My wife & I will be coming up the first week of June and making a loop around MA, NH, VT, & NY. I could spend the whole week checking out the beer hotspots, but unfortunately I'll have to keep it to a minimum during the trip. My wife enjoys good beer, but doesn't venture out of the sours too much. So based on our itinerary below, I'm looking for must-stops along our path so I can stock up on locals, and check out great breweries. I already have a couple things in mind, but feel free to provide suggestions to "enhance" our experience. - Arrive in Boston on a Sat. afternoon. We're hoping to stay in the Back Bay neighborhood. We won't have a car until we leave Boston. - On Monday leave Boston for NH, White Mountains specifically so we can do some hiking and outdoors stuff. - On Wed., Leave NH for VT, we'll be staying at Smuggler's Notch (because it's free for us). Along the way stopping at Hill Farmstead. I want to spend a little time in Waterbury for the great restaurants and taprooms, while hopefully finding some Heady to stock up on. - On Fri, leave VT and go to Cooperstown, NY. This is the main purpose of the trip, as my wife is in a wedding on Saturday. I know Ommegang is nearby, but worth it? - On Sunday, leave Cooperstown and head back to Boston where we will spend the night somewhere near the airport to fly home Monday morning. Anything on this route that is a must see? Thanks!
I like Ommegang and the brewery is easy on the eyes. plus they encourage drinking on the property. If your a hop head they'll have one or two for you but it's mostly a Belgian style brewery.
If you're in Cooperstown, I would consider Ommegang totally worth it. Cool and unique building, good tour, tasty beer and nice area. I'll leave the rest of the itinerary up to those that know better than me.
Going Waterbury <-> Smuggs Rt 108 looks like the shortest route, but a lot of times it isn't. If you've never driven it, it is a pretty rough drive at night, and during the day can take a long time since tourist tend to walk along that road, in the middle of the road, and/or park their car in a lane and leave it for hours. They close it during the winter for good reason. I also like to throw in for my local brewery Lost Nation which is on the way from Smuggs to Waterbuy if you take Rt 100 (and you should take Rt 100, not Rt 15 like Google Maps tells you). When you say White Mountains, I assume you'll be in and/or around North Conway, so make sure to check out the Moat - good brewpub, and if you find yourself driving down Rt 302 in Bethlehem, NH there is a little cafe called Mia papaya; stop there and get a Chai Latte. Also when you're driving up Rt 302 (assuming you do) some tourist spots to spot at are the Mt Washington Hotel, you'll also pass two little waterfalls called the cascades, (Silver and Flume...?) that are nice spots to stop, and there is a nice pull off spot across from a Subway to take pics into the Valley (not facing the Presidential range tho)
Really appreciate the suggestions so far. I'll make some time to swing by Ommegang. In the White Mts, we'll be staying right outside Franconia St park, but plan on exploring the area. I also read there's a good bottle shop right across the border in ME. I'll look into the Lost Nation suggestion too. Thanks!
Sounds like a great trip, Boston to Cooperstown. Don't rely on a GPS totally. Do have lunch in Waterbury and do not fail to pick up a case of Heady Topper.
I was about to mention Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery also. Great food AND beer. My wife and I use North Conway to break up the trip from visiting my family in Portland ME to getting growler fills at Hill Farmstead. A stop at the LL Bean outlet store for closeout gear then lunch at Moat Mountain and we are good to go!
If your wife likes sours, you may want to check out Night Shift in Everett (near Boston). They have a sours future program and you can prob pre-buy their Ever-Weisse (releases April) and pick it up when you're there. The program ends 3/31, so you want need to pull the trigger asap. http://www.nightshiftbrewing.com/product/sour-futures/ Boston: Food wise, Giacomo's is a favorite of mine. There's one in the North End, but it's a production to get seated there since they don't take reservations. The one in South End/Back Bay takes reservations. Also, near the Logan Airport, there's a pretty sweet no-frills seafood place, Belle Isle Seafood. If you like lobster (aka lobstah rolls) I highly recc it. In Lincoln,NH, there's a place call Wayne's Market that has a decent selection, especially for a place that looks like a gas station mart from the outside. Waterbury, I'm just going to assume Prohibition Pig and Reservoir are on your list.
Thanks @AMW ! I've heard great things about Night Shift and I definitely want to check them out. Appreciate the food recommendations too, looking forward to some lobstah!
