The Bar Towel

Heading to Vermont next week and looking forward to it. I've got plans to visit Magic Hat, Otter Creek and Harpoon. Any others I should make an attempt to hit.

Apparently Vermont has more brew pubs and crafts per capita then any other state. How great is that?

Cheers
J

I've never been, but I'd check out:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/860/?view=beerfly

Greg Noonan is the brewer & a great writer. I'd love to check out his work.

Then I'd definitely try to hunt down some of the best beers brewed in Vermont:
http://www.ratebeer.com/BestInMyArea.as ... StateID=45

(The Alchemist & McNeils gets great reviews).

I was in Vermont in March and can personally vouch for Vermont Brew Pub and The Alchemist. Both brewed great beer, but the food at the Alchemist was a lot better.

The friends we were with also wanted to take us to American Flatbread in Burlington but the weather was awful so we didn't have time. They said the beer is pretty good, and the flatbread pizzas are very good.

You may want to try to make it to Trout River Brewery and Long Trail Brewing Co. Both make solid IPAs and their other beers may not rank high on the beer sites but are solid. While there I picked up McNiel's Old Ringworm and a Rock Art Hells Bockand greatly enjoyed both beers. However, neither myself nor my friend have been to the actual brewing locations or know what the rest of their lineups are like.

I have it on brewer authority that American Flatbread makes some darn tasty beer.
I'm gonna try to get to burlington for the festival in july (18th & 19th)

The Magic Hat tour is great, very unique. Otter Creek is not too far away and also well worth the trip. Don't forget the Ben and Jerry's tour while you're there, sad that it was bought by a megacompany but still a fun tour.

If you're downtown Burlington check out Three Needs on College. Just grubby enough to be fun. They make their own and have some guest taps. A bit of a student hangout. I remember a lot of old Elvis Costello being played.

Hi
just retuned from vacation in Vermont and all I can say is.. WOW.

Great beer, beautiful scenery and fantastic people. What amazed me the most was it didn't matter if you went to a hole-in-the-whole cafe or a Steak & Seafood restaurant, Vermont beer was everwhere. I only hope we in Ontario eventually follow suit and have cities and towns everywhere supporting out own greatness we are making here.

Already planning next year's vacation and my SWMBO is letting me plan it around thier Beer fest that I missed by two weeks this year.

Cheers

I did a trip through Vermont a couple months back. For a small state there are some terrific micros and brew pubs. Im thinking of making a weekend in Vermont a yearly trip.

For the breweries I hit Rock Art in Morrisville, Magic Hat (Always an experience) Otter Creek and Zero Gravity (American Flatbread).

As far as pubs go Three Needs is very good, The Alchemist was great (but crowded) For a small city Burlington has a LOT going on.

I'd have to second the McNeills recommendations. A colleague brought back a mixed case of bombers and they were all top notch.

Been a few times in Vermont for beer trips.

Surprisingly, I really like hitting Stowe for beer / ski / biking. The Shed brewery on the main road is quaint, with decent to ok food and faily quaffable beer.

I stayed twice at Mr Pickwick's which had Stone on tap each time. Great food, whisky and beer here. I especially loved the mini racks of braised boar ribs.

And news on the town is that the Von Trappe Familly opened a brewery at their resort site. I'd love for someone to confirm this as I am heading out this weekend and would definitely check out the site if true.

Anybody tried one of the lesser known Burlington brewpubs also?

I was in Stowe for reading week in February and had a great time. I went to The Shed brewpub and had a decent meal and a sampler tray (served on a wooden ski) of their current line-up. All were decent, a couple (the DIPA and American strong ale) were great.

I also visited the Rock Art brewery, though did not have time to go on a tour. Seemed like a nice place, and it was only about 15-20 minutes from Stowe. Also, the Stowe liquor store had a pretty good selection of Vermont and American craft stuff.

AuburnAle wrote:The Magic Hat tour is great, very unique.

The other nice thing about the Magic Hat tour, and something that you almost never see these days, is that the tour and the samples are both free. The sample are given out in shot glass style glasses but you can have as many as you want.

I'll be heading down in July, looking forward to hitting a few places I missed last time.

Has anyone ever had anything brewed by Lawson's? I'm staying not too far from where they set up shop on the weekends.

heading down in 3 weeks. 2 nights in Burlington, followed by 2 nights in Quebec City and 2 nights in Montreal. Any Vermont recommendations besides the usuals (Flatbread Hearth, etc)?

sprague11 wrote:heading down in 3 weeks. 2 nights in Burlington, followed by 2 nights in Quebec City and 2 nights in Montreal. Any Vermont recommendations besides the usuals (Flatbread Hearth, etc)?

swap one of those nights in burlington for a night in waterbury so you can spend some time at the alchemist (or talk someone into being the DD to get you back to burlington... about 40min drive if i remember right). the alchemist is totally worth a visit and was the highlight of my recent trip.