Vermont Beercation

What do you do when New England has its mildest winter in memory.  Drive 5 hours north to Vermont for a three day beercation of course, at least if you are me and my 2 friends you do.  Time to drop a bit of a photo blog on you.

After a long car ride it’s time to check into the hotel and get ready to head out.   First we stop in downtown Waterbury Prohibition Pig Time to indulge in barbecue and brews. The beauty of a mild winter and bad ski season is how mellow it is in and around the Waterbury/Stowe area.  What a difference from being up here on a July weekend when parking was impossible and every bar or restaurant had a 2 hour wait.  The absolute best time to do this kind of thing is when most other people either can’t or won’t.  The middle of the week is your friend!

Night 1

Day 2

After a short night’s sleep and a quick stop at the hotels free breakfast it was time to head another hour further north to one of my favorite places in all of New England, Hill Farmstead Brewery.  My first trip up here since the opening of the taproom.

 

The taproom has taken a great experience and lifted it to a whole new level.  Now you can get some pours sit down with friends and wait for your growlers to be filled.  Not only can you sample the fine offerings on tap but also purchase for onsite consumption rare bottle offerings from not only Hill Farmstead but also amazing breweries from around the world.  Just as a quick example while we were there available was Saison Bernice from Sante Adairius and Cantillon Iris.  The growler filling process is so quick and streamlined and the atmosphere is spectacular. We managed to spend over 2 hours sitting there hanging out.  Next stop another 20 minutes north for pizza at Parker Pie Co.

The 3 of us split a Meat Lovers and The Green Mountain Special.  Truly delicious! Did I mention that this small town pizza joint in the back of a country store in the middle of no where a stones throw from Canada has what is a truly amazing beer lineup?  After finishing our late lunch at Parker Pie Co. it was time to head back south and check out Lost Nation Brewing.  As you will see there are no photos from our trip to Lost Nation. Seems when you happen to be traveling that far north in the mountains in the middle of February some of the fastest developing and most epic snow squalls will blow in out of no where.  Not 20 minutes into our journey back south this happened. Within about 2 minutes the weather went from spitting snow to complete blizzard total white out conditions so we decided it in our best interest to skip Lost Nation and head back to the hotel.  Luckily, as it goes in the mountains of Vermont within the blink of an eye the squall blew out leaving us with no reason not to go beer hunting in downtown Waterbury first. A little tip to those who are hunting for Heady Topper; Waterbury gets their delivery on Wednesday and in an off time like February you can walk into places all over town and buy your 1 or 2 packs with ease.  Back to the Hotel to unload the ridiculous amount of beer we have and get ready to head out for one last night on the town.

Night 2

After decompressing from our little snow scare earlier it was time to get some dinner. Tonight we stop in Waterbury at The Reservoir for food and drink.

 

A nice quiet night at “The Rez” with a couple sandwiches and some delicious brews before sharing a couple of bottles in the Hotel and catching some sleep.

Day 3

After a quick bite at the Hotel and packing up what seemed like 1000 pounds of beer it was time to head home. After another 5 hour trip south it was time to unload the car and enjoy some of our bounty.

 

 

 

 

Filled Under: Beer Posted on: March 8, 2016