VT Trip Rewind

I just returned from my first ever trip to Vermont and thought I would share my experiences there. What a wonderful trip it was. WARNING: long drivel it will be TL;DR

I headed up Sunday without any accommodations made. My first encounter with the kindness of Vermonters was with @prdstmnky. He offered up a room to keep me from spending $100 on a hotel room. After hearing I had not tried anything HF he opened his last Elaborative #1 with me. What a great beer. He opened bottle after bottle without question. Serious stand up guy and I'm going to repay his kindness. Beers enjoyed Sunday: Elaborative #1, 3F Oude Geuze, Hoponius Union, Longtrail Limbo and a couple more I can't recall.

Monday I chased Heady successfully. Checking the Alchemist website I hit up both Healthy Living and Route 7 Liquor (where someone had no idea why everyone had a case of HT in line so I gave him a can after checking out). I met up with a couple of local PA guys and we went downtown and really enjoyed both Blackback and Reservoir. I think that Blackback was my favorite place just because of the setting, draft list and how great the bartender was. Beers enjoyed Monday: Focal Banger, Sip of Sunshine, Conehead, Vermont Pilsner, Oude Tart, Heady Topper, Second Fiddle, Dude Are You OK?, Fiddlehead, Edward, Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic, 3F Oude Friek and Everett. Some of these were flights or shared bottles.

Tuesday was phenomenal as I got to meet the man, the myth and the legend @youbrewidrink. Another first class guy hands down. He met us at the Farmhouse Tap & Grill. Their beer list was as solid as most although a touch on the high side, but to be honest it was a little more upscale in my opinion. Their burger was as good as any I've ever had. Little did I know our adventure was just beginning. Next he took us over to Zero Gravity and then the Burlington Pub and Brewery which has some very nice history behind it which was greatly explained to us. Lastly we hit up Magic Hat. I'm no MH fanboy but their brewery is a should do for anyone. It is a truly unique experience. After heading back to Waterbury we went to ProPig for dinner. Their pork rinds were mind-blowing their beef brisket was very average. Beers enjoyed Tuesday: Long Trail Brown Bag Series #10, What is Enlightenment, A Lager in the Rye, Tulach Leis, Dream Machine, Over the Pils, Big Hundo, Elder Betty, Spring Fever Session IPA, Rookies Root Beer, Session Pale Ale, La Vermontoise and Heady Topper.

Wednesday we got up and headed to Hill Farmstead. The place is in the middle of nowhere but not quite like I had imagined. I've seen similar settings in both PA and MI. They are moving along quite rapidly on their expansion I've been told. We got there around 11:20 and were near 40-50 in line. We barely made it inside the door upon opening and took close to two and a half hours to get through the line. On the way back to Waterbury we hit up both Lost Nation and Rock Art breweries. LN had a beer or two I really liked as did RA. After getting back into Waterbury we met up with @kgncfl and @ottodyer (I hope this is the right tag) and went back to Blackback and the Reservoir. Beers enjoyed Wednesday: Mary, Amarillo Single Hop PA, Brother Soigne, Double Citra, Gose, Vermont Pilsner, Petit Ardennes, Saison Lamoille, Rustic Ale, Pitch Black, Peach Saison, Ridge Runner, Simcoe IPA, Belvedere Big IPA, Red Dwarf, Arthur, Beezlebub, Rye Porter, Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #50, Belgian Pale Ale, Unfiltered Pale Ale and Neither Imperial IPA. Lots of flights/samples.

The highlight of the day/night was the smallish bottle share that was put together near last minute. @kgncfl was kind enough to open his Flora w blueberry. Other beers at the share: Bodhi, Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter, Double Duckpin, Bourbonic Plague (2011), Dinner, Fayston Maple Imperial Stout (MBA) and Hop Tart 3.0. Great night!

Thursday we headed up to Hill Farmstead before departing Vermont. There was a much shorter line and we were able to make it through the line twice. They put out magnums of Brother Soigne right before we were to order and we lucky enough to buy one. Perhaps today's highlight was meeting @TheVicster. He was incredibly kind and quick with advice and answered questions as he is quasi-local. He did me a really big solid and then also gave me a bottle of Arther as I had missed out on it. He is a really great guy and a true BA.

Sorry for the longwinded post. My first trip to Vermont was made so much better by meeting great people from Vermont and elsewhere. I am guessing I forgot to mention some great people and to those I did, my sincere apologies.

 

And I knew I had forgotten someone damnit! On my way back home I made a pit stop around Allentown and met up with @JArmour15 who was kind enough to give me plenty of the Alchemist stuff from the previous weekend's pop up sale. So lucky to have such great people on this site. I hope to have a beer with him at Pizza Boy or around Philly sometime soon.

 

Obviously those extras were because I knew you were headed to VT in the next month...

 

I was excited to try Mad Taco at Blackback but when we got there we were informed that there was a different company serving burritos that day. Started with an A I believe. I'm no fan of starting rumors but there was talk that Mad Taco wouldn't be at Blackback for a lot longer which would be too bad if true.

Pretty sure I would live in Vermont May to August if possible so staying longer is no issue!