More Vermont Help?

There's a motel near Lost Nation, not expensive at all, and not a rat hole either. Perfectly fine place for one night.

Cabot sucks, don't do it.

 

Couple quick thoughts

I don’t think there’s a way to conveniently do long trail and schilling on the same day, especially not if trying to stay closer to HF
Friday looks good
Saturday your biggest issue will be opening times, not sure if freak folk and pro pig open as early as lawsons so you might be killing time and or backtracking
albany would open up fidens (awesome but maybe not recommended if you don’t care for neipa) and maybe suarez (further out of the way but best brewery in the world possibly)

there are so many places, none bad but several that aren’t essential essential. I would not sweat missing stuff.

 

A few thoughts:

* Friday looks aggressive. Personally, I would cut at least one of either Rock Art or Lost Nation.

* Saturday, as noted the trick will be opening times and travel time. Given that's it Memorial Day weekend, will probably need to add some cushion for all driving times. You can find Fiddlehead on tap in Burlington, so unless you're really pining to get there you could probably drop this one as it's a solid 20+ minutes south of Burlington with no traffic.

* Sunday - yes, most of those are within walking distance, Burlington is a great walking city. Four Quarters is across the river in Winooski and a good spot. Ubers are plentiful in Burlington.

* Beer bars/restaurants:
1) Farmhouse Tap & Grill (Burlington) - diverse tap list, usually with a HF or two
2) Mule Bar (Winookski) - just down the hill from Four Quarters, great tap list usually with multiple HF taps
3) Hen of the Wood (Burlington) - one of the best restaurants in the northeast, make a reservation here now if you haven't done so already (might already be booked). Otherwise, try and get there at open and grab a seat at the bar.

 

I'd swap ProPig for Blackback

 

I guess the cheese lord hath spoke.

 

ProPig is probably the least accomplished of the breweries you listed. You will get inifinitely better options across the street at Blackback (admittedly not brewed there, of course). It's a "light day" for you so could do both I suppose.

Other suggestions

- I think you are a brewery too heavy Friday. I'd skip Lost Nation and/or Rock Art on Friday, other than being convenient, it's not worth the stop (although food is good). Consider subbing in Idletyme in Stowe especially if staying in Stowe that night. Beer there is fine but great outdoor space.
- I think you are a brewery too heavy Sunday, possibly two too heavy. Here it's much tougher to choose one to skip and I'd also add Four Quarters as has been suggested. I've done the basic day you've got listed and it's really tough to be coherent (but maybe your tolerance is better than my group).
- Saturday - some suggested to worry about hours but I am pretty sure all your suggestions open noon (or noon-ish) on Saturday. Start in Waterbury then head to Lawson's. Fiddlehead as an add on is probably 25-30 minutes out of your way as compared to just heading to Burlington.

 

I mean, don't get me wrong, their cheese is fine, visiting their place sucks. Better to go to a local grocery and ask their monger for some tips and they might give some samples, and discover some good cheese in the process.

And agreed, Prohibition Pig is barely a brewery, really doesn't even seem like it at all when you're there. Brews are practically called in.

 

Cabot store is nothing to write home about. Might as well have a snack if you're there, and there is a distillery tasting room next door. If you want some good cheese hit the Hunger Mtn. Co-op in Montpelier.

 

Did cabot go back to the pre Covid arrangement of like 20 cheeses to try free samples of? I wouldn’t go out of my way for that, but I always enjoyed that as a stop in the before times, especially with it being between HF and Waterbury.

the thing w Friday is you’ve got multiple places that are really close to each other, so it’s pretty doable. Rock art and lost nation are super close to each other, alchemist and von Trapp are. I would 100% stay in Stowe or Waterbury, though - that will extend your night by at least 2 hours and give you a lot of good food and drink options after the breweries close.

 

You just need to hire a driver.

 

Quality over quantity.

 

Hill is “full pour only” but they offer many small bottle pours on any given day. It’s easy to have 4-5 different things and it be the equivalent of only 2 full size pours if that makes sense. The also do essentially half pours of many things on tap.

Alchemist I’d suggest to just get a Heady draft, get cans to go, and save your drinking for elsewhere.

 

I would just prioritize staying the night in either waterbury right near Blackback and or Stowe right near alchemist or the bench. Keep your walkable options open around dinner time to end of night.

 

I think your itinerary is pretty ambitious. On the face of it, it looks like racing through a bunch of small pours, then rushing off to the next place. The beer snob in me says you could reasonably drop Rock Art, Lost Nation, Foam, Pro Pig, VT P&B, and maybe even Von Trapp without missing out on anything. Some of the others could be skipped because their taproom offerings aren't that different from their retail offerings, but I defer....I'd rather savor a place for at least an hour or two before moving on.