I was hoping to get some information from the New England BA community. I will be visiting my sister in Manhattan not this weekend but the weekend after and since I have a couple days of vacation time to burn I figured I do a New England Brewery tour/haul. I was thinking about hitting up NEBCO and Trillium next weds staying the night in Boston then waking up early and heading to HF grabbing some growlers drink a couple brews and start heading south again while stopping at a bottle shop or two to try and find some Heady and SOS on the way down to NYC I also want to stop by Tree house in hopes of getting some cans of Julius. Do you guys have any advice on good food spots with a good tap list/bottle shops to visit in boston and VT also what are the odds I'm actually able to get Heady or SOS or Julius or am I pretty much just wasting gas haha. Any Input is Greatly Appreciated. Cheers!
There are a lot of threads that exist already with info on visiting all those breweries. I would do a search. I suppose it's possible to drive from CT to MA in one day, Trillium is open 4 at on Wednesdays and closes at 7:30, keep that in mind. A one day to trip from Boston to Hill Farmstead (almost 4 hours there with good traffic), then driving down all the way back to NYC sounds brutal. But as long as you track Heady deliveries (HeadySpotter.com) for that day, you should be able to pick them up if you go early enough. Also, Treehouse is in the middle of the state of MA, 90+ minutes from Boston and is not really on the way to anything else, and is only open certain hours during the week so it's not really "stopping by".
Hmmm, as said above that feels like an exhausting amount of driving (much of it in congested areas) but if you're coming in from very far away from New England I can see why you'd want to hit as many of the heavy hitters as possible while you're in the region. If you're not wedded to hitting all the various areas, you could put together a nice alternative of just choosing an area or two and really digging in though. I can't speak for all the areas you mentioned, but just for instance, if you came to Boston you could do Trillium, Night Shift, Mystic, Idle Hands, Slumbrew, Areonaut, and Cambridge Brewing Company, largely on public transportation while grabbing dinner at Row 34 or Lord Hobo for great food and taplists. If you went to Central Mass you could hit Treehouse, Jack's Abby, Wormtown, and Medusa and then hit Armsby Abby for arguably the best taplist in the state. It goes without saying that Waterbury, VT would also easily occupy a whole day or two. More power to you if you want to do all the driving, but that's just a thought in a different direction in case you want to go deep rather than wide. Have a blast whatever you do!
Stay overnight in Burlington VT if you can. You should be able to get a room for around or just over 100 bucks. So much Hill Farmstead, Alchemist and Lawsons available around town and at bars. You'll be glad you broke the drive up.
I can appreciate the allure of VT, HF, Heady etc (I just did all that 2 weekends ago) but I think your time will be much better spent sticking to the Boston/Tree House/NEBCO triangle. VT is more of a 2 day adventure and you can usually find at least 2-3 HF beers on tap at The Armsby Abbey/Dive Bar in Worcester as consolation. As for Heady, I find the hoppy offerings of Trillium and Tree House much more mindblowing these days. (I was honestly a little dissappointed with recent Heady compared to previous tastings.) And don't be discouraged if Julius isnt available at TH when you plan your trip. Green and Haze are every bit as delicious (or more!) That said, if you can drive from Boston to HF, get fills, get back in the car, make a few stops, find Heady/SOS, fit in Tree House AND get back to NYC before midnight....well, that will be one EPIC beer run!
Yup, I agree with this. In fact, I would have a hard time doing VT with Trillium and TH so close to me. The only argument against this mind set is if Hills Farmstead has a bunch of Saisons available at the brewery and you love Saisons. However, if you are more intent on getting a bunch of hoppy stuff, then stick to MA. Go to Boston and do the following: Trillium Cambridge Brewing Company Mystic Night Shift Also within an hour or so drive: Treehouse Jack Abbey Wormtown Armsbey Abbey In CT: OEC New England Brewing Company If you do these breweries, you will get more beer then you know what to do with. Disclaimer: I have only had one HF saison and it was before I really go into the style, but they are supposed to be mind blowing.
It's doable but you better load up on caffeine, that's an awful lot of driving. I had a day off last week and had to drop something off in Boston but I managed to do Bissell Brothers & Foundation (Portland, ME), Night Shift (Everett, MA), Trillium (Boston) & Tree House in a single day. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's doable. One thing to keep in mind: NEBCO's growler fill room is closed for renovations at the moment & they haven't yet set a date for re-opening. As much as I love it, I'd also suggest cutting VT out, if you have a fairly limited timeframe. Between the beer, food, scenery & location (re: round trip travel time) it really warrants at least a weekend. If it were me, this is what I'd do: Drive up to Boston via 95, hit Beer'd (killer APAs/IPAs) along the way off of 95 just before RI. You can then do Trillium & Night Shift in Boston & Everett, respectively. The next day I'd hit Armsby Abbey in Worcester (on the way to TH) for lunch, they've got Hill Farmstead beers on tap everyday along with a lot of other great stuff. Then I'd get to TH early before taking 84 -> 91 -> Merritt Parkway down to NEBCO(it's literally 2 minutes off of the Merritt), if they're open for fills. I'd also strongly recommend checking out Other Half when you're in NYC, they're cranking out some fantastic hoppy stuff over the last year. Torst is also a great, if pricey, bar to check out in Brooklyn. It's also pretty unlikely that you'd score SOS given how spotty distribution is right now, but I'd be happy to save a can for you, if you haven't had the pleasure of trying it.
Awesome! thanks for all the info! Really helpful I think I'm going to cut out the VT as suggested above it really does add a whole other day to the trip and there is more than enough awesome beer in the Boston area. Again thanks for all the input definitely helpful.
Other Half was already on the list of places to go and Brooklyn brewery. I've heard nothing but great things about Other Half beers.
Hit up Singlecut while in NYC, as well. In CT, NEBCO will be right on your way IF it is back open. That said ...if it is open, my guess would be that it a mob scene because of the new tap room and they usually have something up their sleeve (i.e. one of their popular beers) in these type of situations. As soon as that becomes a reality on social media, it will be crazy. Just conjecture, but I'd skip it this time around if they are back open. Pains me to say that as it is the best we have to offer. If for some reason you are on 95 on your way back through CT, check out Beer'd hours (Friday night, Saturday / Sunday day). 95 will not be in your plans if you are going to Treehouse on the way back though. In terms of Bottle shops, hit DeCicco's Ardsley on your way back through Westchester County (just over the NY border about 10 minutes from the Merritt). You will not be disappointed. Excellent bottle and growler/crowler selection.
I think you mean DeCicco's Armonk, that's the second flagship store with a fantastic bar, crowler/growler system, & regularly has Hill Farmstead on tap.
Thanks for the suggestion on Singlecut I'll definitely look into getting out to Queens to check it out. Maybe cut out Brooklyn Brewery if I don't have time since Ive been multiple times.
