Burlington, Vermont

Beer Travel
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Heading up to Burlington for a few days. I highly doubt I’ll have time for every one of these, but here are the breweries at the top of my list. What am I missing? Any that should be visited at all costs? Any of these not necessarily worth the time? Thanks in advance.

And, if there are any other can’t miss things to see (or avoid) in Burlington, besides Church St. and cruising the lake, I’m all ears.

Burlington:
Foam Brewers
Vermont Pub & Brewery
Burlington Beer Co
Switchback
Queen City
Zero Gravity

Shelburne:
Fiddlehead

Winooski:
Four Quarters

And, if all goes as planned, a day trip to Stowe:
The Alchemist
Von Trapp

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In Burlington, I’d definitely go to BBC and Foam brewers. Vermont Pub and Brewery still feels like a 90s brewpub, which you may like or want to skip. I enjoyed stopping in Waterbury for Ben and Jerry’s, and there are a few breweries there as well.

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Hill Farmstead is worth the drive

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In my dreams. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I’ll be lucky to pull off the trip to Stowe. No way I get everyone on board for an 1:45 minute ride, no matter how nice the drive or how tasty the beer. Great idea though.

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Hill Farmstead is worth the drive. Fascinating and original beers. Burlington beer is excellent. Get the Poutine at the restaurant Little wizard is a great example of the NE style. Go for the brewers who make more than IPA.

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The brewery at Fiddlehead is kind of boring, but the pizza is epic. Shelburne Museum and Shelburne Farms are cool places to visit.

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I’ve toured a fair number of Burlington area brewers and I would put The Alchemist and Von Trap on the top of the list. Von Trap especially because of the setting and the cool history. Good call leaving Foam off - unimpressed. They have pretty much all hazies that use the same base recipe.

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Good list! One to add and not miss is Black Flannel Brewing in Essex Junction. There is a sister distillery next door and they swap barrels. A rum in a stout barrel and a stout in a rum barrel type thing. Some good restaurants in Essex. if you are a biker or need to burn off some calories rent a bike and ride the burlington bike path all the way to the causeway. Bike path starts at Foam. The causeway is the prettiest bike path in the US.

If you’re driving to Burlington be sure to stop at Tree House in Saratoga or Deerfield if they are on your route. The new one is Saratoga is amazing and right off of Rt 87.

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Foam does hazy IPAs for sure, but they also make lagers and have a bunch of barrel aged sours from the House of Fermentation.

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You’ve got a solid list there. Enjoy your time in BTV!

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Lawson’s Finest in Waitsfield, maybe too far south, but c’mon, Sip of Sunshine.

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We were just in Burlington last month. I liked Foam Brewers mostly for the atmosphere, but the beers were good as well. Vt Pub and Brewery is nice to visit in memory of Greg Noonan - they bought me a beer just for the memory. BBC is huge and has excellent variety - I had a smoked black lager! Zero Gravity was also good. We had nice cocktails at the Whiskey Room.
The Shelbourne Museum is a great, mostly outdoors architectural and classic museum.

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Four Quarters’ business partners pushed out the founder of that brewery (who is a good person and worked his ■■■ off to get that brewery grown to what it is) in the past year. I don’t like that. So you might consider that in your decision-making. I would use Queen City, Switchback, and the brews at American Flatbread (Burlington location) to balance out all of the IPAs on offer.

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Thanks for all the replies. I’ll be in Burlington the first week of August. Very much looking forward to the town, the lake and - of course - all the breweries.

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Well, we had a great time in Burlington. Quite eye-opening as well.

In the end, we hit Fiddlehead, Foam Brewers, Vermont Pub & Brewery, von Trapp and The Alchemist. Maybe it was the atmosphere, or simply that I was quite at my leisure, but I didn’t have anything that I didn’t greatly enjoy.

Some highlights:

Funk on the Water - Foam Brewers. Had a nice citrus/sour taste with a background of sublime funkiness. A true highlight.

Alien Observer - Foam Brewers. A sour that didn’t overdo the sour. So wonderfully crushable.

Dogbite ESB - Vt Pub & Brewery

Handsome Mick’s Irish Stout - Vt Pub & Brewery - both of these beers were like classic rock to the taste buds. They reminded me of everything I love about craft beer, Tasteful, on point, simple, enjoyable.

Heady Topper - The Alchemist. Seems a bit obvious, I know. And I won’t argue that HT isn’t all that unique considering the Haze craze. But having one hand-pulled in that beautiful, eclectic atmosphere was bucket list beer travel.

Dark - The Alchemist. Not sure if this was a schwarzbier or a dunkel or what. But it was a great reality check after all the hops.

Natur Helles - Von Trapp. I had a few beers at Von Trapp, including their regular Helles. All were good to great. But this one was a “75th Anniversary“ beer, packaged straight from the fermentation cellar, unfiltered. Simply blew me away. Hard to believe a beer could be this malty and tasty and yet so incredibly drinkable. The bartender told me it was his favorite beer they ever served. It was the best beer I had on my trip.

Burlington itself was a bit of a mystery. Both beautiful and depressing. The lake was fabulous, we took a cruise, sat sipping cocktails dockside, loved walking the town and popping in to all the great bars and restaurants, seemingly one around every corner. But there was no getting past those less fortunate, sleeping in the city park, or panhandling on Church St. while the tourists shopped and spent freely (myself included). I handed out change and bought a coffee for the lady in the wheelchair who sat on a different corner of Church and Cherry every morning. But the notion of not being able to change the world sinks in fast.

One morning, sitting at a cafe, I got the feeling of how Hemingway might have felt, people watching…the shopkeepers setting up sidewalk sales, the aluminum can collectors, the pristine family enjoying Ben & Jerry’s, the fiddle player playing for tips, tourists, lovers…

I don’t have his gift, but Burlington would make a great story, if someone chose to tell it.

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Glad you had a good trip. Burlington, like anyplace that dependent on tourist dollars, has revealed a more complex landscape of income disparities and access to care since the pandemic. I think that a lot of that landscape was more hidden before. It’s a beautiful location, especially in the warmer months so there’s a reason why people- many people come. Some just don’t have the means to house themselves, treat their ills, and make a livelihood. I’m one of the fortunate ones to live in Vermont and be able to make ends meet- I try not to forget that. I don’t do a lot in “the big city” but work nearby.

Cheers to Greg! (Noonan)

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Cheers.

I had a great trip to Burlington indeed and would highly recommend it to anyone considering a beer vacation or any type of vacation.

My favorite hours spent were sitting dockside at Splash on the Adirondack chairs, cocktail in hand, watching the boats sail into the restaurant from somewhere out on Lake Champlain. The young, eager dock hands run out and help tie the boat, the cruisers get off, tip the workers and then saddle up to the bar. Makes me wonder where my life went all wrong. :laughing: