Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend.

It was labor day weekend for those in the US, which meant Lisa and I didn’t have to go into work on Monday. The day off came at a perfect time for my wife and I as August has been a bit of a tough month for us. Kramer, our good friend and the best damn dog in the world passed away suddenly a few weeks ago from a quick onset of cancer. I had rescued him over 12 years ago and he’s been a huge part of our life since then. I’ve been a total mess ever since he passed. To all my close friends reading this, I really appreciate the time everyone’s taken to express your condolences. It’s really helped.

Anyway, Lisa decided that we needed some time away, so I set up a little jaunt to Vermont for us. Our target was the Equinox Resort in Manchester, about an hour and a half away or so. It was just far enough away to really remove ourselves from the situation, but close enough to be an easy drive. The Equinox has a whole range of very cool activities (we took a lesson in Falconry of all things - it was awesome) that I figured would help keep our minds occupied. I definitely wasn’t intending on this being a beer-related trip, but it’s funny how things can work out sometimes…

The Marsh Taven Beer List

The beer festivities started out on our first night at the Equinox when we went to dinner at the Marsh Tavern, the equinox’s casual dining spot. After sitting down I was presented with not only a wine list but a huge beer list as well! I can remember thinking “IT’S ON NOW!” as soon as I saw the list. First thing that was very apparent was the locality of the beer list - there were many Vermont brews to be had (more then I had heard of before), as well as quite a few beers from the surrounding states. I would guess that at least half of the list was from the greater New England area. There were a lot of excellent beers available - but where were the big brews? There wasn’t too much on the strong end of things - no Barleywines or Imperial Stouts to be seen at all. I was thinking this was a bit strange, but not really a big deal. After all, there was plenty of goodness for me to choose from there.

Interestingly enough, we found out the reason for the “big beer” omission on the following day, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I started things off with an Allagash White, which I hadn’t had before, and it was excellent. Crisp, light, and fruity, it was a fantastic match with the scallop appetizer I had. I wanted to try one of the Vermont regional brews I hadn’t heard of before with dinner, so I went for the Gritty McDuff Best Bitter as my second choice. It was an excellent beer, with notable herbal hoppy flavor. The best thing, however, about the Bitter is that the dude on the label LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE ME! If I wore bow ties and suspenders I could pass for that guy in a second! After finishing off my doppelganger’s beer, I ended the night with a Chimay Red while we listened to the really good acoustic duo that was playing in the bar area.

Gritty McDuff - My long lost brother? The bird on my arm is a hawk named Haggis from the Equinox’s falconry course.

Probably in response to my finds the night before, my beer radar was on high alert the next day. It scored a direct hit when before dinner we found ourselves wandering into the local beverage center, Manchester Discount Beverage, that is on the main strip in town. They had a fairly decent selection of brews, some with little tags showing the score the beer had on RateBeer.com. One thing I loved about this place was the prices - beers were a heck of a lot cheaper here then back home, with many of them being 3-4 dollars less! Lisa knew a good deal when she saw it and urged me to stock up a bit (ain’t she great?). I ended up with a few new brews for the cellar, Including Allagash Black, a couple of very nice Belgians, and Vermonts own Rock Art Brewings Vermonster. I also picked up a few more Stone Vertical Epics that were sitting around as well.

The staff at Manchester Discount Beverage was really helpful. In particular, a nice fellow named Mark went above and beyond searching for bottles in the back of the store for us. Mark was quite a fan of the good beers, and mentioned to us how until just recently they haven’t been able to stock many of them. It seems a previous Vermont law forbid beverage centers from selling any beers over 7% abv. That law was just changed to 16% starting July 1st. I imagine this will certainly benefit the Vermont brewing scene, as they’ve probably been missing out on the whole “Extreme Beer” craze! This probably also explains the lack of strong brews on the beer list at the Equinox as well.

If you do find yourself staying for some time in Manchester, be sure to check out the beverage center. It’s certainly worth a stop.

My “beercation” didn’t stop there. Dinner for us that night was at the Perfect Wife Tavern and Restaurant, yet another place with a great beer list. It’s got to be one of the best bargains going in dining when I can enjoy a big bomber of Chimay Red for a mere twelve bucks. If you do find yourself here be sure to try the crabcakes - they’re phenomenal.

That was pretty much it for our beer-related adventures over the weekend. We made a brief stop at the Bennington Garlic and Herb festival on our way back. A nice enough little festival (especially if you like garlic) which had a beer garden serving Otter Creek’s Octoberfest. Sadly, I couldn’t gear myself up to try it so early in the day.

So ended my beer adventures in Vermont. Rest assured, a barrage of articles on my normal cellaring adventures will be coming your way soon!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com