So my spring break is coming up and I think it would really be cool to tour a bunch of breweries on the east coast. I go to the University of Pittsburgh and live in Pittsburgh and my break goes from the 9th of March until St. Patricks day on the 17th. I have a list of breweries I would definitely like to see but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? I would especially like to hear about obscure little Microbreweries and Brewpubs that might be along my way (I plan on going to Philly, Delaware, up to NY and VT possibly, also into Ohio and MI, and possibly Canada as I have family there). I would love to hear about some cool little places that I would never have otherwise discovered! Let me know guys, cheers!
You can do Troegs, Victory and DFH. But... But I suggest this. You are in college. Spend the week in Vermont. Go to Alchemist, Hill Farmstead Lawsons whatever else you can fit in. Take your student loan money and buy as much beer as you can fit in the car. Make it a once in a lifetime type trip. Once you are out of school these kinds of things are much more difficult to do.
Wow, spring break doesn't mean trips to warm climates, beaches, and all-night parties anymore? Go to the upper right of this page and do a search of 'tours' and you'll get 10 pages of entries that you can browse to get ideas. These threads and their responses go back a year for the search, and get into each regional forum to find the results for the search. Here is a link to the one on the 10th page that appears to be drawn from the New England forum. http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brewery-tours-in-the-new-england-area.277/ Enjoy your time off from school.
Can you say road trip? Get to book one ways to Minneapolis and from Grand Rapids (there's a direct flight from GR to Pitt) http://goo.gl/maps/fYTyR Start at Surly Then Capital Brewing Then New Glaurus Then Chicago (goose island, revolution, yadda yadda, half acre) Then Three Floyds Then Bells Then Dark Horse Then Arcadia Then Founders Then back to Pitt... This is what i wanna do!
Personally I'd go to Florida, party in Panama City or Ft Lauderdale, or for cheaper hit Cancun. Then just take a weekend to go tour breweries in the north east. But given that you wanna go during Spring Break, I'd just hit Vermont. Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's. load up in beer and drive home.
If you decide to hit Ohio, my favorite right now is http://www.thebrewkettle.com/ . White Rajah is one of my favorite IPAs, can't keep enough in my fridge! Not a pretty brewery by any means, but easy access.
well my spring break is driving to madison, wi to visit a friend, then flying from mdw to ft lauderdale. best of both worlds! as someone who is enjoying his sixth (and last) spring break, i seriously recommend going far away to somewhere warm. that being said, northern ohio doesn't have much in the way of brewery tours. stop at fatheads in cleveland, maybe maumee bay in toledo, kuhnhenn in michigan (this is all assuming you're making a big lake erie loop, looking at your projected destinations). ontario is a wasteland, so good luck if that's the case. protip: go to a beach.
I'd stop in at Lancaster Brewing company on your way to Philly. Maybe head down to Dogfish Head in Delaware from Philly. There's absolutely no way you could take in all the Northeast breweries in a week, I'd be more specific, maybe go to Vermont like people are suggesting (I was planning a Vermont beer trip myself for March break actually)
Come in the PA Turnpike--hit Stoudt's, Victory, Forest and Main and Tired Hands on your wat into Philly for a day or two. Then head north to the Vermont breweries mentioned above. On the way home, Voodoo. Just make sure you've got somebody to drive you around.
Lawson's is not a place, it's a frame of mind. The brewery is not open to the public. The Alchemist (the owner is a Pittsburgh ex-pat) is a commercial brewery that sells outstanding beer, the self guided tour is, you stand behind a short wall and look at equipment and people while sipping Heady Topper. Hill Farmstead is a real farmstead brewery it too has sampling and if they are brewing, you can watch. Go south young man, go south where it's frackin' warmer. Come to Vermont when things are green.
