Weekend Recap: The Great Central Vermont Beer Tour

Yet another wonderful weekend, this one spent in Vermont!

Over the past month or so, I have been talking with my dad about planning a brewery tour around Central Vermont and we finally did it!

We started in Waterbury, just a few miles up the road from where I grew up. First stop - The Alchemist! For those of you who are big beer connoisseurs, you've likely heard of the Alchemist's super hoppy Heady Topper, which has been making beer headlines left and right recently! While I personally am not a huge fan, we had to stop by since they'll be closing their retail store at least temporarily starting this week!

A bit of snow on the way up to Trapp Family Lodge!

Next up, the Trapp Family Brewery - one of my favorites! Nestled in the mountains of Stowe at the famous Trapp Family Lodge, the brewery is simple, rustic, and has picturesque views! All of Trapps' beers are great traditional German brews, each one better than the next. My personal favorites? The Dunkel and the Oktoberfest!

After Trapp, we made a quick stop at Crop Bistro and Brewery in Stowe. This a relatively new brewery and I hadn't tried any of their brews before. They had a great variety of their own beers, as well as some other good microbrews. If you like IPAs, the Idletyme was pretty tasty, at least according to my dad! For me personally, I LOVED the Weizenbock, a dark malty and slightly sweet beer.

Our next stop was Rock Art in Morrisville - one of my (new!) favorites! Their variety is incredible, and their prices even better! I was a big fan of the Extreme Pumpkin Imperial Spruce Stout which was surprising considering I don't like most stouts and I've never met an Imperial anything that I liked! This brew wasn't too pumpkin, or too spruce, or too stout, but it was delicious! I also enjoyed the Rock Art 2013 holiday beer. I was bummed when I learned that I had just missed their Maple Wheat Ale which sounds amazing! Next year!

The last stop on the beer tour was Lost Nation, also located in Morrisville. Although my hopes were high upon entering this cozy bar/brewery which was serving up tasty charcuterie boards and soups, they were quickly dashed. Of the six beers I tasted, 3 of them tasted exactly the same to me! And as someone who tends to love Oktoberfest brews, I was terribly disappointed in their overly hoppy version. The one beer I did find fairly tasty and definitely interesting was their Gose (goes-uh) which is another German style beer brewed with sea salt and coriander, with a bit of a citrus taste. Overall, I am very sorry to say that I won't be going back!

We had hoped to make it to Hill Farmstead in Greensboro, but we ran out of time! We later heard that lines to get into the brewery were 1.5-2 hours long! Phew, that would have made for a very long day. I'm hoping to hit up Hill Farmstead sometime soon, as their beers are top ranked in Vermont!

On our way back home, we happened upon a new little treat in Stowe - Stowe Cider! A brand new locally made hard cider company that will start hitting local bars and stores in January. Not as sweet as many hard ciders, it was the perfect end to a perfect day!