Long Trail Brewing Co.

Should you find yourself in southern Vermont near Bridgewater Corners, I hope you will make the time to stop in at the Long Trail Brewing Co. Even if you are not a beer drinker, you can take in the lovely scenery on the outside deck overlooking the Ottaquechee River. Inside the brewery was quite noisy but outside was just serene. They have an extensive food menu and while we just had chips and salsa because we were between meals, I definitely noted several items I'd order.

Scenery!

And if you are a beer drinker, then you are in luck! For $6.50, you can sample 6 - 4 oz. pours of their 5 regular brews and the rotating seasonal. Because it was summertime, the seasonal was the Belgian White.

I really liked all their selections although the IPA was my least favorite. No surprise there. Cutest Name  Award goes to the Blackbeary Wheat. It had a nice, natural berry flavor to it. The Long Trail Ale was a good workhorse of a German Altbier. The Double Bag is one of the most popular and was also known in the past as their "secret brew" because they didn't mass produce it and only offered it to special friends on the sly. Luckily for everyone, they've now released it for all to consume. It's higher in ABV at 7.2% (that's Alcohol By Volume for the layman)

We bought a 12 pack to go (OK fine we bought 2 cases, one to drink in Vermont, one to share with family back home) which included no IPA (yea!) However, it did include the Pollenator, which is the other one I had wanted to try but they didn't have on tap. It's a crisp, spring ale that I knew I would like. They offer a Harvest Ale in the fall (best ever specialty beer season) but unfortunately, Long Trail seems to be distributed only up and down the eastern seaboard from Maine to Virginia only. Sad face.

I also bought my only non-edible souvenir of the whole trip here, a pint glass! I have lots of fancy beer glasses, pilsners, snifters, etc. But nary an old-fashioned pint glass of my own. Problem solved!

Here's something of note, this whole area of Vermont suffered devastating damage during Hurricane Irene in August 2011. The brewery was not immune.....



Source

Although we drove past lots of visible damage, the brewery was all cleaned up. No sign of a flood at all! Hoping the rest of the area can rebound as well.

So, if you're in Vermont, please stop on by. You won't be sorry! And if you can find Long Trail in a store near you, crack one open and enjoy.

We made another fun stop before the brewery but that's a story for another day.....