Vermont

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:53 pm

Thanks. Don't need fast-paced, just something of interest to see. Some history, a neat museum, just something to break up the sitting around looking at hills.

rejtable · Post by **rejtable** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:06 am

I'm pretty sure you can ride to the top of some of the mountains, especially around Stowe. Stowe is a beautiful spot to just stroll around and hang out. Burlington is great, the pedestrian shopping street is beautiful. I think they have tours on Lake Champlain. You can't go wrong with a weekend around Burlington/Stowe beer geek or not.

Montpellier is small, but the State House is cool and the grounds are nice.

jayB · Post by **jayB** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:16 am

My girlfriend and I are heading back to Burlington again this weekend, we enjoyed it so much last long weekend.

Some suggestions:

Ben and Jerry's is worth a tour, and the Alchemist is just down the street, so you might as well stop in and pick up some Heady Topper anyway.

Stowe is a very nice little town, but very touristy

Lake Champlain chocolates in Burlington is worth a visit. The tour isn't much, but it's free, and the chocolate is tasty

There's some great beaches on Lake Champlain, if that interests you at all

Definitely hit up the Farmhouse. Great beer, great food. (Highly recommend the Mac and Cheese.) My girlfriend half seriously suggested that we just eat every meal there this weekend...

I'll add some more if I think of any. We didn't get to Hill Farmstead last time, so that's priority 1 on this trip.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:31 am

If you or your wife likes chocolate there is a place called Lake Champlain Chocolates which does tours I believe. We were going to go last year but we were with our 9 month old and it didn't happen. There is also this really cool downtown square in Burlington with a bunch of cool shops and stuff. It is also very close to the Burlington location of American Flatbread, which makes awesome pizza and great beer.

Also if you haven't yet go to the vermont brewers association page. They have a passport thing you can do where if you visit a certain number of breweries you can get free stuff. I am pretty sure there are enough in Burlington alone to get you a free bottle opener and a drink vermont beer sticker.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:25 am

Awesome advice guys, thanks a bunch. Think we'll make it a two-nighter. Head down to Plattsburgh on day one and cross the lake to Burlington, stay there the night. Then I'm trying to decide between hanging around Stowe or heading down to the Green Mountains (which would mean the longhaul back to O-Town).

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:24 pm

Here's my top 10 (ok, 9) for the State:

Bottles

Hill Farmstead 403 Hill Road Greensboro Bend, VT - The only place you'll get their bottles. Bring Cash and a GPS or a good map - it's beautiful countryside but easy to get lost

Winooski Beverage Warehouse 1 East Street Winooski, VT 05404 - Great sleection of Bottles - Lawsons and Heady Topper should be there, but expect a limit on Lawsons bottles. Good selection of New England botles and imports.

Warren Store 284 Main Street Warren, VT 05674 - Beautiful drive, Lawsons bottles with a larger limit than the warehouse.

Hunger Mountain Coop 623 Stone Cutters Way Montpelier, VT 05602 - Good selection of bottles and Organic food.

Bars

Farmhouse Tap and Grill 160 Bank Street Burlington, VT 05401 - Burlington's best selection, though the food is pricey

Flatbread Hearth 115 Saint Paul Street Burlington, VT - Hasd it's own Nanobrewery which is pretty darned good. The flatbread are tasty.

Three Penny Taproom 108 Main Street Montpelier, VT 05602 - Montpeliers best, and maybe Vermont's best. Deadly selection and great food

Prohibition Pig 23 South Main Street Waterbury, VT 05676 - The former Alchemist. Great beers, Lawsons, Hill Farmstead, Heady Topper, etc. Great guest taps have included Founders (KBS!) Hopfenstart, DDC, Stone, etc.

Black Back Flyshop 1 Stowe Street, Waterbury VT - Tiny, with seating for 9 people and standing room for maybe 10 more, but up to 11 Hill Farmstead taps at once.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:40 pm

As far as non-beer things to do:

Burlington:
Higher Ground has some decent music acts

There's a huge museum outside Shelburne, complete with a massive boat. Sadly I don't remember the name

Burlington has an Aquarium. the lake champlain cruise isn't too bad either.

There's 2 malls in Burlington. Most of the big box stores are south of the city.

There's loads of Artisan shops, wineries, etc. around the State. north and South Hero have a fair number of antique shops, palces that sell chocolates, syrup, etc. The Mad River Valley has a couple resorts where you can go biking, ziplining, etc.

JK · Post by JK » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:33 pm

Here is what we do.

1) Head to Winooskis, grab a cart at the door and fill it. Founders, Stone, DFH, Lawsons and the random surprise they have on the chalk board going into the beer section.

2) Drive down to the Alchemist and grab several cases of Heady Topper and the Saison is really good as well. They sell out so get there early or grab some at Winooskis.

3) From the Alchemist (Waterbury) drive towards Stowe Resort but keep going on 108. You get to drive on this awesome road that is about 1 lane wide that twists and turns thru the notch over to Smugglers passing huge boulders.

4) At the bottom of the notch, check out the small distillery. They have gin, vodka and single barrel aged rum. Free samples. The rum is really good and you can try what each barrel has to offer.
Distillery

5) Jay Peak.
Skiers and Snowboarders on this site might know that they get a shit ton of snow in these crazy localized storms. But they rebuilt the place in the last few years. It now includes a new indoor water park complete with a double flow rider, lazy river, one of two aqua loops (upside down water slide) in the world, three other water slides and a bar that other looks the place. They also built an arena with skating year round.
Once at Jay you can drive to the Jay Country Store in Jay Vermont. Last time we were able to get more Heady Topper and Allagash Curieux
Jay Peak

The thing with Vermont is that the people are genuine, they support local food and beer and just about anywhere you go you can get local craft beer on tap or in the fridge.
I most likely forgot to mention things. But one last thing.
Blackback
Farmhouse
Amarican Flatbread
Done and done for bars.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:17 pm

Thanks again for the tips everyone. Highlight was probably The Farmhouse in Burlington, but only because nothing was open for lunch in Waterbury.

Grabbed 4 HT from the Alchemist and some swag, really busy spot on a rainy Thursday.

Piecasso outside of Stowe was okay, but service wasn't great, pizza tasted like Pizza Pizza, and the beer list, though good, didn't have any interesting locals. New spot in Stowe is Crop Brewery and Bistro, but wasn't there long enough to give them a shot.

Just to add a spot to the list, Woodstock is a nice town to spend a night. Stop off at Woodstock Farmer's Market after doing Long Trail and pick up some local products (with a small beer section). They also have a relatively new beer shop just outside of town called Hops 'n Barley. Lots of shelf space, though a bit bare when I went through, and growler fills. Might be one of the better beer stores in the southern part of the state, though not up to State Liquor in Stowe or Winooskis... yet.

EDIT: My haul, just for an idea of what kind of stuff is available at State Liquor in Stowe, Woodstock Farmer's Market, and Hops 'n Barley in Woodstock. Didn't buy anything at Winooskis.

4x Heady Topper
2x Lawson's Rye Session
Brooklyn Sorachi
Smuttynose Farmhouse
Northcoast Old Stock Ale 2012
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2012
Russian River/Sierra Nevada Brux
Lagunitas Lucky 13
DFH Positive Contact
Anchorage Galaxy White IPA
Maine Peeper Ale
Rock Art Woodstock Farmer's Market 20th Anniversary Brown

Also got an Alchemist metal sign and a handful of glasses.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:21 pm

Piecasso has the best pizza I ever had... the aptly named Carcass, which consists of pretty much every way to kill a pig... pizza pizza comparison is probably based on a bad menu selection.

The kids menu has a calzone that my 2 year old loved.

They also had good beer choices on tap and some HT in cans for 6 bucks on average.

The cop has taken over the Shed's old location. I tried it last week and sadly they haven't started brewing as the tanks need to get in the brewhouse, and they want to wait till after high season for the demo thats required. Had some Society & Solitude no. 4 while I was there. Its pricier and more fancy-feeling than most Stowe restaurants. Beautiful sign, probably the nicest Ive ever seen.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:24 pm

Oh yeah, I also got some real nice beers from the Stowe Liquor store. Its hidden away in a small strip mall but a tiny sign mentions them on Mountain Road, its also near the Crop brewery & Bistro. Found some Barrel aged Old Stock Ale, some HT, Maine brewing Mean Old Tom, and a variety of Founders, Dogfish, Jolly Pumpkin and the likes.

The Cabot store coming into Stowe has some Bourbon Barrel Aged Vermont Maple Syrup which kicks major ass too if you're willing to pay 16$ a bottle.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:20 pm

iguenard wrote:Piecasso has the best pizza I ever had... the aptly named Carcass, which consists of pretty much every way to kill a pig... pizza pizza comparison is probably based on a bad menu selection.

Fresh mozza, basil, and sausage is a bad menu selection? Is was just mediocre pizza with nice enough toppings, and so-so crust and sauce.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:54 pm

Bytowner wrote:
iguenard wrote:Piecasso has the best pizza I ever had... the aptly named Carcass, which consists of pretty much every way to kill a pig... pizza pizza comparison is probably based on a bad menu selection.
Fresh mozza, basil, and sausage is a bad menu selection? Is was just mediocre pizza with nice enough toppings, and so-so crust and sauce.

I'll never trust your pizza opinion ever again

We need to do another Ottawa tasting soon, and I will bring the pizza. You can bring beer

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:04 pm

iguenard wrote: I'll never trust your pizza opinion ever again

We need to do another Ottawa tasting soon, and I will bring the pizza. You can bring beer

Deal. I will say that their honey-dijon chicken wings were tasty. Especially loved the blue cheese dipping sauce that consisted of an only slightly melted hunk of blue cheese. Awesome.

JK · Post by JK » Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:57 pm

Just got back from another very good trip to VT. We did our usual route with hitting Winooskis, the Alchemist and then up the 108 through the Notch and over to Jay Peak. Winnooskis has about 6 different Alesmith bombers on offer plus the usual Jolly Pumpkin and Founders selection. We made it over to Hill Farmstead yesterday and boy was it ever good.

We have had their beers before but being there in person was most excellent. Picked up several bombers and growlers, the highlight being Jim. Got a great tip on where to eat in the area, Parker Pie in West Glover. It was only about 15-20 minutes from Hill Farmstead and it was fanstastic. All craft taps in the back of a really old general store. They had Hill Farmstead, Stone, Founders, Brooklyn and various New England taps and the food was top notch, will be back.

86 beers and the border guard just waved us through, good times.