VERMONT
Over the course of four days, we visited five different states. Our main goal, however, was to visit the state with perhaps the highest ratio of awesome to population, Vermont. We spent half of the trip wandering the Northern half of the state in search of beautiful nature, delicious food, and of course, beer. Thanks to diligent research by yours truly, and a little bit of luck, we ended up enjoying everything we did, which is detailed below.
Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the nation. Not coincidentally, it is also the cutest state capital in the nation. Case in point: there were all of a dozen people protesting against the Keystone Pipeline one of the days we were there....I suppose a town of 8,000 can only spare so many people at once. Anyway, the downtown area is home to many small businesses, my favorite of which is Three Penny Tap Room (link). The wife and I both ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich, and we were both so taken by it that we came back the next day to eat the same thing. It only helps that you can order a combination of fries and salad for your side (which reminds me of this). It also helps that the bar has the widest selection of Hill Farmstead beers outside of the brewery itself available on tap. The combination of beer, food, and actually having a TV (VT is not a sports place overall) probably make this my favorite hangout spot from our trip.
The place that would give Three Penny the biggest run for its money in my estimation would have to be Prohibition Pig (link) in Waterbury. Waterbury is an even smaller and cuter down right in the middle of all things interesting in Northern Vermont. There are a couple other good establishments within walking/stumbling distance (Blackback and Reservoir), but we focused on the one with the best sounding food. I ordered the eponymous sandwich, which was a pork patty topped with pulled meat and bacon. It was as good as it sounds. Of course, Pro Pig also has a great beer selection with most of the same choices as Three Penny.
Our other meal came Saturday night at Misery Loves Company (link) in "downtown" Winooski, just north of Burlington. While our other meals were along the lines of fancy pub food, this was much more of modern American fare. There are entrees you can order, but we chose to go with a selection of small plates to get the best variety. My favorite was the Halibut Crudo (mostly because Halibut is awesome), but you can't go wrong with other dishes like the cleverly conceived Young Onions and Old Bread. If you want a meal that tends more towards the fancy side while you are in Vermont, you really can't go wrong with Misery Loves Company. The tap list wasn't as impressive or deep as other places, but I'll just leave this picture here:
Many of the times we weren't eating, we were drinking, so we found some neat locations at which to do that. If you find yourself in downtown Burlington, the most comprehensive tap list is found at Farmhouse Tap and Grill (link), which features all three of the big names in Vermont brewing (Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, and Lawson's), plus some other fun stuff. There was a massive Allagash tap takeover one of the nights we were there, during which I learned Adrienne really doesn't like sours. Additionally, their website says they are having a Labor Day Sour-Bration, so that would probably be fun, he said jealously knowing that one of his friends would be there at that time. If you want dinner, they have that, although the internet has told me mixed things. If you don't want dinner with your drinks, there is a massive beer garden that does the trick nicely.
There's a lot more to Vermont beer than just the famous ones. One such example is Lost Nation Brewing (link) north of Stowe in Morrisville (pro tip: this is on the way to or from Hill Farmstead). Like many other breweries, it's easy to miss as its located deep within what might be the only industrial area in Northern Vermont. Once you arrive though, you're treated to a nice bar, ample outdoor seating, and some good smells from the grill. Lost Nation's most available beer is the Gose, which is probably also their best. Gose is a relatively rare German style of beer that approaches the fruitiness of a Radler but holds back a little bit from being outright juice. Lost Nation's version of this was superb, and I'm kind of sad that I didn't spend more time on the trip drinking this. Everything else on their tap list was similarly inventive, and most all of it was good. Petit Ardennes is dominated by a smoke flavor, which is usually a minus for me, but somehow this one worked. Lost Galaxy IPA is the latest entry in the "hoppy wheat" craze borne by Gumballhead and carried on by Fortunate Islands. This wasn't as good as either of those, but it still worked well as a Citra bomb with a solid backbone. The only real disappointments were their Rustic Ale which didn't come together very well, and their Pilsner, which was just boring. On the whole though, Lost Nation is very much worth your time.
Probably the most up and coming brewery in Vermont is Fiddlehead Brewing (link), located just a few miles south of downtown Burlington. When I say up and coming, I mean that they are so eager to give people beer, that they will give you all the free samples you want in their taproom.* Their IPA is the most widely distributed in the region as of now, but I was a little disappointed as it was a little too malt-forward without being distinct enough to justify it. Everything else though, was fantastic. Their pale ale (the other beer they had on tap) was solid and refreshing with just the right balance of C's. Their porter, Hodad, was disarmingly coconutty, but strangely enough it worked. Finally, we got to try a beer that hadn't even been released yet, an amber ale with a great bread/toffee presence that was a fantastic example of how to do a malt-forward ale.
*Their brewery is right next to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, which is the best place to check in a beer on Untappd.
In spite of all the glowing words in the past couple paragraphs, I think my favorite under-the-radar brewery might have been Zero Gravity Brewing (link). It is so under the radar that its taproom is actually inside of a separate restaurant, called American Flatbread. Upon arrival, we headed to the bar, and ordered a lot of beer (duh). A nice thing about Zero Gravity is that you're able to order anything in a six-ounce size, which allows for a nice combination of sampling and savoring. Their most hyped beer is Conehead, another entry in the hoppy wheat category. Much like Lost Nation's version, this beer was a Citra bomb with enough wheat presence to balance it out. R Prime is their regular IPA, which brings a harmony of Citra and Simcoe right to the tip of your tongue in a succinct way. As good as those were, the highlight of the visit (and perhaps the trip) was Sim City, an extra pale ale made with 100% Simcoe hops. While I like pretty much every hop variety I've ever come into contact with, Simcoe is probably my favorite. To me, no other hop runs the gamut quite as well, whether it be citrus notes, or pine notes, or that faint stinging taste that reverberates long after it starts. Not all beers that feature Simcoe let all of that shine through, choosing to focus on one aspect or on other ingredients. Sim City is not one of those beers. If I ever need to make my case for Simcoe as the best hop, this is the beer I would put forward.
Lastly, when we visited a local beer store, we saw a locally-brewed cider from Citizen Cider (link). Adrienne loves that kind of thing, so we looked it up and went to their headquarters, just south of downtown Burlington. Their taproom is quite spacious, and features outdoor areas and daily specials (Their Thursday special of a hot dog and a can for $5 was my favorite). Since Ad likes ginger more than she likes most people (and she likes most people), her favorite selection was the Dirty Mayor. That said, we like all of what we had. If for some reason you're looking for a break from beer, Citizen Cider is a nice alternative.
After all was said and done my favorite beers from our time in Vermont are*:
1. Sip of Sunshine - Lawson's
2. Sim City - Zero Gravity
3. What is Enlightenment - Hill Farmstead
4. Edward - Hill Farmstead
5. Gose - Lost Nation
*You might notice that Heady Topper isn't on the list. Heady Topper is great, but it just didn't quite connect with me. The nose comes together nicely, but there just wasn't enough else there to elevate it to the top of the list. Interestingly enough, it seems to play off of its strengths by urging you to drink it out of the can, which would highlight the bright hops and not much else.
I didn't have Lawson's more famous Double Sunshine, but Sip of Sunshine was so good that I didn't really care. This was pretty much the platonic ideal of a double IPA, with a good but not overpowering body, and an assault of hops that lingered on the tongue in perfect harmony for minutes after each sip. It's almost certainly a top five beer for me. The Hill Farmstead beers were also great, but not quite as superlative as the top two. Edward is an amazingly solid APA, with a very floral nose that reminded me a lot of Pliny the Elder. That said, I liked What is Enlightenment a touch better. In the San Diego post, I talked about Modern Times' Blazing World, and how I wasn't sure how much I liked their combination of hops, but it was at the very least quite alluring. This is how I feel about what Hill Farmstead did with this combination of Simcoe and Amarillo, except I know for a fact that I love the result. The way everything came together in a soft, citrusy way is pretty much unlike anything else I've ever had.
In summation, he famous stuff is famous for a reason - it's all really good. But don't let your pursuit of that stop you trying the more under the radar places. All the big names are readily available on tap* so take your time to experience all of the variety Vermont has to offer.
*Buying bottles/cans/growlers is a different story. Hill Farmstead is famously out of the way and crowded, while Heady Topper and Lawson's inspire giant lines at the few stores they are sold at. If you must absolutely take some back with you, you're best bets are The Warren Store on Thursday mornings (Lawson's), Winooski Beverage at 10 and 6 on Thursdays (Heady Topper), and Hunger Mountain Co-op at 3 on Fridays (both).
BOSTON
We flew in and out of Logan, so we decided to spend the first day doing things in and around the city. When I first suggested the idea of a New England trip to the wife, the first thing out of her mouth was "CAN WE GO TO WALDEN POND!?" As she is a massive fan of Walden - enough of one to have written her thesis on it - this was the first thing we did after flying in. The pond is just a short drive outside of the city in a state park. It's a little different today than it used to be, with a crowded beach right next to the parking area. However, once you start walking towards the original site of Thoreau's cabin, it becomes a much more isolated trek with just the lake, the forest, and the occasional beachgoer. The loop around the lake is a little under two miles long, and is a good way to stretch out after a morning of flying. If anyone who reads this does plan on going one day, be aware that the park closes from time to time due to capacity crowds, so keep alert to that.
After completing our hike and taking a brief sojourn to Rhode Island simply because we could, we want back into the city to spend the evening with a couple of college friends. We took a couple of trains towards the MIT area for dinner and drinks. The drinks portion of the evening happened at Meadhall (link), a bar with a massive central island of taps. There wasn't a lot of interesting local stuff on tap (Boston doesn't seem to be the greatest microbrew town), but the pull of a city full of beer enthusiasts meant that they had a lot of stuff from across the nation that you can't get in Ohio (Firestone Walker and Allagash being the highlights). Furthermore, every beer that we had came with it's own dedicated glass design, which is a really nice touch.
For dinner, pizza sounded like a good plan, so we headed over to Area Four (link), a pizza place that does a good job on blending modern ideas with pizzas that actually taste like pizza. I went a little more basic with the Not Pepperoni pizza, which used a similar-type sausage to evoke Pepperoni while staying a bit less greasy. The wife went a little more exotic and got the special, which had a corn-based sauce. So now you understand the range of what they have to offer. When it comes to pizza, I generally prefer straightforward design and execution, but a fun place Area Four can fill the gap between standard fare and highbrow eats nicely.
MAINE
On the last day, we started heading back to Boston. After stopping for a brief hike on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains, we continued on the way to Maine. As you might be able to tell by now, I like beer a lot, so out first stop was at Maine Beer Company (link). Situated 15 miles north of Portland in Freeport, the brewery resembles a house from the front, and thus looks a lot more like a mom-and-pop winery than one of the most revered breweries in the nation. Of course, once you enter you'll see the window into the production facility and the giant cooler of beer for sale, so you know right where you are.
As the link from the last paragraph showed, Maine Beer Company doesn't really make bad beers. They are known most famously for their IPAs, and those did not disappoint. I was a couple of weeks late for Dinner (their double IPA), but Lunch was a fine alternative, with the piney nose reminding me of a more reserved Hop Juju. Another One was...well...another IPA that played it close to the vest and came together nicely. Their pale ale, MO, tasted a lot like something that I couldn't put my finger on. And then of course, Adrienne got it in two seconds....this is basically New England's version of 3 Floyd's Pride and Joy. I like that beer a lot, so I'll let you guess how I felt about MO. Their amber ale, Zoe, was the strangest of the offerings, mixing some strong hops like Simcoe with a bold chocolate body, but everything worked well enough to make it another solid beer. In all, my favorite beers of the weekend all came from the Vermont portion of the trip, but Maine Beer Company makes a lot of great beers, and was definitely worth the trip.
Our final stop of the trip was for dinner. Since we were on the ocean, the hope was to find a good seafood dinner. We had called Street and Company (link) before the trip, but their reservation list was booked until the late hours. Fortunately, we showed up and got the last two seats in the bar area. I say fortunately, because this is what we ate:
I am told pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will leave you with that.
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