hi all! a buddy and his family are heading up to vermont in a week or so. besides heady and switchback, what should he be on the lookout for? both for himself while there, and maybe as a surprise for me! thanks in advance.
Where in Vermont will you be driving and staying? Beer availability depends on which part of state youre visiting.
Jon432..kind of surprised by the general nature of the question. This site is a great resource for determining BAs favorite Vermont beers, but your question is so open ended...
my buddy and his wife will be staying at snow mountain. sorry for such a broad question. my friend knows i am a member on this site, and asked that i pose this question to the community. hopefully it will yield some results for him. thanks
VT has some pretty great distribution these days from non-VT breweries as well (Shelton distributes). Do you know what route they are taking? Meditrina in Chester has a nice selection and they carry Back Acre Sour Golden Ale (check first). Brattleboro Co-op is decent. If they are coming up 91 - Ryan and Casey in Greenfield, MA as well as Table & Vine in West Springfield, MA is good.
Don't listen to the Switchback hate. It's actually a pretty tasty beer for what it is. I think that it's a perfect pairing for a burger. That said, no, probably not one to buy a case of. I'll second the Long Trail Limbo recommendation (I believe there's a new batch out). I like Otter Creek Hop Session well enough, too. I also second the Meditrina rec, nice little shop. She had a ton of Backacre last time I was in, and she's been stocking fresh Sculpin cans. Pizza Stone in Chester is also worth a visit. Pretty good pies and a nice tap list, with at least one Trapp lager always on. I dig the Trapp stuff. McLoaimann's (sp?) is also a worthwhile spot in Chester. I really like the food, and they carry a number of Belhaven beers. The Wee Heavy is great. Over near Jamaica, Meulemann's Craft Draughts is a nice shop with two growler taps. Brewfest Beverage up in Ludlow has probably the best selection in Southern VT. Oh, and Arctic Saison & Le Vermontoise from HF/Anchorage and HF/Blaugies, respectively, are on shelves in nicer shops.
Ic wouldn't say it was Switchback hate- I would just say there is better out there. The Brattleboro Coop is filling growlers (their own only) and have been getting an interesting selection. Are they staying at Stowe or Mount Snow?
Switchback is kind of our local Sam Adams - consistent, tasty, and available even in far-flung, non-geek establishments - a great comfort when you're nowhere near the distro of the other "sexy" VT brews. I'm glad they're now making more than the flagship ale for variety's sake.
Switchback is fine, if generic. But another local brewery that gets less love, and is better, is the Shed. IPA is solid and the Mountain Ale is a really nice brown ale. I haven't tried the Vanilla Porter, but I have a bottle. From the question, I am not sure the OP is aware of Heady, HF & Lawsons. If so, he should be looking to get some Heady Topper, as the easiest of the three.
I'm with HuskyHawk on this, (other than the OP mentioned Heady). Since no one has said it yet, for the Mount Snow area you will not find any of the 'Big Three' (Alchemist(Heady), Lawson's Finest, or Hill Farmstead), nor would you find it on the way. As for Switchback, you can easily find it for less than $4 a pint on select nights* in select towns. A $3 pint of Switchback is mighty tasty imo. *Did you know that 'Happy Hours' are not allowed in VT? Odd, I know and most people don't realize it. Three Needs use to have a clever way of getting around that.
I think the law allows you to discount beer only if it's a weekly event rather than daily event. So you'll see "$3 Vermont draft beer on Thursdays" type discounts, but you can't use set hours of the day. You also can't sell (normal sized, 64oz) pitchers of beer, only the small pitchers (32 oz), which is why you hardly ever see pitchers in VT. Also, you're limited to transporting 6 gallons of beer at a time in Vermont (48 cans of Heady Topper).
If typing in all caps is considered yelling, does the OP whisper because they have never used a capital letter in any of their posts.
(whispering!) just the way i have always posted in forums, an old habit! thanks for all the help folks! i am gonna pass along the info and find out what happens.
