Travel Guide to VERMONT

I bring my sense of food adventure with me on the road, searching for the most authentic, iconic, and delicious dishes of a different region…

I never thought I’d say this, but if I didn’t live in New York City, I might move to Vermont. I’m sure my excitement and high from my recent trip will subside, but I was amazed at how serious the food is up in this tiny little state. Although it’s the second least populated state in the country, it might be the biggest when it comes to small businesses making thoughtful and delicious food.

We visited some incredible restaurants, forward thinking farms, and shops. All had the same agenda: produce and consume locally. The locavore movement really may have started here, long before it was the hip thing to do. This was the specialty here in Vermont more than any one dish. But I did manage to find some dishes that I wanted to explore and most were better than expected.

Craft Beer

The Alchemist

Unfortunately I learned about Vermont’s Passport Program a few days too late. I would have loved to get my “passport” stamped at 29 different breweries. And sampling all that beer would have been nice too. Vermont might be the most densely brewery populated state and thankfully, I didn’t see Budweiser or Coors Light anywhere.

The king of the beers up in Vermont is the infamous Heady Topper. We heard about this pretty early on and I knew I had to taste it. It’s brewed in a very small quantity by The Alchemist brewery in Waterbury and they often sell out their cans daily. We made it to the brewery pretty early and already saw people packing cases of beer into their car. At 11am!

The brewery is rather small, but it’s clean and fun and you can sample their one famous beer while taking a self-guided tour of their production line. This beer was so good (it’s voted by many as the best beer in the country) that I had to buy two four-packs. It’s a double IPA and is loaded with citrusy, grassy hops yet has an amazingly sweet and smooth finish. It’s definitely one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted. The brewery is currently closed to the public because the neighbors were complaining about the crowds.

UPDATE: The Alchemist has re-opened to the public but a few miles north from its original location in the town of Stowe. On a recent trip, I got to visit it. And the crowds still come from all over to pick up cases of Heady Topper – except the day I went they limited it to 2 four packs per person.

I arrived at 10:15am on a Saturday and found a single-file line had already formed. Although intimidated and frustrated by the queue, I joined the others and found that they opened the doors 30 minutes early (10:30). Once inside, it all moved fast and furiously. You could go to one side to sample some of their beers for free, the other side to purchase a ration of beer, and explore the center area where the brewhouse is and a self-guided tour is laid out on the walls.

This was a larger space than the previous brewery but otherwise the format for visiting was familiar. The big difference was that they seemed to have expanded their repertoire of beers. The first time I visited, you either were “ready for a heady” or you went somewhere else. Now I got to try other IPAs like the Focal Banger and take home cans of their Farmer’s Daughter (a Belgian-style saison). While they sell all their beers by 4-packs, I learned they will also sell you a solo can if you want to mix and match without breaking the bank (these beers are not cheap!)

Lawson’s Finest Liquids

Another high-in-demand and difficult to find beer is Lawson’s Finest Liquids. This is made in a brewery in Warren (the same town we were staying in), but since it is in a residental area it is currently closed to the public. The beer can be found around town at some of the local stores. But when it is released Thursday morning, I have heard it sells out in a matter of hours. In the early morning.

We were not there on a Thursday so I was trying my luck anyway. I did snag the last six pack of their Super Session #2, which is a sessionable IPA. It’s very peppery and effervescent with a smooth, light body.

But their claim to fame (and most popular beer) is what’s called Sip of Sunshine IPA. Hopefully I’ll be able to update this blog post on my next visit saying I actually hunted down the unicorn.

UPDATE: Since my first visit to Vermont, Lawson’s has grown so much. They now have a very large tap room in Waitsfield, complete with a limited but nice food menu, multiple taps, and a beautiful outdoor area where kids are constantly running around.

We visited with our own kid (who made some fast friends) and sampled three of their beers. I enjoyed The Space in Between with Passion Fruit, along with the roasty Big Hoppy Black IPA (which could have used more hop aroma) and the smooth diverse Hopcelot IPA (featuring hops from all over the world). 

Definitely a brewery worth visiting when in this part of Vermont. 

Magic Hat Brewery

Magic Hat Brewery was on the opposite end of the spectrum in South Burlington and a bit of a disappointment. Their tour is sort of Disney-esque with funny cartoon videos, lots of colorful signs, and a tour guide dressed as the Riddler (not necessarily on purpose). After the tour, we did get to sample four of their beers. Fortunately, there were two of us so we could spread the wealth because once you sample the four, you’re done, left to wander the merchandise store.

I wasn’t crazy about the beers we tasted, although I did appreciate the Maple Chocolate Stout, which used lots of local products including Lake Champlain’s chocolates and Slopeside Syrup’s maple syrup. It was a flavorful and local brew that I could have had an entire pint of. I’ve never been crazy for their #9 Pale Ale like many people have, but it was fresh at the brewery and I enjoyed getting another taste.

Fiddlehead Brewing

I much prefered the relaxed and intimate feel of Fiddlehead Brewing, a brand new member to the Vermont brewing community. Their little tasting room in Shelburne is classy and the nice employee offered us two samples. If they had bottled their beer (or I had a growler on me), I would have certainly brought some beer home. I probably would have chosen the hop-forward Ruby Claire, a nice dry red ale.

Otter Creek Brewing Co.

In Middlebury, a college town known for their distinct breed of horses, is where I found Otter Creek Brewing. This tiny little facility on the outskirts of town produces beer for three different labels: Otter Creek, Shed, and Wolaver’s Organic. The tap room was vibrant on a Saturday afternoon and smelled of smoked meat. I wish I had time to stick around for a meal, but I quickly ordered their sampler of beer ($7) that touches on all three labels and gave myself a quick self-guided tour of the brewery.

You can only view the equipment from behind windows and there is not much explanation for the uninitiated. Better off just socializing with a group of friends and focusing on the beer.

I wasn’t crazy about all of the samples – some of them like Shed’s Mountain Ale was way too sweet while others like Otter Creek’s Over Easy was very thin and slight. More up my alley was the hoppy, brown Profanity Ale from Shed and the quaffable and bright white IPA Fresh Slice from Otter Creek. I also really liked the famous Wolaver pumpkin ale, but since I was here in August, I felt silly and unseasonal drinking it.

Zero Gravity Craft Brewery

Craft beer is such a thing up in Vermont that even the pizzerias are in on the action. We visited the American Flatbread Burlington Hearth for some pizza (I’ll get to that in a minute), but also discovered they have a mini-brewery on premises called Zero Gravity. I really dug their funky Harvest Gruit Ale, an old time style that leans on herbs and vegetables. This one contained roasted carrots, squash, basil, and raspberries. It was mild, drinkable and full of subtle herbal flavors. It’s where vegetable juice and beer meet. And that’s a good thing.

UPDATE: Just like Lawson’s, Zero Gravity has also expanded and moved away from American Flatbread. They now share a space with  The Great Northern restaurant and continue to make really nice big bold hazy IPAs, like the Power Suit which I recently tried in a can.

Four Quarters Brewing

When I asked the bartender for four quarters in exchange for my dollar, I wondered if the pinball machines in the brewery were inspiration for the name. Turns out, no. It is based on the four quarters of the moon.

And the lunacy caused by the moon can only explain some of the wacky beers that this brewery in Winooski serves. Before I get to the beer, I do want to mention the super fun family vibe that we experienced on a Saturday afternoon. My son wanted to come back to the brewery just to play the pinball machines.

The beers here are wacky, which was the main draw for me. And as exciting as they were, I can’t say they all worked.

Two staples here are the Pickle Juice and the Tomato Basil Sour Ale. Both don’t hide their ingredients. The Tomato Basil was very interesting – super aromatic with floral and herbal notes from the basil. The flavor was not so bad, but it finished with a rich tomato juice texture that I did not find pleasant at all.

The Pickle Juice, which had a nice dill aroma and a cooling backbone, was much more speed. Not too sour, but more like a crispy new pickle, this was a beer I could see myself ordering again.

By far the worst beer I tried in all of Vermont was one of the most unusual. Cotton Candy Shakedown is a one-off at Four Quarters inspired by – you guessed it. Underneath the overly sweet, lactose-lade libation was a potentially tasty IPA with a nice blend of hops. But that pink sugar killed it. It didn’t even taste like cotton candy to me – just like a glass full of headache inducing sugar.

Despite the unusual beers being hit and miss, I really liked Four Quarters and would come back to try some more unusual offerings (along with their more straight forward ales and lager. and, of course, my son would ask for sets and sets of four quarters.

Cheese

This could have (and probably should have) been a lactose-loaded trip. Aside from a wonderful cheese plate at Hen of the Wood (which included Jasper Hill’s Bayley Hazen blue cheese) and a stock of cheddars from Shelburne Farms, the cheese intake was rather light.

We did enjoy a killer macaroni and cheese at Prohibition Pig. The gastropub in Waterbury specializes in local (and rare) craft beers and barbecue. The barbecue was nothing to write home about (this is Vermont, not Texas), but that mac and cheese was extraordinary. Loaded with baby swiss and Cabot cheddar, it was full of rich cheesy flavors, but yet maintained a restrained lightness. The crunchy top put it over the edge.

As mentioned earlier, we also hit American Flatbread, a Vermont institution (now with a location in NYC) for pizza. Or, excuse me, flatbread. The wood-fired oven turns out a nicely charred and hearty pizza.

At the Burlington Hearth, we had a cozy lunch that included the New Vermont Sausage pizza. It was quite flavorful, loaded with a homemade maple-fennel sausage, caramlized onions, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and more local cheese. The cheese played a supporting role to the sweet and savory pizza, but it was still fully appreciated.

Maple Syrup

It’s too bad you can’t eat maple syrup, another of Vermont’s major food groups for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or maybe you can.

It sure seemed that way at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks, where they sold all sorts of maple syrup products – both edible and not so edible. In addition to walking around the farm (and being tempted to tap into one of their huge maple trees), we picked up a few maple syrup jars and other edible snacks.

While it was dellicious, the maple syrup cotton candy was probably a bad idea for the car ride. It was so light and fluffy (but richly flavored) that I popped too much of it into my mouth. The imminent sugar crash was intense.

I also got my first taste of a Vermont classic – something every Vermont child is all too familiar with: the creemee.

Ice Cream

Creemees are basically soft serve ice cream with a higher butterfat content, which means a rich, creamier treat. The most popular flavor, of course is maple and that’s what I tried at Morse Farms. I was a little disappointed at how subtle the maple flavor was, but it sure did live up to its creamy name.

The creemee at Al’s French Frys in Burlington was much better. Fresh maple notes came through and sweetned up the delectable, rich texture. We also ordered crisp fries from this fast food instiution, but I didn’t think of dipping the fries in the creemee until it was too late. Both went down a little too quickly.

but two new relatively new businesses both vie for the best creemee in the state (I say that from my very limited Vermont experience, of coursE).

In Waitsfield, the Canteen Creemee Company is very popular with locals and visitors to the Sugarbush area. They have a pretty extensive menu of Americana fast food and dour to six rotating flavors of creemees.

Their beautiful chocolate swirls with different flavors from vanilla to maple to marshmallow. Their other flavors are quite surprising. There is usually something moderately expected like coconut or mint or coffee.

However, I have also encountered some other cool soft serve flavors, like Thai Ice Tea, and a really delicious combination of basil and sweet corn.

Also pretty strong on the maple flavor was

Since these are available at almost every farmstand in the state, I may just have to spend next summer in Vermont searching for the best.

In other ice cream news, I can now check off a visit to the gimmicky Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory from my bucket list. The $4 ticket buys you a little video about Ben & Jerry’s history, a tour of the facility, and a taste of one of their ice creams. I have to admit it was fun and interesting, but the Strawberry Cheesecake sample wasn’t my favorite.  This would be a thrill for most kids and even an ice cream lover like myself, but now that I’ve been (and walked through the Flavor Graveyard), I don’t feel like I need to return.

In Waitsfield, we discovered a very cute local shop called The Sweet Spot that seems to do it all. They serve a small menu of salads, pizza, and sandwiches. You can get fruit (or cocktail-inspired) pops and they also serve coffee, pastries, and cocktails.

But the most notable part of their business was the ice creams. Flavors were very unique (I quite enjoyed my taste of Coffee Cracker which featured salty bits of Saltines). We settled on the Maple Mocha, as one will do in Vermont. The flavor was excellent and the restrained chocolate bits enhanced the caremlized flavor of the syrup.

My only complaint was that it was on the icy side and tasted more like ice milk than ice cream. I was surprised to hear that the butterfat content was 20% (very high for ice cream). I don’t mind an icier bowl, especially when the flavor is this superb, but I wouldn’t call this creamy or smooth.

Farm-to-Table Restaurants

With all the snacking we did, we still managed to find room for some blow-out meals. These were all focused on local, seasonal ingredients and innovative food. These meals were better than most of the dinners we have in New York.

Hen of the Woods

First off, Hen of the Wood resides in a rustic old grist mill building. During the day, there are beautiful views of waterfalls. And at night, there is refined, fancified food on the plates.

I didn’t take photos since it was so dark and we were eating with family, but the memories of a complex butternut squash soup, an amazingly tender grilled octopus, and a perfectly seared hanger steak with blue cheese will forever live in my tastebuds’ mind.

Another excellent meal was had at The Common Man in Warren, where a very rustic, farmhouse ambiance was heightened by excellent food and refined service. The menu here also changes seasonally and they are known for their salads and pasta.

Since we were in the middle of summer, I went with a housemade tortellini that was stuffed with sweet corn purée and topped with a garden’s worth of tomatoes, herbs, and some ricotta salata cheese. That, along with the delicately toothsome sausage lasagna were the highlights of the night. The petite peanut butter mousse was also nothing to sneeze at.

Misery Loves Co.

The second dinner was more casual at a new spot called Misery Loves Company, which could be transplanted to hipster Brooklyn without anybody batting an eye. Except people would be talking about the absolutely amazing food.

The combinations here were provactive and exciting on paper and surprisingly, they were also successful on the plate. For instance, a grilled cucumber with fresh cheese, beer vinegar, and trout roe worked magic. It was both warm and refreshing, light and hearty, and every single ingredient was present and played its part.

In a sweet and smoky octopus dish with smoked yogurt and white beans, the flavors all revealed themselves in unexpected places. Not to mention the octopus was charred and tender with a sweet, woodsy quality.

The magic continued with grilled eggplants with yogurt and pomegranate seeds, pork buns rivaling those at Momofuku, and a shocking tagliatelle with delicate squash, pepitas, and hints of cocoa.

Even the chocolate pudding with coffe milk jam and smoked hazelnuts was eye opening.

These dishes could veer on the side of gimmicky, but each one was a success. It was like a Chopped episode (where you get random ingredients) that goes wonderfully right.

As tempted as I am by the amazing beer, cheese, and ice cream, I could move to Vermont just for Misery Loves Company alone. It’s definitely one of my new favorite restaurants in the country. And it happens to be in my new favorite food obsessed state.

UPDATE: Since the pandemic, Misery Loves Co.’s focus has changed and they are now offering  lunch only with a similar focus on local ingredients and creative execution.