We'll my tour of Vermont breweries in the northwest ended yesterday. I am tired of driving more than anything.
Magic hat
More of a tourist attraction. Only standout beer they had to my tastes was a honey IPA. It was just a good IPA, not because of the honey. The rest were ok.
Fiddlehead
Good hoppy beers. They had a peach beer that was decent, had a little too much toast character for my personal tastes.
The Alchemist
What can I say? They make one beer. Its very good a little sweeter than I care for but I like it enough. Lots of hype behind this one, mostly deserved because it is good, but its just a beer, not a nectar from the gods.
Zero gravity
Good hoppy beers again. They even had a fruit that I found interesting. It was very good for as unhopped ale. The bartender was pretty awesome and helpful.
Lawsons finest
Cannot visit. Had at prohibition pig. Good, solid, wouldn't buy a bottle even if I could, which I cant. Super hard to find, local markets only and sells out fast. I gave up, easily too, I am not a hard worker when it comes to htf beer.
Hill Farmstead
Again good happy beers, very good. I liked the low abv Walden the most. The rest were very well crafted but not a stand out singularity if you ask me. A lot of hype, big hype here. My wife and I went to the barn in the middle of nowhere to possibly get some bottles. First no bottles, an second a stupid line for growler fills. I was there for about 30min and the line didn't budge. Everyone had 4-6 growlers
to fill in front of me, cash only, and i was at least 80-90 growlers back in the line. Thats when I said "fuck this" got in my vehicle and left to drink beer I already had and didnt have to wait in line to get.
Harpoon
Everything we had was solid. Nothing really stood out. I did have their Irish stout on nitro that was quite tasty though.
Stoped at a could distilleries too.
Calcedonia spirits
Had a nice unique vodka distilled from honey wine. The honey flavor carried through the distillation. The gin was made with neutral grain spirits, infused with the botanicals and finished with some raw honey before bottling. Also very tasty.
Smugglers notch
Had vodka, gin, rum and bourbon. This pace also had great tasting stuff. The vodka and gin were very solid. The rum and bourbon were also very good. These guys are unique as a micro-distillery. They use full-size barrels for barrel aging, not the little 5-15gal barrels. They must have to distill a ton of mashes to fill a 55ish gal barrel. Eitherway, very good stuff. The bourbon is a bit pricey due to the whole economy of scale aspect, bit it is good.
So thats the trip really. I don't have patience or drive to search the hyped up in vogue stuff. I brought a case of victory summer love with me. So rather than stand in line for beer I went home and drank free beer. Also I am a sour beer lover, so with a zillion hoppy beers being made, I am a little over the overhopped craze. I am a huge fan of Belgian beers and sour/funky and I sure didn't get anything in my ballpark that made me want to buy.
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Magic hat
More of a tourist attraction. Only standout beer they had to my tastes was a honey IPA. It was just a good IPA, not because of the honey. The rest were ok.
Fiddlehead
Good hoppy beers. They had a peach beer that was decent, had a little too much toast character for my personal tastes.
The Alchemist
What can I say? They make one beer. Its very good a little sweeter than I care for but I like it enough. Lots of hype behind this one, mostly deserved because it is good, but its just a beer, not a nectar from the gods.
Zero gravity
Good hoppy beers again. They even had a fruit that I found interesting. It was very good for as unhopped ale. The bartender was pretty awesome and helpful.
Lawsons finest
Cannot visit. Had at prohibition pig. Good, solid, wouldn't buy a bottle even if I could, which I cant. Super hard to find, local markets only and sells out fast. I gave up, easily too, I am not a hard worker when it comes to htf beer.
Hill Farmstead
Again good happy beers, very good. I liked the low abv Walden the most. The rest were very well crafted but not a stand out singularity if you ask me. A lot of hype, big hype here. My wife and I went to the barn in the middle of nowhere to possibly get some bottles. First no bottles, an second a stupid line for growler fills. I was there for about 30min and the line didn't budge. Everyone had 4-6 growlers
to fill in front of me, cash only, and i was at least 80-90 growlers back in the line. Thats when I said "fuck this" got in my vehicle and left to drink beer I already had and didnt have to wait in line to get.
Harpoon
Everything we had was solid. Nothing really stood out. I did have their Irish stout on nitro that was quite tasty though.
Stoped at a could distilleries too.
Calcedonia spirits
Had a nice unique vodka distilled from honey wine. The honey flavor carried through the distillation. The gin was made with neutral grain spirits, infused with the botanicals and finished with some raw honey before bottling. Also very tasty.
Smugglers notch
Had vodka, gin, rum and bourbon. This pace also had great tasting stuff. The vodka and gin were very solid. The rum and bourbon were also very good. These guys are unique as a micro-distillery. They use full-size barrels for barrel aging, not the little 5-15gal barrels. They must have to distill a ton of mashes to fill a 55ish gal barrel. Eitherway, very good stuff. The bourbon is a bit pricey due to the whole economy of scale aspect, bit it is good.
So thats the trip really. I don't have patience or drive to search the hyped up in vogue stuff. I brought a case of victory summer love with me. So rather than stand in line for beer I went home and drank free beer. Also I am a sour beer lover, so with a zillion hoppy beers being made, I am a little over the overhopped craze. I am a huge fan of Belgian beers and sour/funky and I sure didn't get anything in my ballpark that made me want to buy.
Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2
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