Beers in Burlington VT

What be the good microbreweries around there?

Hey BrewRI. I've noticed you on here a good bit the past few weeks. I'm going to be transferring to URI next semester and I'll be living in Narragansett, once I get some HB going again we should get together for a few beers.

Anyway, beers in Burlington? There are some great places. VT pub and Brewery is a brew pub just off of Church Street, downtown and they have some good beers. American Flatbread is just down the street from there, dunno if they brew their own but they have awesome local brews on tap (especially Rock Art beers)

Magic hat is in South Burlington, well worth a visit.

If you're going to be heading up the highway (I89) The Alchemist is in Waterbury and from what I've been told they have some fantastic beers. Going the otherway for about 30 minutes off that same exit you can head out towards Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville, he's got some great deals on mix and match cases of growlers and such in the store front. Well worth a visit.

I'm sure others will chime in with places that I'm missing.

Baja covered most, but if you're going up I-91 McNeill's is in Brattleboro and Harpoon is in Windsor, both easy to get to off the highway. Zero Gravity is in or near Burlington, IIRC.

shecky said:

Baja covered most, but if you're going up I-91 McNeill's is in Brattleboro and Harpoon is in Windsor, both easy to get to off the highway. Zero Gravity is in or near Burlington, IIRC.

Click to expand...

Excellent point Shecky, I guess it depends what route he takes. Both Harpoon and McNeil's are excellent stops off 91.

If you go 93 to 89 through NH, there are also 2 more places right as you hit the VT border. In West Lebanon, NH there is the 7 Barrel Brewery. Nothing off the handle unique , but decent beer and great sweet potato fries.

If you switch over to 91 right after you cross the NH/VT border and go up a few exits to Norwich there is the Norwich Inn with Jasper Murdock's Alehouse. I've found that is hit or miss there, depending on what they have on tap, sometimes everything tastes the same

Switchback is off of Shelburne Road/Rt 7 on Flynn Ave in Burlington. You could hit a bunch of breweries starting in Burlington, head down Rt 7 to Magic Hat, and head down south and hit some down there.

BrewRI- PM me if you want a tour of McNeill's.

I just did a "beer tour" of VT a few weeks ago and all of the above are great suggestions.

If you're traveling up the west side of Vermont, try the Bobcat Cafe in Bristol... great little unknown place. Good beer (13-14 taps of their own beer if memory serves me correctly).. fantastic food.

Long Trail is actually a nice stop and I wouldn't skip it if you're near by. They have the best wings It hink I've ever had in a restaurant. The "Yaki" wings are tremendous and they usually have a "Brewmaster Edition" beer on tap in addition to their regular line up that is pretty good.

Also.. The Shed in Stowe is worth a stop.

My top two are probably The Alchemist and American Flatbread (Zero Gravity Ales). If you are thinking about hitting American Flatbread, get there the minute it opens or you'll be in line trying to get in for a while.

If you're looking for another place IN Burlington, Three Needs is about two blocks from VT P&B and American Flatbread. It's a bit of a dive, hole-in-the-wall but they have decent taps usually.

Too far from Burlington unless you happen to be driving up the western side of VT but I really like Otter Creek in Middlebury. They have a great organic line called Wolavers as well as a craft beer series that is usually amazing (like Long Trail's mentioned above).

Baja Brewer: The Norwich Inn was sold a couple of years ago and they have the old recipes but a new brewer there and I think that's the cause for the questionable beer. I loved the Whistling Pig there but sometimes it would almost be bad after it switched hands (Trivia: The Norwich Inn was the inspiration for the show Newhart).

American Flatbread was one of my favorite stops in my New England BeeRVing tour a fews years back.

Side note: Long Trail just bought Otter Creek.

Only problem with Otter Creek is they don't have a bar. It is simply a "tasting room" which is really nothng more than a gift shop with a couple of taps.... and I'm pretty sure they only had two taps when I was there a couple of weeks ago. They had their Copper Ale and the O-Fest on tap... both are good but you can get them at any liq store.

Cape Brewing said:

Only problem with Otter Creek is they don't have a bar. It is simply a "tasting room" which is really nothng more than a gift shop with a couple of taps.... and I'm pretty sure they only had two taps when I was there a couple of weeks ago. They had their Copper Ale and the O-Fest on tap... both are good but you can get them at any liq store.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I hadn't been there in a few years when they had more to offer.

yeah, I think it must have changed since you've been there. Magic Hat has a full "bar" and they'll pour you small pilsner glasses of about 10-11 different beers.

Otter Creek literally just had a gift shop (t-shirts, pint glasses, maple syrup candy... all of THAT sorta "Vermonty stuff") and then next to the cash register they had two taps... and they gave you a tiny plastic cup worth to taste (think Nyquil cap).

I'm not talking smack about the place... it was nice. I bought a pint glass... and the spicy mustard samples they had out were good... but I think they have changed singificantly since you have been.

So, kinda

What's the deal with Vt Pub and Brewery now that Greg Noonan has passed? Are they still open/brewing?

Not sure... I was up there the weekend before he passed away.

My understanding was that he wasn't doing a ton of the ACTUAL brewing anymore and I haven't heard anyone talking about them shutting down or even slowing down the brewing... so... I think they're moving forward.

the_bird said:

So, kinda

What's the deal with Vt Pub and Brewery now that Greg Noonan has passed? Are they still open/brewing?

Click to expand...

They're definitely still open and brewing. I enjoyed the Vermont Rouge, a Flanders Red seasonal. It's not a common beer style.

All the highlights have been well covered. Alchemist is definitely a favorite - but can be crowded and doesn't open until 3 or 4.

If you're going to be stopping at a few, get yourself a passport and get stamped for some swag.

Dude.

I know what I'm doing next spring!

Anyone else up for a brewery tour?

They are still open and doing well it seemed, I was just up there this last week on an overnight and went for lunch and a few. I didn't read until just after i left that he passed on.

the_bird said:

Dude.

I know what I'm doing next spring!

Anyone else up for a brewery tour?

Click to expand...

... just did mine... SWMBO and I hit nine of the ones on that punch card in three days.

Good times.

The way we did it was we hit 'em in order geographically. We came up 93 N from Boston, took 89 West and then hopped on Rt 4

1) Long Trail: lunch GET THE YAKI WINGS... I'm tellin' ya!

Kept on 4 until we hit Rt 7 north

2) Otter Creek: grabbed a pint glass

A bit more up Rt 7

3) Bobcat Cafe: Definitely worth the stop. Fantastic food and good beer.

followed Rt 7 up to Burlington

4) Vermont Pub and Brewery
5) Three Needs
6) American Flatbread

Heading out of Burlington we swung quickly into South Burlington:

7) Magic Hat

Stayed on 89 and then a quick detour up to Stowe:

8) The Shed

and then stopped in Waterbury

9) The Alchemist

So it was basically one big loop up the west side of Vt to Burlington, and then back down the east side.

Top three:

1) Alchemist
1b) American Flatbread
3) Bobcate Cafe

Vermont Pub and Brewery would probbaly be right up there but the bartended was a 100% royal d-bag to the point we had one beer and left because his incredibly high level of suckitude.

Least Favorite:
Three Needs: It's a total dive bar, which I'm totally on board with. Some of my favorite places are dive bars... but... the beer was... ok at best I thought and for what I was expecting (a "beer bar"), I thought it kind of fell short. It's a block from VPB and Amer. Flatbread so you kind of have to stop... you're right there anyway, might as well hop in for one just to get the "bars hit" count up by one more.

Most Pleasant Surprise:

Magic Hat: I was really surprised. The brewery is kinda goofy with all of the hocus pocus-Magic Hat-artsy crap everywhere but they had something like 11-12 taps running and a couple of the beers were a lot better than I was expecting... and it wasn't just all #9. They had a dampfbeir, a black lager, a flemish red and one or two other styles that where actually pretty tasty and I was a bit surprised to see. I even ended up grabbing two growlers of the Flemish Red. The girl working the taps even knew quite a bit about the beers int erms of grains, hops and yeasts used.


little tips:
- check the websites of all of these places for what time they're open. A lot of them don't open until mid-afternoon so it takes a bit of planning if you're planning hitting a bunch of them in a row.
- American Flatbread: I said this earlier in this thread... go early. We have a close friend that lives in Burlington and is into beer. According to her, you will stand in line waiting to get in for really long times, pretty much, whenever they're open unless you get there really early. In walking around Burlington for two days, we saw this every time we walked by.... LONG lines.

Cape did it pretty much the best way possible, I would only change one thing on his itinerary! If you make it to The Shed (8 on his list) head up to Rock Art Brewery afterwards, if its open. Its only 9 miles away!! And I'm a big fan of Rock Art

The wait to get into flatbread can be bad, but it is 1000% worth it. Stellar food, and a great beer selection. Just grab one of their beepers and hang out at the bar until your table is ready.

Switchback is one of the best beers around btown. Tastes great and is almost as cheap as bmc most of the time.

Definitely hit up the magichat brewery as well.

+1 for the Alchemist!

the_bird said:

Dude.

I know what I'm doing next spring!

Anyone else up for a brewery tour?

Click to expand...

Dude we're always up for a brewery tour!

Did you say you and John were coming out to Western MA this spring? We'll have to coordinate something with the YI folks, be it a brew session and/or pub-crawl.

It can be Q's and Leah's first date

Sounds good to me!