guess Im not alone

 

So Burlington Beer Co. is a new upstart brewery currently based in Jericho, and this beautiful old building that people want to see a brewery in may become a business incubator? Sounds like Burlington Beer Co. could use some space in, say, a business incubator... as long as folks making apps in the next space over don't mind the aromas of the brewhouse.

 

My favorite is Hill Farmstead. Especially when it comes to pale ales and IPAs, they're brewing some of the best beers around these days, and Edward is the gold standard pale ale in my book now. My only hesitation is with the accessibility/availability, but they make up for the remoteness and small scale of their brewery not only by being easy to find on-tap in Waterbury, but through the many events they host at the brewery throughout the year.

There are many other breweries in Vermont that come to mind as well. They're all more accessible, all make good beer, and in the case of brewpubs have a vibe that I really like: Zero Gravity (American Flatbread), McNeill's (agree it's better on-tap at the source and the brewpub will always have a special charm to me), Long Trail (I know it doesn't count to the OP, but in NH and VT, Long Trail is often easily found at bars with otherwise lousy tap selections), Otter Creek (even though I don't care for the Copper, I'm a big fan of the Alpine Black IPA and Wolaver's line). And while Rock Art doesn't blow me away, I think they deserve honorable mention for being a small brewery bottling pretty good beer in six-packs and accessibility. I haven't had enough from Bobcat, but I've really enjoyed their beers at fests. I really liked the old Alchemist brewpub, but brewing only one beer (even a very good one) disqualifies the cannery from my personal best of list, and the same is true of the extreme inaccessibility of Lawson's.

As a side note, looking through the list of Vermont breweries, I noticed at least six that have no beers listed. Some appear to be breweries-in-planning, others are maybe defunct, and some seem to have given up on plans to become breweries. House of Shandy, as far as I can tell, is a "beer" marketing company. And while I loved the vibe at the old Shed brewpub, I'm not sure why it gets its own separate listing while Wolaver's is listed under Otter Creek, since both are essentially brands of Otter Creek. Am I missing something? Just seems like for the sake of clarity, the brewery list could use some cleaning up.

 

Hill Farmstead!! Their beers are the bomb dot com and their festivals are my favorite!

 

I really enjoyed their Pullman's porter.

 

I'm almost positive it's going to become a hotel.

 

The Alchemist
only had one Lawson's brew, would love to try more

CHEERS