Vermont Brewers Festival: The Beers

Complete list sampled at this years beer festival in Burlington included;

67. Long Trail Blackberry Wheat
68. Long Trail Traditional IPA
69. Pennichuck Engine 5 Red Ale
70. Rock Art IPA (II)
71. Rock Art Jasmine Pale Ale (RA)
72. Stone IPA
73. Stone Arrogant Bastard
74. Stone Coast 420 India Pale Ale
75. Switchback Unfiltered Ale
76. Wolavers IPA
77. Vermont Pub & Brewery Forbidden Fruit
78. Woodchuck Draft Cider Dark & Dry
79. Woodchuck Draft Cider Pear
80. Woodstock Inn Pemi Pale
81. Zero Gravity 07 Nights (Belgian Pail Ale)

Thats it.

And the winner? Well the best new brewery for me was probably "Rock Art" and then it comes to the IPA. Plus that I really learned to enjoy the ciders from Woodchuck, that is really a great cider that we should get to Sweden. A second great beer and also a new brewery for me was "Switchback" and the Unfiltered Ale

New England Report VII:2008-07-19

At 17.00 it was finally time for the "Vermont Brewers Festival" that we had all been waiting for. After having some problems getting a cab from the hotel (seems everyone in Burlington was heading for the Waterfront Park at the same time) we finally managed to get there almost on time.

The park was packed with people in very long queues and the sun was extremelly hot. So it was really a struggle for the wait before we actually go into the festival area. But it went quite smoothly and it was organized very well.

Each brewery we located in different white tents and also a lot of food were provided. Talking about beers almost every known Vermont brewery were there, plus a good selection of external breweries like Stone and North Coast.

Getting to the list of sampled beers included; (you got 10 beers included in the price if you had the more normal beers, all connected to the ABV so some of the stronger counted as 3)

"Long Trail Brewing Company"

*. Blackberry Wheat
*. Traditional IPA

"Pennichuck Brewing Co"

*. Engine 5 Red Ale

"Rock Art Brewery" (a new favorite that I have not heard about before)

*. IPA
*. Jasmine Pale Ale

"Stone Brewing Co"

*. Stone IPA
*. Arrogant Bastard Ale

"Stone Coast Brewing Co"

*. 420 India Pale Ale

"Switchback Brewing Co"

*. Switchback Unfiltered Ale

"Vermont Pub & Brewery"

*. Forbidden Fruit

"Woodchuck Draft Cider"

*. Woodchuck Draft Cider Dark & Dry
*. Woodchuck Draft Cider Pear

"Woodstock Inn Brewer"

*. Pemi Pale Ale

"Zero Gravity"

*. 07 Nights (Belgian pail ale)

"Wolavers"

*. IPA


Scene outside the festival area, quite nice huh?

New England Report VI:2008-07-19

Due to the bad Internet access you often get on the motels and probably due to late activities connected with beers these reports do not come out as expected. Anyway right now the report comes from a dreary bestwestern motel in Fall River, Massachusetts. Missed the opportunity to live down in Newport, RI as we so of did not understand that we really needed to book in advance. Due to that we simply had to rearrange the plans a bit so we simply ended up here instead. At least we got to the decided places in Newport and Middletown, RI and were happy with that.

Getting back to the report it is now 080719 and the trip continued from Bethel Maine to Burlington Vermont.

We stopped first at the "Italian Oasis Restaurant & Brewery" in Littleton.

This is a nice place located in a stylish tree house on the main street. We were early so as it had not yet opened we did some limited sightseeing (+ the longest candy store in the World, at least according to shop) by the river side. Sampled beers included;

59. Black Bear Stout (first of many black bear beers)
60. Cannon Amber Ale

As these beers were not really much to say about we can simply continue with the next stop.

Second place and just before we started our trip up to Burlington we stopped at the "The Shed Restaurant & Brewery" in Stowe. Original plan was the "Alchemist" in Waterbury but we could not find the time (solved later). The Shed is located in big red building and is also located in a ski resort area so much was connected to skiing and it felt like a nice place to be for a ski holiday. We had lunch and add the following beers to our list;

61. West Branch Golden
62. Shed Amber Ale
63. National IPA
64. Mocca Porter
65. Mountain Ale
66. Raspberry Wheat

(had samplers, so that is why it became so many)

After that it was just to hurry to Burlington and the planned "Vermont Brewers Festival"...

New England Report V:2008-07-18

Now the report come from a very rainy Greenfield, MA. It is pouring down and we have to see how the travel will work south tomorrow morning. We finished the day in the Peoples Pint in central Greenfield.

Coming back to the normal report where the goal is mainly just to write some points down about the places we visited it is now down for day II outside Boston.

Second day in outside was supposed to be a brewery tour outside Portland.

We started out early with a visit to the Allagash Brewing Company. A brewery that was for me most connected to belgian inspired strong ales and tripples. A bit surprised the girl at the beer shop helped us with a very short and informal tour of the new brew house, and we were very happy with the information and tour we got. As the normal tour was 15.00 and we came to the brewery just after 11.00 it was great to have a couple of beers and a quick peak at the brewery.

Sampled beers included;

45. White (5% ABV)
46. Trippel Ale (9% ABV)
47. Black Stout (Belgian Stout), this was a great beer and something new for me, showed that they can do beer outside the standard belgian styled strong ale, great stuff and something we took with us from the brewery.

(Kegs at Allagash with the oaked barrell "Curieux", that we sampled at Sunset in Boston i couple of days ago)As the Casco Bay Brewing company had been closed down and that all brewers at Stone Coast Brewery were all occupied with the Vermont Brewers Festival (1 of 3 was not a great result) we instead continued to the Sea Dog Brewpub in Topsham. Time for lunch and;

48. Pale Ale (cask)

The beers are not really to exiciting at Sea Dog but the location in Topsham is worth checking out, has a large outdoor terrace along a small river.

Continued just as the very tiny Oak Pond Brewery opened up for visiting and free samplers. This brewery is actually just a one person operation.

We met the owner and brewer himself (see pic) and sampled;

49. Pale Ale
50. DoorYard Ale
51. White Fox Ale (best one)
52. Nut Brown Ale
53. Oktoberfest (biggest seller)

Coming to Bethel during we evening we also managed to find the brewpub in the ski resort, meaning the Sunday River Company and then finally ended up in central Bethel and the Suds Pub.

Sunday River Company:

54. Black Bear Porter
55. 420 IPA (also served here as the brewpub is owned by the people at Stonecoast brewery)

Suds Pub:

56. Magic Hat #9
57. Long Trail Ale
58. Gearys London Porter

Need for sleep now so I say goodbye with M and S saying goodnight from Suds and sunny Bethel, cheers to all.

New England Report IV:2008-07-17

Reporting from the Fairview Motel outside New London NH. Here the trip also can continue on the web.

We have had a couple of more amazing beer days with loads of New Hampshire and Vermont beers, including the Vermont Brewers Festival (more about that later on).

If we continue with the actual trip and after the Cape Ann brewery (I later actually got a cap from the brewer himself outside burlington, thanks) if looks like this;

We took the car and continued back in the country from the coast and took us all over to The Tap in Haverhill, MA, a bit north or Boston. The was a natural spot after several pints of the amazing Leatherlips IPA.

(Tap handlers at the Tap in Haverhill)

The Tap has several great beer and is really a nice little town outside the Boston area. They are located in a town that was ages ago very famous for the shoe industry. Therefore they use the old shoe samples as part of the tap handlers.

Sampled beers included;

25. Rejuvination
26. Haverale
27. APA
28. Leatherlips IPA (amazing IPA at only 5% ABV, but in hops tastes like a double IPA, we even got a six pack to go)
29. Fresh Roasted Coffee Stout

After Haverhill we took the car up to Smuttynose Brewing Company in Portsmouth NH. We got the great opportunity with some talk with the bartender to be able to get a short brewery tour. Very fun to just have a quick browse through this brewery. As Smuttynose and especially the IPA is one of our old US IPA bit was really fun to check out the brewery. We got to see all of the production and even some of the future oaked barell experiments they are playing around with at the hidden corner of the brewery.


Sampled beers include;

30. Pale Ale Shoals
31. IPA
32. Portsmouth Lager
33. Old Brown Dog

The list expanded and as you see some people takes the beer list very seriously;

After the samplers and the brewery tour we had to continue and with some free samplers given to us at Smutty we went down to Portsmouth Brewery (sister brewery for Smutty) and sampled the following beers;

34. Bottle Rocket IPA
35. Black Cat Stout
36. Imperial IPA

After finally coming to Portland, maine we got rid of the car and headed down to downtown Portland. Portland by night included;"Grittys"

37. Bitter (cask)
38. Pub Style Pale Ale (cask)

"Sebago Brewing Company"

39. Fryes IPA
40. Boathouse Brown Ale
41. Roadhouse Red Ale

"Great Lost Bear" (Best bar in Portland, just sorry that it was the last place for the night and so far away from everything else, took us 40 minutes to walk between Sebago and the lost beer)

42. Stone Coast 420 IPA
43. Gearys Porter
44. Gearys Ale (cask)

At least you could understand that if you only need one place in Portland, the Great Lost Bear is the place. A cool place with loads of beers and atmosphere. But as always this should have been the first place to visit instead of the last place after a very long beer trail.

New England Report III: 2008-07-17

First day if we talk about breweries and the beer trail took us to the "Cape Ann Brewing Company" in Glouchester, MA.

Sampled beers included;

20. Fishersmans IPA
21. Fishermans Pumkin Stout
22. Fishermans Brew (lager)
23. Fishermans Tea party Barley Wine


24. Bavarian Wheat

New England Report II: 2008-07-16

Day II in and still in Boston. So this is the day that we need to show our beer friends the best of greater Boston beer scene.

The beers and places that we succeeded in getting to during the day includes (the weather was sunny and sunny etc)

"Beer Works", Canal Street

7. Fenway American Pale Ale
8. Back Bay IPA
9. Victory Red (cask)

"Bukowski Tavern" (during the wait of the Stone beer 12th anv.)

10. Lagunitas IPA
11. Sixpoint Bengali Tiger IPA
12. Cambridge Brewing Company Porter

"The Sunset Grill & Tap"

13. Bear Republic Racer 5
14. Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused
15. Moylans Double IPA
16. Allagash Curieux (cask)
17. Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard
18. He'Brew Lennys RIPA

"The Deep Ellum"

19. Ipswich Mild Brown

New England Report I

Hi,

Yes we actually came to the US and started our New England Beer Trail 2008. The problems with my internet access has continued so a few days has passed with many beer experiences that you could talk about.

As always it is getting a bit late and I really hope that this one is a good choice to try something out on the net. Couple of the last attempts has ended with giving up and instead going to sleep.

So lets get some facts so far.

2008-07-15

Arrived in Boston and our hotel; "Midtown Hotel.

Straight to our favorite bar in Boston; "Bukowski Tavern" on Dalton Street.

1. Stone Arrogant Bastard
2. Cisco Whales Tale Palse Ale
3. Smyttonose IPA

"The Other Side Cafe"

4. DogFish 60 Minute IPA

"The Lower Depths Tap Room" (owned by the Bukowski team)

5. The Tap Leatherlips IPA (amazing IPA at 5% ABV)
6. Otter Creek Copper Ale

Yes and then it was Stone...

Just if you missed it, it just happened to be a amazing beer tasting with Stone Brewery over at Oliver Twist, Stockholm last Thursday.

With personal brought beers by Greg K himself we simply had a amazing beer journey and sampling, including the very very new Stone 12th Anniversay oatmeal stout.

Quite fun that I planned to have that particular beer over in Boston on July 16th when it was supposed to be introduced there. But who needs to go to the USA when the CEO himself brings his beers to us.

Cheers and thanks very much for all the beers and information Greg. This was a very good start of the summer and all the beers we are supposed to enjoy arround New England.

10! beers were sampled and all brought directly from the US.

And yes I was actually there, here is the proof, thanks BK for the picture...

Yes I am still here!

If anyone is still reading this blog except myself I just need to inform that our New England Beer Trip 2008 will just start in a couple of hours.

Hopefully I will have access to some kind of network and hope to make at least some comments about the trip.

It will start tomorrow (actually in a couple or hours) with going over to Boston, MA and end on July 30th.

We will probably not finish everything as planned but here is at least the main plan and where you can check were we probably are on this little beer trail.