Postby rejtable » Sun Jul 03, 2016 6:23 pm
Just got back from another awesome weekend in Vermont.
Mule Bar: again a great spot. Lots of interesting taps, 3-4 HF, Heady cans for $5. Nice small plates, good crowd, beautiful patio out front.
Winooski Bev: just breezed through this time, picked up some Frost and Foley Brothers.
Alchemist: Was there on first full day of opening (Friday). Big lineups and only one cash going, but it went pretty smooth. 3 samples available, and mixed 24 of cans, 2x Heady, Focal Banger and Crusher. Merch. New space is really nice, industrial and new.
Hill Farmstead: Soooo much better than my first visit a few years ago. Draft room with on-site glasses and growler fills. Day I was there they had roughly 10 taps for growlers, and aother 8-10 for on-site. Not many on-site bottles. Went smooth, grabbed a number for growlers, got my on-site glasses and waited maybe 15 mins. Ate lunch from one of the two food trucks on site. If I just wanted to get in and out with growlers, I could have been out of there in 20 mins, tops. Hung around an hour and a half. The retail side was pretty quiet, some merch but bottles were pretty limited, only three I think.
Hen of the Wood: Incredible spot. If you can hang out on the back deck next to the waterfall, it's magical. Awesome food, so well prepared. Heady on tap!!
Prohibition Pig: My first time, and it was a treat. Tons of great taps, including maybe 10 of their own. 3-4 Hill Farmstead, great range of bourbon and whiskey. Food looked great as well.
Fiddlehead: Letdown. Just two taps for growler fills only. The pizza place next door was jam packed, and you can only drink out of the growler you buy from Fiddlehead. Unless they were sure to have something special on, not worth the drive out.
Zero Gravity (Pine St.): Super cool spot, and you could make a great afternoon out of it hitting up Queen City across the street, and I think Switchback is just around the corner? Check out the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet while you are in the hood! 6-8 of their taps on, lots of to-go cans and some limited edition bottles. Cool merch. Simple food, huge patio. Fun spot.
Foam: Just north of the Echo acquarium, don't be fooled into paying for parking at the acquarium, foam has a huge parking lot if you are driving. Really cool industrial funky spot. 6 of their beer on tap and a coupld of guest taps from House of Fermentation. Super solid beers, man Vermonters are so spoiled! Snacky food to be had, cheese and meat and whatnot. Great addition to downtown Burlington.
Farmhouse: Enough has been said about this place, not much to add. Great food again, great atmosphere, great beer. The back beer garden is so comfortable. World Class spot.
Juniper (Hotel Vermont): the bar at the hotel is very cool. Quite the young crowd though. Maybe 15 taps, good range from Imp stouts to some Frost and Foley IPAs. I think they usually have at least one HF on, nothing while I was there. Nice change from the more pub feel of some of the others spots around, definitely more Abercrombie.
Another great weekend, aided tremendously by the unexpected opening of the Alchemist. It seems nearly impossible to have a bad meal or bad beer in Vermont. FYI, I walked easy from Best Western in Waterbury to Hen of the Wood and then to ProPig. Nice walk. Be a bit daunting in the winter though, I guess, or on an ugly night.