A trip to Burlington, VT

So a group of us went up to Burlington, VT (which is becoming an annual retreat for my wife and I) yesterday and here's what went down:

First, we stopped at Myers Bagel Bakery for a breakfast sandwich, which was voted one of the top 5 bagel places in the country by Epicurious (article here). They serve up true Montreal style bagels and the Montreal spice bagel was unique and delicious. I debated going with the lox or the brisket but in the end triumphed with the brisket that may be the best, most flavorful and tender brisket I've ever had. Balanced with red onion, sprouts, field greens and garlic aoli, it was a delight and my fellow travelers all agreed it was amazing when I graciously let them try the brisket--to the point where my brother-in-law Brad had to go get a 2nd sandwich of brisket for himself! I also had to try their Maple bagel and was rewarded with lovely maple aroma.

Next we stood in line at Winooski Beverage for The Alchemist's Heady Topper! I scored three 4-packs with minimum wait time (those in front who wanted a case were there 2 hours in advance!) and as always they sold right out.

Third stop was Zero Gravity Craft Brewery at American Flatbread, We'd had our fill of food so far and had special plans for later, so we just sipped a couple samples at their bar. It was nice that they offer 1/2 pints too so we weren't going to get sloshed as the samples piled up that day. Anyway, I tried the following:
1) Conehead IPA - a single hop Citra wheat IPA, this had a distinct mango nose, rind, dank. I like. 5/7% ABV, More here.
2) Bob White - a belgian wit that had a nice unfiltered quality, supposedly all organic, notes of burnt clove, coriander, almost a touch of sulfur? 4.7% ABV. More here
3) Black Cat Porter - had a taste of my wife's Black Cat Porter, smelled molasses, smoke, tasted coffee, roastiness. 5.2% ABV. More here.

After Zero Gravity, we took another trip to Winooski Beverage, because earlier there was a huge line for Heady Topper and didn't want to spend too much time there at the time. But, we were on a mission for beer and me in particular (if you read my previous post here) for some I cannot find in NY or outside of the greater Burlington area.
This is what I came away with:
1) Burlington Beer Co. Chasing Rabbits - they had this hoppy wheat ale and a Rye IPA called Light in the Window available and my wife chose this. I'm glad she did, we tried it later that night, which you can read about below.
2) 14th Star Maple Breakfast Stout - was really glad to find this, a 4 pack of 16 ounce cans, we also tried this later.
3) Stone Corral XX Chocolate Maple Porter - I believe I grabbed one of the last three 22 oz. bottles of this for $10.99. Can't wait!
4) Stone Corral Latigo - a Scottish Export style 90/- that placed 2nd at the 2014 Great International Beer and Cider Festival, what's not to love?
5) Bent Hill Brewery Coconut Porter - another 22 ounce bomber, I love porters and coconut, the marriage seems promising.
6) Bent Hill Brewery Vanilla Chai Porter - 22 ounce, it was between this and Crop Brewery's Vanilla Porter, but with the chai spice thrown in and a slightly cheaper price it wasn't a hard choice.
7) Simple Roots Brewing Co. Elderflower Saison - I couldn't find their Hearthside, but settled for my second Simpel Roots choice. My wife also saw this and was interested even without me knowing I had it on my short list.
8) Atlantic Brewing Co. Island Ginger - we were lucky to find a couple 6-packs of this brew from Bar Harbor, Maine, because I didn't think it was distributed out this way. We loved it when we had it in Maine on our honeymoon and hope that the dust on the bottles doesn't mean they are way past fresh. Crossing our fingers.

This should keep us occupied for a while!

Next on the list, The Shopping Bag, with their "Sizzler", awarded best burger in Vermont by the Food Network Magazine and one of the top 50 burgers in the country, see here. I had their Cowboy burger, topped with large onion rings (not straws for a good change), house made BBQ sauce, bacon, chedder and the largest 1/2 pound of beef I've ever seen. So delicious, just yum in every bite. Not kidding.

After The Shopping bag we stopped at Magic Hat Brewing Co. for a quick free tasting and self-guided tour. I've been here before with my wife, and they're honestly not my favorite brewery, but it's a fun place to see and we thought it was only right to provide that experience to others. I also got to try a couple of the new brews they've had on shelves that I've been tempted to try but not enough to pull the trigger on.
1) Art Hop Ale - this pilsner has pink peppercorn, but it really was light bodied, clean and had only the slightest tinge of spice from the peppercorns. This is only available at their Artifactory (brewery tasting room). 4.8% ABV. More here.
2) Stealin' Time - a ginger pale wheat ale with a nice ginger nose, light bodied with clean cereal malt. 5.5% ABV. More here.
3) Electric Peel - an IPA with grapefruit added, this was quite tart like eating a grapefruit for breakfast, no candied essence like all the other grapefruit IPA's I've tried, an again a little light bodied for my wanting, 6% ABV. More here.
4) Blind Faith - an English style IPA apparently, caramel, citrus and some herbal notes, crisp and refreshing, a tad dry, but not a huge aroma. 6.2% ABV. More here.

Overall, just a little light bodied/flavored for my taste.

On the way home we also stopped at Fiddlehead Brewing Co. in Shelburne because I've had their flagship Fiddlehead IPA, but that's all that is available on tap around Vermont. At their small, but impressive tasting room, with pretty views right in to the stainless steel brewery through the glass behind the bar, we had three free samples.
1) The new NEW Amarillo Getaway - this was a pale ale with Amarillo hops that were so fresh I was astounded by the dill, lemon, herbal and oily hop characteristics, yellow in color and did I say fresh? It was the last of the keg is what we were told and I thought Amarillo had more of a grapefruit characteristic, but to me it was more dillish. 5.8% ABV. More here.
2) Fiddlehead IPA - standard and a nicely drinking IPA that isn't too offensively bitter at 53 IBU, piney, citrus, crisp, resin, oily, hop bitter balanced. 6.2% ABV. More at same link as above scroll all the way to the bottom.
3) Rarified Air - an hoppy wheat ale (Untappd incorrectly labels this a DIPA) loaded with lemon, dill, juicy, chewy, herbal, pine and more pine that is so fresh like the Amarillo Getaway. I've seen hoppy wheat ales making a splash lately as a hype style. 7.7% ABV. More at the same link as above but 3rd down from the top.

Back at home, later at night, we tried a couple of the brews we bought at Winooski Beverage, here's my tasting notes;
1) Burlington Beer Co. Chasing Rabbits - just released on the 20th in cans, a hoppy wheat ale, smooth, not bitter, hoppy in the sense of a great orange, resin, grassy, grapefruit, mango pulpy nose, white head/good legs, tea, hazy orange color, slightly less body than I wish it was, but the full aroma was excellent. 5.7% ABV. More here (scroll right to the blue screen that says "Bottles & Cans").
2) 14th Star Maple Breakfast Stout - this was full of coffee roasty goodness, a touch of cocoa bittersweet perhaps, but it was the maple though subtle that shines, hitting last and just bringing a slight edge of sweetness throughout, like pancakes in your mouth, the nose was a bit disappointingly just roasty and flat though. 5.5% ABV. More here.

My favorite of the day: Fiddlehead The new NEW Amarillo Getaway - just cannot get over the freshness and uniqueness of this brew. I hope Fiddlehead starts making its way around Vermont more so I can try some other offerings from them in the future. I'm glad it was one of the few places open on a Tuesday so I made it became a priority to visit their brewery.