New to Brattleboro

I really like Brattleboro, but beer-wise a big step down from Denver. On the plus side, no smog!

The Co-op will probably be your best bet to pick up beers. Nice selection, but a little pricey.

 

I don't live anywhere near Brattleboro, but visited last fall. While there, I really enjoyed Whetstone. Lots of good beers on tap and the view of the river is spectacular. McNiell's is conveniently located, but I haven't been there in quite some time to comment on the beers.

A half hour south in Greenfield, MA is the People's Pint brewpub and Casey & Ryan's bottle shop. Tons of great beers there that may not be available at the Coop.

 

The best beer in Brattleboro is..............Ryan & Casey's in Greenfield, MA


Denver to Brattleboro is a bit confusing, it's got to be for work or family (I lived in Brattlebor for 30 years)

 

Just spent a beer-centric weekend south of Bratt visiting breweries & taprooms in Amherst, Greenfield, and Northampton. Lots of great places and different distro than VT.

 

Nice! I read about that restaurant project, sounds great. I don't live there (lots of family visits).
There are definitely some Brattleboro residents on BA and they post fairly regularly, so you should have some boots on the ground input soon.

 

The gas station in West Brattleboro has a pretty decent selection. Last time I was at the bowling alley I was impressed, but it's been a couple of years. Like covered already there are some decent places in Western Mass and Tree House is certainly within striking distance. Unfortunately the big VT three breweries are over two hours away though the co-op had Lawsons once upon a time and the Whetstone usually has HF and is known to have HT in cans. Keene also has Elm City Brewing which is worth a stop if you are in the area and Brewtopia which is a bottle shop. I am about half and hour from Brattleboro.

 

What was the name of the Pub in the basement below the theatre and hotel? I used to like that place and it seemed to have a decent selection? Then Irene hit and trashed it for good. I remember when they re opened just upstairs and were serving only beer and hot dogs. What a scene after the hurricane up there.

 

Flat Street which is still there and so good I should have mentioned it. Don't think they have re-opened the basement and don't know if they will- a shame it was nice down there. Saw a mention here that there is brewery opening in Brattleboro but it seems like a year away.

 

I'm about an hour away (over the mountain & through the woods) in Manchester, VT. Get over here if you can, although it would be for the scenery and not for the beer. Haven't spent as much time as I would like in Bratt, but used to enjoy playing rings at McNeil's and having a pint or two there with friends.
I hope you're a cheese fan, because plenty of incredible options in Vt. Having the Grafton cheese co. right there, you'll need to stop by. Vt Country Store in Weston is good too since they have a pretty good selection from around the state and offer free samples to taste.
Do you have kids? if so message me and I can help on that front to find some local gems.

 

It had a suprisingly decent selection about a year ago (last time I was there). Attended a kids birthday party and was pleasently suprised to find several decent beers on tap. I was totally expecting nothing more than Bud.

 

McNeill's is either big hit or big miss (quality varies by batch) but keep sampling til you find a stellar one, Whetstone had a great batch of house-made double IPA last time I was up, and tends to have good guest taps. Haven't been to Flat Street since the flood, but they were doing great things before that sad day.

As others said, nearby MA may be your best bet in the somewhat immediate area. Take a ride to Ryan and Casey's in Greenfield MA for bottle selection (they have pretty much all the good stuff from MA except Night Shift), get some great food and beer at the People's Pint also in Greenfield, and bump around Franklin County MA a bit, check out Lefty's tasting room in Greenfield on Saturdays (really good seasonal beers like breakfast stout and scotch ale) and Element Brewery's (high abv, creative style-fusions) tasting room in Millers Falls. Get a little more ambitious and you can tackle the 45-min ride down to Northampton Brewery, or High Horse (A+ lately) or Amherst Brewing in Amherst MA. Stop by Great Falls Harvest in Turners Falls MA - great restaurant (but you can just go to the bar too) that seems unfortunately less busy than it should be, and for some very odd reason it and Mesa Verde (the burrito place in Greenfield) are the only joints I can think of in nearby Franklin County where you can sample four great local W. MA breweries on tap in one place (usually Element, Lefty's, BBC, and Brewmaster Jack) - next door to Great Falls is The Rendezvous, a nice trendy pub which oddly prides itself on beer selection, but doesn't seem to truly have their heart of hearts in the beer game, though they get some nice surprises on tap occasionally so it's worth popping in on the off chance. You're also not all that far from otherwise-dead Athol MA (40-45 min), home of The Blind Pig, a great no-frills pub with an inspired and truly regionally-encompassing tap and bottle lineup and known to have tap takeovers occasionally with the likes of Maine Beer Co, Mystic, Night Shift, Pretty Things, Lefty's, Element, etc. They're also one of the very few places that has succeeded in getting Tree House on tap (only very occasionally though! don't count on it!).

The Brattleboro and Putney Co-ops are probably your best bottle shops right near Brattleboro. Really, nearby Western MA has the closest thriving beer nexus, while Southern VT is pretty blank besides Brattleboro itself, and a long haul over to Bennington area where a couple low-key breweries are located, or a half hour to Keene to see what Elm City brewpub is up to. Maple Leaf in Wilmington was a nice S. VT brewpub, but wiped out by Hurricane Irene flooding in 2011 I believe, a big blow. Supposedly the winery in Jacksonville VT is going to start making beer. It's a slog north to Long Trail or the Norwich Inn / Jasper Murdock, which I think are the next breweries north in the general 91 corridor, and if you go that far, why not just keep going to HF, HT, LF territory?

Enjoy Brattleboro, it's pretty much the best possible town for its size!

 

I've enjoyed reading all of this. I can attest for the pioneer valley (Greenfield, NoHo, Amherst) being a great up and coming beer region. I grew up in the hilltowns by Shelburne Falls so I'm very familiar with the region; it's really getting a good vibe these days and feels more progressive and lively than 10 years ago. +1 for Ryan and Casey's and the peoples pint.

I currently live in the other southern VT "B" town. Yes, the Bennington area. About as opposite from Bratt as you can get; more of a heroin and welfare scene than a beer/hippie vibe. A couple places worth a visit in the area, but you're best sticking to Bratt and Wmass. Enjoy the area, it's a lovely place!

 

This post has some great guidance for areas north of Brattleboro, with Bellows Falls as home base:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/hey-vermonters.70329/#post-1321066

 

Correction (good for everything else): Maple Leaf had ceased being a brewpub a bit before Irene and has been wiped out by a lazy owner who refuses to get anything great on tap- good bar but I shudder when I look at their tap selection every time I go in. The pizza place in Wilmington that opened in the old Apre Vous space has an excellent selection. You also have Backacre in the Weston area that is making some great sours I'm told (I've never even seen a bottle).

 

I almost laughed out loud reading this. I can only imagine folks from Denver thinking "Oh God, what have I done!".

 

West Brattleboro can have that effect on people. Last time I bowled at the of course bowling alley I was drinking Ruination at the bar.

 

I'm a local. PM sent. All very good information posted in this thread, especially this part.