Where to next?

Schilling and the whole Littleton, NH area.

 

If Five Eyed Fox was open I’d put that near the top. I had a beef heart bolognese and an IPA from Brick and Feather for a meal there one night that left its mark. The Rendevous isn’t a bad spot either.

Northampton (Northampton Brewery); Turner Falls (Brick and Feather) ; Deerfield (Tree House) Greenfield (Peoples Pint) to name a few from that area that are old and new. Food options around too.

Forgot to throw in a stop at Honest Weight on your travels. You don’t ever stay in Orange. Just pass through for the great beer.

 

How's your French?

https://www.easterntownships.org/article/635/beers-worth-your-while

 

New Haven area … pizza, NEBCO and Counterweight … plus several other lesser breweries in the area but the pizza and the two breweries should make a good piece.

both are in the process of moves/expansions so could work that angle.

 

I wouldn't leave East Rock out of the equation. Their lagers might be the best in the state and the place is great.

 

I started to do a Providence writeup but only got through the East Side before realizing my treatise would turn into a novel going through all the other neighborhoods. I can keep going step by step if there is any further interest in a breakdown!

Your best time in Providence in order to add in some activities besides food & drink would be to go on a Waterfire or PVD Fest summer weekend. Hopefully the Covid situation allows these dates are more frequent this year.

This is a running joke on my social media: dutchbulbs.com(?) rated Providence as the #1 city in the U.S. for beer gardens and breweries: https://www.dutchbulbs.com/blog/bes...dFhpTVu1-WV1rI6X47ztZsr5HY7dgGH-Y4lPBLFL8vwZQ. The scoring of this is a riot. The biggest weight in the score is the cost of a Domestic Pint of Beer??

Narragansett Beer opened their Fox Point location which has gotten rave reviews but I haven't been yet. That would be a cool little feature on the history of the old brewery leading up to the new owners and their desire to once again brew in RI instead of entirely in NY as was the case at the date of purchase. Also bringing aboard Lee Lord as the first woman to be head brewer for the company; I'm sure she has stories from her time brewing at Cambridge Brewing Co as well. India Point Park is across the street from this location and looks out to the "top of the bay" (technically where the Providence and Seekonk Rivers meet). East Providence is across the Seekonk River and it would be worth looking into if you wish to pair the trip with a show at Comedy Connection (Black Duck Tavern next door gets rave reviews) or an outdoor concert across the river at Bold Point Park. So far the only publicly released concert date at Bold Point for this summer is Bon Iver.

From there in that neighborhood you can climb the hill on the other side of I-195 to hit up a first cluster of food options. From south to north on Ives Street you have PVDonuts (large brioche donuts with a quirky monthly menu), Kow Kow Ice Cream (served in bubble waffle cones), Chomp Kitchen and Drinks (nice messy burgers/sandwiches and always a good beer list), and Tallulah's Taqueria. Then there is a Portuguese bakery across the street from there (Silver Star Bakery) if you wish to continue the gluttony!

Wayland Square is a nice restaurant neighborhood as well, but don't know a lot about it other than Mare Rooftop is considered one of the best high end restaurants in the city.

From here, the logical next stop is Thayer Street near the heart of Brown University. I used to live 3 blocks up from the commercial strip around 15 years ago, and my standbys were East Side Pockets for the best falafel wraps anywhere and Kabob & Curry for chicken vindaloo whose spices cleaned out my sinuses. A lot of the strip is franchised now with a Shake Shack, Ben & Jerry's and the like, but a few places that have been around forever are Meeting Street Cafe for all-day breakfast and Andrea's a Greek restaurant. A Flatbread Company has opened since I moved out, but a more recent restaurant that drives me to this neighborhood currently is Den Den Korean Fried Chicken. Absolutely fantastic flavor, and they offer more than fried chicken such as sushi and pot stickers. There is also a ramen place (Ganko Ittetsu Ramen) that has instagram-worthy dishes but I couldn't tell you how it is from first-hand experience.

Finally, you can roll down College Hill like the street lugers used to do those first few X Games in the '90s. There are a number of museums and walking tours along the hill. Benefit Street is lined with historic homes galore. Then along South Main Street before crossing the river you have Plant City from chef Matthew Kenney which was opened several years ago and prides itself as the "world's first plant-based vegan food hall and marketplace". They have four different service areas: "burger" bar, cafe, pizza/Italian, and Mexican food. The small market area has vegan ingredients such as cashew cheese, almond milk, etc. The art of making vegan dishes not just edible but even better than the corresponding non-vegan dishes in many cases, is worth the try. I believe my favorite of the food options (Double Zero) has since opened a standalone restaurant in Boston. The spicy farro pepperoni pizza is to die for. Plant City also has a well-curated beer list.

From here, you can walk across the brand new $20 million (much to the taxpayers' dismay) 500-foot pedestrian bridge to the jewelry district of the city. In actuality, this neighborhood is still being built out from vacant land left behind after relocation of I-195 to the south of the hurricane barrier. Going to stop here until I have more time to keep going through the neighborhoods!

 

I'd like to read a brief history of Cambridge Brewing. They got into the brewpub game pretty early, helped introduce Belgian styles to the American scene, and continue being a low-key powerhouse of excellent brew.

 

Totally related: what northeastern town has the biggest clump of breweries that you could visit by foot? I've had this brochure about Asheville breweries next to the toilet during the entire pandemic, and seeing that amazing collection on South Slope makes me crave a walkabout beer vacation. When the shit gets cleaned off the fan, anyway.

 

Portland has multiple with Industrial Way (Allagash, Foundation, Definitive, Battery Steele, Austin Street) and East End (Oxbow, Goodfire, Belleflower, Austin St., Rising Tide, Lone Pine).

Burlington's industrial area is another (Zero Gravity, Queen City, Burlington Beer, Switchback, Citizen Cider) with Foam about a 15 minute walk.

Portsmouth has a handful as well (Portsmouth Brewery, Liars Bench, Earth Eagle, Great Rhythm, Loaded Question).

 

Love the whole team there, plus the offspring
Sean, Jay, Lee and the list goes on
A brewery family tree worth the time to explore.
On that subject
Greg Noonan, Vermont Pub and Brewery, his impact 30 + yrs later would be a treat to read
Cheers

 

Man, I’m basically a lifelong Rhode Islander, and work in PVD. I’d hire you to sell my product based on this writeup.

That said, East Side Pockets is the best. Also, really dig the new Gansett spot, great location, and they’ve got a nice variety of stuff on. Been a few times and enjoyed a Vienna Lager, Pale Ale, West Coast (ish) DIPA, and an olde ale. Great addition to the city.

 

Yeah would totally second Portland. Went up there three months ago. Awesome place.

 

Haha ever since the pandemic start I'm like "I just want to tour my own area again"! Parting makes the heart grow fonder I guess. Rhode Islanders tend to be the most self-deprecating I've found, so just saying out loud all the good things about Providence isn't a bad thing. I grew up in NH where it was the opposite, 'Live Free or Die!' and all...

 

To build off my lengthy summary above, if we can cheat and say beer gardens and brewpubs count then the Providence version would be...
Right on the far side of the pedestrian bridge, the Guild of Pawtucket (Narragansett and contract brewers of Devil's Purse, Night Shift, etc.) has a summer beer garden. From there, Grant's Block on Westminster Street was home to a Long Live Beerworks beer garden last summer. Third, Union Station just on the other side of Kennedy Plaza has really upped their beer game after going through a few ownership groups. Fourth, Trinity Brewhouse is an oldie and definitely the weakest as far as the beer, but man mixing in an enamel peeling Trinity IPA may be a nice change of pace on a long tour!

After this, you cross I-95 but divert to the south of Federal Hill to West Fountain Street. The fifth stop is Beer on Earth, who does a variety of styles well. (They are in the "old" Long Live Beerworks space.) Finally, stop #6 is Moniker Brewery: I visited 1-2 months after opening and a lot of their beers were already on point. Nothing spectacular but all above average to very good beers. On W Fountain at the end of the line, you can also easily mix in Bayberry Beer Hall which carries the best tap list in town and great food. And the other end of the road has Bucktown fried chicken and fish which is some real southern meets northeast food. Takeout only since the pandemic started but you could order via QR code from Moniker last time I was there.

I got a total walking distance of 1.7 miles / 36 minutes for this trip.

 

Rochester, NY and the northern Finger Lakes has several top notch breweries. Same goes for food, especially given the wine scene. Then there are the lakes, parks, and features left behind after the glaciers. And, IF, all goes well the city will run the Jazz Festival this summer.

Breweries

• Strangebird
• Swiftwater
• Fifth Frame
• Faircraft Brauhaus
• Mortalis
• Rising Storm
• Other Half
• Frequentem
• Brewery Ardennes
• Big aLICe
• Fall Street
• Pantomime Mixtures

Restaurants

• Rocky’s
• Genesee Brew House
• Sinbad’s
• Rhienblick
• Beef-n-Brew

So many more.

 

I love Bayberry! There's so many quality beer choices, both on tap and bottles. And that spicy chicken sandwich where the sauce is made with IPA? Fantastic. I gotta explore Providence more. I've lived like 15 minutes away from the city for my entire life, now that I'm working there I gotta branch out and find new places

 

We did this exact route on a Friday afternoon in October. Highly recommend.

 

Haven't been to PVD in a bit, but I loved visiting Julian's. Great food, a nice, curated draft list and array of bottles. There's the Avery too. Cool little spot with good beer. Used to drink Pretty Things there like ten or twelve years ago. May have been the first place I had it.

I know people above are mentioning Portland--I don't think he needs any help with Portland.

 

Matt, are you asking us to come up with pitches for you?