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Advice for Toronto to Vermont road trip

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PeerlessMark
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Advice for Toronto to Vermont road trip

Post by PeerlessMark »

Am leaving on a four day road trip from Toronto around 4pm Thursday to Vermont as our final destination. Looking for advice on a route that could offer us a place to stop and sleep rather than pushing it to get in very late to Vermont.

Would prefer a spot that has a good craft bar or brew pub - we would skip Ommegang because their beers are available at the LCBO

Buffalo isn't far enough and Montreal is too far.

Any recommendations would be welcome

sprague11
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Post by sprague11 »

If you're going through Canada I'd stop at Kingston for a night and hit up Stone City Ales. Easy drive heading into Burlington or Swanton or even directly to Hill from there.

The I90 will take a fair bit longer. Syracuse is probably your best stop, with the tradeoffs being you'll get a better selection of US beer in exchange for toll highways and at least an extra 90 minutes of highway time getting to VT. Considering bridge times, etc. I'd stick with Kingston or just bite the bullet and head to Montreal if it were me.
"A good light beer is one that doesn't taste like piss!" - Frank d'Angelo

sofakingdrunk
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Post by sofakingdrunk »

I'd second Syracuse, if driving through 'merica. I always hit Al's whisky lounge in armoury square. Good tap list, shit tonne of whisky, live music, good food and down the street from empire brewing, and the blue tusk(pretty stellar tap list)

rejtable
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Post by rejtable »

Syracuse is very solid. Blue Tusk, J Ryan's, Clark's, Dinosaur BBQ, Beers of the World out at the mall. Lots of good beer there.

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DeMarco
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Post by DeMarco »

I'd recommend Kingston too. Some friends and I did that recently, stopped and hit up stone city, crashed, woke up at 7am, crossed at Cornwall, in burlington by noon.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Kingston seems like your best bet. Syracuse takes you down and will be longer to get to Burlington. There's nothing in northern NY state.

Cross at Cornwall as it would be lighter on a long weekend and take the car ferry at Plattsburgh.

rejtable
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Post by rejtable »

Ferry is fun, but definitely longer drive. There are a few cool little breweries now in Plattsburgh though, if that floats your boat.

If you go the Kingston route the fastest way is to cross Montreal via the 30, and then head south towards I89. Border could be a bit busy depending on day. Cornwall works as well, but it's slow going in Upstate NY. I like that drive better, that's usually the way I go, and then I head down US2 over the islands. Ferry would definitely be slowest. I never take the ferry to get there, as I'm usually too in a hurry to get to good beer! Coming back I take it sometimes just for the heck of it.

It all depends on the I89 border crossing. If that's not busy, then going Cornall+Ferry probably loses most of the time made up by choosing Kingston over Syracuse. What I would do is monitor the crossings as I headed up the 401. If the crossing at the 89 is backed up, pop over in Cornwall. If nothing, go via Mtl.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Yeah, I feel like on a long weekend the MTL crossing might be busy, hence Cornwall the way to go IMO.

Agree ferry takes a bit of time, but I not only enjoy the view but simply a break from driving. It's like a luxury transport for the final leg of the drive and then boom you're in Vermont :)

sprague11
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Post by sprague11 »

I've yet to encounter a cop on military turnpike, or that road that cuts through constable ;)
"A good light beer is one that doesn't taste like piss!" - Frank d'Angelo

BakaGaijin
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Post by BakaGaijin »

Cass wrote:Kingston seems like your best bet. Syracuse takes you down and will be longer to get to Burlington. There's nothing in northern NY state.

Cross at Cornwall as it would be lighter on a long weekend and take the car ferry at Plattsburgh.
If you go to Syracuse you could stop at Prison City in Auburn which was recently voted to have the best IPA in America in Paste Magazine:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/ ... n.html?p=4

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northyorksammy
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Post by northyorksammy »

Prison CIty has slightly better than average beers. I was there 10 days ago. The best beers were the guest beers. There were no hoppy beers left of their own.
Traffic there is up 100% because of the "Paste Managazine" blind tasting of 254 IPAs. How you can blind taste even 10 IPAs without burning out your palate is beyond me. I can only speculate how this was done.
The trip to Vermont is very boring, with a possible respite by timing the trip to take the ferry to Burlington.
I now fly there.
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matt7215
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Post by matt7215 »

northyorksammy wrote: Traffic there is up 100% because of the "Paste Managazine" blind tasting of 254 IPAs. How you can blind taste even 10 IPAs without burning out your palate is beyond me. I can only speculate how this was done.
I guess it depends how many water bottles you have

sprague11
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Post by sprague11 »

Cornwall - Burlington isn't the greatest drive but I've done it now so many times it actually kinda flies by. Unless I'm heading to Jay Peak or straight to Hill I take the Ferry; I like being able to get out of the car and stretch my legs a bit. Usually stop for a coffee outside Chateauguay and occasionally chowder at the end of the Military Turnpike if I'm not in a rush to get to the boat.
"A good light beer is one that doesn't taste like piss!" - Frank d'Angelo

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