Long time, no see guys! Sorry about the lengthy hiatus there, I’m back in school now which takes up the majority of my time to be honest. There are bright sides to the situation though, like have access to a whole new region full of new breweries to explore so stay tuned for that! This time around we’re traveling all the way to Vermont. A few weekends ago my girlfriend and I took a quick trip to Burlington which is the perfect city for breweries. It’s a place that is overflowing with creativity as well as a surplus of fresh local ingredients that make it a brewery haven. Solely for time’s sake (I have class in an hour and I started writing this last Monday) I’m going to lump my Burlington Trip into one post so stick with me here.
That is enough catching up, let’s get to the beer! Oh boy have I missed trying copious amounts of new beers. Being TheBookBoy just isn’t quite as fun as being TheBreweryBoy. The first brewery we visited in Burlington was Foam Brewers which I think is the perfect name for a brewery, especially for one as eccentric as Foam. The folks over at Foam Brewers make crazy, beautiful beer that goes hand in hand with the nicely scrambled together artistic look of the whole place. I had two beers while we were there and the first one that you’ll see above is their “Lost Heads” triple IPA. If I’m being totally honest this is one of the best IPA’s I’ve ever had and believe me I have put quite a few down. It has a really present citrusy flavor and the classic IPA hop taste without the usual bitter aftertaste. “Lost Heads” also packs a punch with a wild 10% ABV.
The beer above is worth it’s own trip to Burlington. I mean it, get in your car right now and head to Vermont. The lovely, brown stout you see above is Foam’s “It’s Time to Wake Up” which is a collaboration with Brio Coffeeworks. It is brewed with Costa Rican, vanilla, rum soaked coffee beans, cocoa nibs, and lactose. “It’s Time to Wake Up”has an in your face coffee and chocolate flavor which is what you want in a breakfast stout but what I think is truly amazing about this one is the texture. Not something you’re going to hear me say often but this beer is smooth and delicious all the way through. Even the head tastes like chocolate and has the consistency of chocolate mousse. I would seriously just take a glass of the foam its that good. Foam Brewers should definitely be on your must see list when in Burlington.
We were bound to do this eventually and the time has finally come to dive into the world of cider! Cider was my first love really and I think it ticks all of the boxes that beer does. There is still tons of dedication and love put into cider so it would be a shame if we just skipped over a good cider when we find one. Which is what brought us to Citizen Cider while in Burlington. Citizen was such a cool place to hang out, cider aside. Cute taproom with room for you and all your friends where you can fill up on good cider, play a board game or just joke with some old friends. If you are somebody who is as crazy about cider as I am about beer then Citizen Cider has all of your bases covered. Of course they have your standards like a plain apple cider and rose but they have a few great experimental ciders as well. Such as the “Tree Tapper” which is brewed with local maple syrup, “The Lake Hopper” brewed with hops as kind of a beer/cider hybrid, or the “Tulsi” that is made with holy basil. Overall Citizen Cider is a lovely place to spend some time so check it out if you’re in town.
The final brewery of our Burlington Trip was to Zero Gravity which is a favorite of several people I know. Zero Gravity tends to stick to the straight and narrow path unlike Foam which was definitely an out of the box brewery. I don’t fault Zero Gravity for that though because their beer was very good, I especially like the ConeHead IPA. There is nothing wrong with being a master of the basics. If you like beer of any kind you’ll enjoy Zero Gravity, they make the standards and they make them VERY well.
The beer is good but what really makes Zero Gravity stand out in my opinion is their graphic design which might sound like a weird thing to say about a brewery. Today is a day of firsts, earlier I was talking about the lovely texture of foam and now I’m blabbing about design but trust me. Just pull up the zero gravity website if the photos above aren’t enough to make you understand what I’m talking about. The designs of the beer logos and cans are mesmerizing, I can’t get over it. Every single one of them just instantly make me want to buy a six pack. Each of the cans are beautiful little works of art and that definitely deserves a shout out. Make sure when you visit Zero Gravity to try a beer or two instead of just staring at the cans though, you won’t regret it.
There it is, another three breweries in the books! Burlington is full of breweries and there are so many more to see so I’m sure there will be a round two to this post. Once again thanks for sticking with me, sorry I didn’t go into as much detail as I normally no but of course you can always contact me on Facebook, Instagram, or shoot me an email if you have further questions about anywhere I visited. If you’re thinking about seeing what else these breweries have to offer check them out at zerogravitybeer.com, citizencider.com, and at foambrewers.com!
That is it for today guys but I’ll try to see you sooner rather than later but until then thank for reading as always! Special thanks to Mackenzie Mortensen for always reading and nagging me to get this one done!
Cheers!
Austin Davis
The Brewery Boy.