Traveling to Vermont.

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paging rutiger

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I figured with his avatar being the Hill Farmstead logo he might have some insight.

Suggestions for beer or food? In Vermont? Where are you staying? So many questions before satisfactory answers.

This is what i did. Started my day at hill farmstead since it was the furthest north. The place is beer nirvana. Its a beautiful farmhouse on top of a hill that took 2 dirt roads to get to. Drank as much as they let me, theres a limit in vermont of what you can drink at the brewery though. Bought whatever bottles they had, filled a bunch of half growlers and was on my way.

Took highway 100 towards waterbury but stopped at rock art brewery first. Nice little brewery nothing earth shattering, but a nice little stop half way between hfs and alchemist.

Alchemist has a cannery where you can drink heady on tap as well. The cannery was the greatest smell i ever smelled in my life. Bought a case of heady and some merch and left. Also, if interested, ben and jerrys factory is next store.

Next i went to prohibition pig in waterbury which used to house the alchemists brew pub. Great pub fare and incredible tap selection. Make sure you try anything they have by lawsons. Actually, i'd love to set up a trade with you if you can access a bottle of lawsons double sunshine, so good.

I played disc while i was up there in waterbury one morning then drove through the mountains since it was summer.

Incredible trip, i plan on doing it again sometime.

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Thanks for the suggestions rutiger. Sounds like this should be an awesome trip. I will keep an eye out for the double sunshine for you.

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Thanks.

It was the best beer day of my life and ive had some good ones. Shaun hill is a super humble really nice dude. When i was there he was washing glasses for tastings and him and i had a half conversation about wilco.

Im very jealous and hope you have great trip.

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Suggestions for both. The only thing for sure right now is that we are staying in Burlington two nights.

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In Burlington, go to American Flat Bread. They have fantastic fare that highlights local food. They also make their own beer and will have other local beers on tap. If you like Chinese, check out A Single Pebble. For cheaper fare, head to Vermont Pub and Brew or pretty much any of the other restaurants on Church Street.

Whether you like their beer or not, you should check out Magic Hat. They should still have free tastings all day. My favorite is Single Chair with Hocus Pocus a close second. Oh, and depending on the day, you can check out Switchback's brewery. A good unfiltered that you can either find on tap or in bottles pretty much anywhere in Burlington.

Back in 2005, two college friends and I did a beer tour of the state in one day. This was before Hill Farmstead, and I don't believe Headdy Topper was around yet (although Alchemist was). We did 10 breweries in that day- Otter Creek, Long Trail, Trout River, Rock Art, The Shed (now being produced by Otter Creek), Alchemist, Magic Hat, American Flatbread, Three Needs, and VPB. That was a long day.

Oh yeah, Three Needs. It is downtown just off of Church Street, and they brew their own, but have other locals as well. This is a LOCALS (true Hippie, college and Gutterpunk) crowd. I don't know if they still do this, but they would have Duff Hour every M-F when The Simpsons would come on at 4PM, or 5PM. $1 "Duff", which was a keg of Saranac, and it would stay that way until the keg was kicked. I've been there when the keg kicked before the second episode of that day.

Trey, are you thinking of Sneakers in Winooski?

Worked in Vermont for two weeks in 1995, beautiful are the aspen trees and creeks as Fall commences. Burlington and Lake Champlain really wowed me, great pubs, and surprisingly good dining. Stayed at Windjammer, went to Vermont Pub Brewery. Did mostly Church St tourist traps before the microbrew explosion era. Phish were exploding in popularity then. And Ben & Jerry plant tours were the rage. Very pretty state to hit the highway.

Would love to see more of New England, and especially Bar Harbor Maine.

Didn't we have a recent thread or two about some Vermont place trying to cook/serve Louisiana food.

here's one: Vermont Country Store

Stop by and give us a report.

Thanks to all for the advice and recomendations. I'll try to check in later on in the week while I am there.