I went to Burlington, Vermont for a work thing and is our tradition, I checked beermapping.com to check out the microbrew situation.
Burlington itself had three microwbreweries so Tony had to fly out and join me for the tail end of the trip.
The Vermont Pub and Brewery was the first place I visited. I went the very first night in town and sampled their Bombay Grab IPA. Tony went one night while I was working and drank so much IPA, he finished the keg that night (whoo hoo!). He had wings and a burger and said the food was very good.
We returned later in the week and tried a few samples. We really love this picture since it shows off the great color differences. Left to right are Handsome Mick's Smoked Stout, Dogbite ESB, Forbidden Fruit (raspberry), Burley Irish Ale (Red) and Grand Slam Baseball Beer (summer blonde). Each beer was good but our favorite was the Burley Irish Ale (Red). It was delicious with a light roast flavor. Although the raspberry looks very pink, it was lightly flavored and not sweet. This was my first smoked beer and it was quite interesting. I could see drinking it while eating cheese or making it into a BBQ sauce.
South Burlington is home to Magic Hat Brewing Co. The tour was somewhat overrated but it lead to the free sample bar so it was worth it. The place is dark with quirky lights and signs but interesting. Did I mention they gave out free samples? We tried almost everything they had on tap that day including Single Chair Golden Ale, Lucky Kat IPA, The #9 Apricot Ale, Belgian Chocolate Stout, Wacko and one of the Odd Notions. I found a nice t-shirt with the logo in the gift shop and Tony got... wait for it... a magic hat.
On to The American Flatbread for dinner. The experience was all around fantastic. We each had an IPA to start. My TLA IPA was similar to the 3 Floyds Blackheart in my opinion (on the right). Tony had the 2G Double Dry Hopped TLA IPA cask conditioned.I tried another Vermont local, Lawson's Finest Chinooker'd IPA. Tony had the Berkshire Lost Sailor IPA, also on cask conditioned. Both were very good.
The flatbreads are worth mentioning as well. I built my own with garlic oil sauce, corn, black beans, caramelized onions and Vermont goat cheese. Tony had organic tomato sauce, nitrate free pepperoni and sausage, onion, green pepper and cheese. The flatbreads were out of this world.The next day we hit the road and went to The Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury (home of Ben and Jerry's). The beer gods were smiling on us the day we visited The Alchemist because they had five IPA's on tap. Tony told his good friend Steve that he had "found his final resting place."
Left to right are: Donovan's Red, Holy Cow IPA, Pappy's Porter, Celia IPA (gluten free, hence the name), The Crusher Double IPA, Rapture Dark IPA and Rapture Dark cask conditioned. Simply because of the amount of IPA's, this was our favorite pub. The atmosphere, staff, beer and customers were all what you'd want from a great pub. The Holy Cow IPA was my favorite with the most citrus flavor and Tony really liked the Rapture. The Celia was okay but had a honey and clover flavor which didn't really taste great. The young lady next to us, though, loved it and was thrilled that the had a gluten-free beer since she is a celiac.
We heard that The Bobcat Cafe in Bristol had decent beer and fantastic food but we were not hungry enough to order any food. The beer selection on the day of our visit was not to our liking. The IPA and ESB were not in stock so the hoppiest thing they had on tap was the Pilsner at 3.85% ABV and a mere 39 IBUs. I tried the Baltic Porter which actually was delicious. It had that Russian Imperial Stout flavor going on. The sign was cute, though.
Last, but certainly not least, we headed to Three Needs back in Burlington. We had heard lots about it from everyone we asked. We heard that the beers were hit or miss but that the clientele and the atmosphere were worth checking out. I think we were there a little too early to get the full effect but it was interesting.Our trip to Burlington was fantastic. The beer, food and sights were great. Lake Champlain is beautiful and the town really does a lot to take advantage of the lake shore. Downtown Burlington is worth a visit. The town is very dog-friendly with water stations on the street and many stores posting "dogs welcome" signs.
