NE (Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire) Trip

Hey all,

Taking a little trip after my wedding and will be up in these parts. Flying into Providence, flying out of Providence.

It will be my wife and I. She loves beer, mountains, oceans, forests and moose. So yeah, this shouldnt be too hard.

What are some can’t miss cities, places, etc.

We will find plenty of beer I’m sure, but if there are must stops (aside from Hill Farmstead, cause duh) let me know. Honestly, name touristy places, not touristy places, cities to stay in, etc. We land 10/24 so I need to book some stuff. Obviously we will have a car. Canada is likely NOT in the cards but we can cross the border if there is a reason and it isn’t too far.

Thanks in advance!
Hoff

Paging broken sale

2 weeks ago for wedding I did this trip

NYC-Providence-Portland-Bar Harbor-Portsmouth-Boston-Providence-NYC

Bar Harbor has Acadia National Park where you can see ocean, smaller mountains and maybe some moose nearby although didn’t. It beautiful area. Portland is amazing beer town and Portsmouth is smaller but still lovely. Boston and Providence i was just with friends and family but plenty of info available there and this trip has no more than 3 to 4 hours driving any day. But if your heading to Hill farmstead completely different direction/itinerary would be necessary.

I don’t have to hit HF but would like to.

Did Boston last year for 4 days so no need to revisit.

There was a thread about a similar trip a couple of months back. Anyone have a link to it?

Originally posted by craftycarl21
There was a thread about a similar trip a couple of months back. Anyone have a link to it?

So after having gone, I feel like I can probably at least give you my impressions of things as a traveler, which my be different from locals. Of course, my thoughts are based on one or two snapshots of any given place, where locals obviously have a bigger sample size. Really only listing the things I thought were worthwhile. This will probably end up being a multiple part post.

Vermont
Beer
In general, the thing I noticed about the bars is that there is a huge overlap in selection. You will often see the vast majority of the same beers in each of the comparably good quality beer places. The best beer places we visited, in my opinion were:
Blackback Pub (Waterbury)
Craft Beer Cellar (Waterbury) -- it’s chain, but found this one to have a particularly good selection.
Farmhouse Tap & Grill (Burlington)
Foam Brewers (Burlington)
Hill Farmstead (Greensboro Bend)
Mule Bar (Winooski)
Prohibition Pig (Waterbury)
The Reservoir (Waterbury)
Three Penny Taproom (Montpelier)
Zero Gravity (Burlington)

Food
American Flatbread (Burlington) - Another pizza place. Thought it was good, but not other worldly. Can also try lots of Zero Gravity beers here as it’s their original brewpub location. No flights/tasters.
Farmhouse Tap & Grill (Burlington) - aside from having a great beer list, the food here is also phenomenal.
Hen of the Wood (Burlington/Waterbury) - I actually ended up cancelling our reservation here, but have heard nothing but good things.
Penny Cluse (Burlington) - cafe where we ate breakfast. Really good food. Can be kind of crowded, though.
Pizzeria Verita (Burlington) - recommend a reservation here. Insanely good pizza. Small beer list as well with some interesting choices.
Prohibition Pig (Waterbury) - BBQ

Sights/Touristy Things/Points of Interest/Outdoors
Ben & Jerry’s (Waterbury Center) - The tour is $4 and is not really all that great, but you learn a bit about the company and then you get a scoop of ice cream at the end. Can also buy ice cream from the counter outside. Kind of a tourist trap, but it’s neat.
Camel’s Hump - Not sure what the hiking will be like when you’re there, but found this to be a nice climb and not too far from Burlington. Several different routes to get to the top.
Church Street Marketplace (Burlington) - Downtown "mall" area. Lots of shops, bars, restaurants, etc. Some historic buildings as well.
Ethan Allen Homestead - Pretty cheap ($6, I think). Takes maybe an hour or so. Learn a bit about sort of a mythical American figure and revolution era life.
Lake Champlain - Nice path to walk along on the waterfront. If you’re into kayaking or boating or whatever, I’m sure you could do some of that still.
Mt. Mansfield - Another one that we didn’t actually do, but seems to be a good choice. Again, may depend on weather and conditions.
Shelburne Museum (Shelburne) - A short drive south of Burlington. Really expansive grounds, big time American folk art collection, knowledgeable staff, worth a visit. Fiddlehead Brewing/Folino’s pizza just down the road.
University of Vermont (Burlington) - really sizable campus, Burlington seems to sort of center around it, the downtown area, anyway. Some pretty cool buildings. I’m sure there’s a campus office that does tours if that interests you, even if those are usually supposed to be for prospective students.
Vermont State Capitol (Montpelier) - Did a free tour of the capitol building. Pretty cool and interesting to learn some of the history of the state and the building. Takes about an hour and is free.
World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet (Burlington) - Kind of neat for a photo op. This is like a 30 second stop. It’s close to/on what I dubbed the "South Burlington Tick Trail". Can make a quick detour if you’re hitting Switchback, Queen City, Citizen Cider, Zero Gravity, etc.

That’s a good list. No mention of worthy burger but if you’re going to farm house and pro-pig, you’re pretty set on VT beer and good food.

Also worth mentioning - that all the Waterbury places BroSail listed above are literally within 20 feet of each other on the same Main Street corner. Blackback is probably the most consistent as far as best option for draft selection, atmosphere and great food.

The new Alchemist Welcome Center location is about 15-20 min from Waterbury so definitely worth checking out (free beer samples of Heady, Focal and whatever 3rd beer is on rotation, and you’re usually guaranteed some sort of allotment of cans to take away). Doc Ponds is a mile down the road from Alchemist and sports a great draft/bottle list and chill vibe.

If you like cheese, the cabot annex store is nearby in Waterbury with a nice selection of cheese - specifically if you are looking to try any of Jasper Hill’s portfolio.

Originally posted by jredmond
If you like cheese, the cabot annex store is nearby in Waterbury with a nice selection of cheese - specifically if you are looking to try any of Jasper Hill’s portfolio.

A couple of blocks from Mule Bar, which Brokensail mentioned and is indeed awesome, is another great bottle shop called Winooski Beverage Warehouse. I’d say it and the Craft Beer Cellar in Waterbury are hands down the top two shops in VT.