Wine-o: Long Trail Traditional IPA

Long Trail Traditional IPA, Bridgewater Corners, Vermont

Alcohol 5.4%

Price $8- (6-pack)

This brewery has a wonderful pub/tasting area for customers.  Although the exterior is nondescript (it looks like a warehouse set back from the road a bit). The interior front of house area takes advantage of the warehouse height ceilings to create a larger, airier, feeling.  They serve basic pub fare from 11-6 and also offer tastings of their large variety of beer.

We greatly enjoyed the self-guided tour.  While limited in vantage points, the brewery has very clear placards explaining the brewing process.  The bottling machine was going full tilt and it was amazing to see the grace and speed at which the glass bottles are filled, capped, and organized for casing.

Freya's Score: 65

Mona Value: 8.1

The MV is calculated by dividing the FS by the price, giving a better analytic that takes into consideration price as well as overall taste

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Wine-o: Harpoon Pumpkin Cider

Harpoon Brewery Pumpkin Cider

Windsor, Vermont

Alcohol

Price $8- (6-pack)

Imagine our surprise when we found not just Cider, but Pumpkin cider at the Harpoon Brewery store in Windsor!  Having tasted now the regular Cider and the Pumpkin, I will admit I prefer the regular cider. The pumpkin adds a bit of spice, and reminds me some of an apple pie.  The BF found it too sweet, but I prefer it over a dark lager or stout.

I am very excited to try to make beer bread with it as I think it will be amazing!

Freya Score 71

Mona Value 8.9

The MV is calculated by dividing the FS by the price, giving a better analytic that takes into consideration price as well as overall taste

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Wine-o: Heady Topper

Heady Topper Double IPA Waterbury, Vermont

Alcohol 8%

Price $12 (4-pack of 16 oz.)

The brewery is located in Waterbury, VT just 20 minutes southeast of Burlington along I-89 and right next to the Ben & Jerry's factory.  It is again a very nondescript building, but close to the highway.  They sell growlers and 4-packs of cans.  (Perhaps check their facebook ahead as they were out when we visited; they had just filled all of their Burlington area orders.)

This beer gains rave reviews from everyone we've met.  And Beer Advocate has ranked it as the #3 beer in the world.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  To me, the hoppy flavors dissolved into a fruity goodness, swirling around my mouth.  It was a very different experience from other beers I've tasted.  I also like this brewery's business model.  This is the #1 beer their customers like, and so it is the ONLY beer that they brew.  Simple, smart, and lucrative.

The BF describes this as "#1 beer that I've ever had... that's still in production".  That's pretty good if you ask me...

Freya's Score: 98

Mona Value: 8.2

The MV is calculated by dividing the FS by the price, giving a better analytic that takes into consideration price as well as overall taste

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Wine-o: The Norwich Inn

The Norwich Inn (technically Jasper Murdoch's Alehouse) Whistling Pig Red Ale
Alcohol 5.4%

Price $6.50- (22 oz. bomber)

The Norwich Inn is very well known in the Hanover/Dartmouth College area.  It has a diverse menu featuring locally sourced products, as well as the microbrewery (and with that pub-fare).  It is also an Inn, and one can reserve rooms there.

We parked in the back and entered through a side door to the front desk.  The receptionist happily sold us a "bomber" of our choice right there.  While The BF deliberated over the assortment I was able to look at the dining room and bar area.  Both very New England, very classic, and just lovely looking.  Clean lines with a general sense of "old" sunken in and painted over in a beautiful minty sage green.

The Norwich Inn was very kind in responding to a comment I left when I joined their mailing list.  They provided me with this fun history of the brewhouse:

We have been brewing beer at the Inn since 1993 producing traditional English-Style ales in 5 gallon glass jugs. Ten years later we became established as a brewery and named it after the Colonel [and Dartmouth graduate] who built the original Inn in 1797.  

In May of 2003, Tim Wilson established our own Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse as one of the countries smallest breweries.  An historic barn was restored for this purpose and stands opposite the pub in the courtyard.  Our ales are handcrafted at the inn and pumped underground to the taps in the pub and packaged in 22oz bottles available for sale only at the inn.  In 2006 Joe and Jill Lavin purchased the inn...  They began renovations to the old vestry and carriage house to create the Walker House and Ivy Lodge giving us 11 more sleeping rooms, and added our beautiful wine cellar which houses one of the largest selections of wine in the state.   

We now produce over 30 different beers and have between 4 - 6 on tap in our pub at all times.  Our ales are crafted from fine English malts.  Filtration can strip flavor and body from a beer, therefore the ale yeast is allowed to settle out naturally in an extended cold-aging process.  Our beer is then pumped underground from our beer cellar to the pub, or packaged in 22 ounce bottles for sale in our Bottle Shop.

Very malty, almost smoky flavored; less hoppy than other red ales.

Freya's Score: 90

Mona Value: 13.84

The MV is calculated by dividing the FS by the price, giving a better analytic that takes into consideration price as well as overall taste

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Wine-o: American Microbreweries

The USA is the home to several microbreweries.  In New England I have noticed a pride in local microbrews that I didn't detect in Arkansas.    Breweries are very fun to visit, often with a dining room for sampling beer and basic pub fare.  And of course, a ton of retail items such as t-shirts, coolers, hats, dog leashes, etc.  Many breweries also offer guided tours.

The BF's favorite type of beer is IPA, and so this is more often than not the kind of beer in the fridge, and thus the kind that I try.  I am not a huge beer drinker, and my taste is narrow and specific, however I will rank beers on a 100 point scale.  I can detail the fun experiences at the breweries that we visit as well.

Printer Friendly Maps & Cheat Sheets:
New Hampshire
Vermont
Maine
Massachusetts
New York
Connecticut
Rhode Island

For more information about microbreweries, one can watch "Beer Wars" (available on Netflix Instant). This is a documentary about the market share struggle between the "big 3" and microbreweries across the country.  The narrator has a very clear opinion, but the documentary is informative.

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