Mardi Gras & Micro Brews - Tipplin' in Vermont!

when planning my trip to visit Tippler Ellie in Ottawa, we decided on doing an American beer tour as Ottawa is a relatively short drive to both New York and Vermont. a quick Google search led us to the obvious conclusion of going to either Burlington, Vermont or Lake Placid, NY. seemingly, these towns are both hotbeds of craft beer in that neck of the woods. since my trip was spawned from a need to get out of Vancouver during the Olympics, I didn't want to go to another Olympic town - so, Burlington it was. initially, we were going to try to tour some of Burlington's breweries and then do some sampling, but soon after arriving, a couple of Burlingtonians informed us that we had arrived during Mardi Gras weekend and that we should get ready to give'r.

although we didn't end up doing any tours of breweries, we tried to sample a lot of different beer - mainly ones from Vermont. it seemed as if every restaurant/pub that we went to had a minimum of a dozen beer on tap and many had cask conditioned offerings. our first stop was for burgers and beer at the Scuffer Steak and Ale House which boasts 15 taps and 50 different bottles. we tried a few Vermont brews including the citrus hopped Wolavers IPA and the floral hopped and sweetly malted Long Trail Pale Ale, but the standout here was from neighbouring NY - Brooklyn Brewing's Cookie Jar Porter. with an initial sweet, vanilla aroma, this porter had lots of deep dark chocolate tastes and a creamy body. I guess with all that sweetness, it shouldn't have been a surprise to find out that it was rocking a 8% ABV punch, but I would have never known if I hadn't read the menu. before heading to one of our preplanned beer destinations, we went to some townie bars and loaded up on $2 Rolling Rocks. this light 'extra' pale ale is one of my guilty drinking pleasures when I travel stateside. they're very easy drinking and sometimes that's the name of the game. after being refused a round of Jagerbombs at the townie bar (due to the bar's potential legal ramifications from people chipping their teeth), we headed towards the Vermont Pub & Brewery.

we had tried to get into the VPB earlier in the evening, but there was a 45 minutes line up and our beer thirst couldn't handle that length of time being unsatisfied. we got there later in the evening to have a couple before last call. VPB makes all there own draughts, which at the time, had an arsenal of 10 with 3 more being cask conditioned and ready to be pulled. they did 3oz sampler bats here, so I went with their Dogbit Bitter, Citra Pale Ale, Bombay Grab IPA, and the Vermont Smoked Porter. although they were all great, 2 of the samples really stood out. I could tell you that VPB smoke their own malts over apple, maple and hickory wood chips to recreate this 7th century style robust porter, which is how the menu describes this superb porter, but it was late and I was drunk so my tasting notes just read, "this Porter tastes of campfire and beef jerky!" sadly, that's really my best description of it's taste. the other standout beer was the Citra Pale Ale. golden in colour, very citrusy in aroma, this pale ale had a beautiful citrus bitterness that overwhelmed and then faded quickly. the short lasting bitterness, made this 60 IBU beer a lot more drinkable than a lot of it's highly hopped counterparts. so much so, I ordered another pint. I didn't realize this until now, but the Citra PA is very similar to a Yaletown IPA that is being poured at the Alibi room right now (more on that one in a few posts time).

the next day we sampled a couple of different beer at Magic Hat's tasting room, but soon realized that everyone was getting ready to head into town to take part in the Mardi Gras parade. after filling up on brekkie, we decided to follow suit. a few walkie poppies later and we were on Church Street ready to see some floats and catch some beads. it was loads of fun, but my beer critiquing cap had gone back to the haberdashery from where it came from. in fact, I think (and by 'I think', I mean 'I know') that I ended up at an afternoon dance club, listening to Lady Gaga with a bear couple that Ellie met and drinking (not enjoying) a Bud Lite with lime. hey - don't judge me! they were $2 and I'm half Scottish. to salvage some respect, that I have obviously lost in your eyes, I can tell you that the day ended with a pint of Farmhouse Ale at the American Flatbread Tap Room. this 10% ABV Belgian-style ale wasn't the wisest choice to end a long day drinking session with. I literally went with the first choice on their extensive list of 11 house brewed zero gravity beer, 8 'guest' taps (3 of which were cask pulls), and 80+ bottles. rereading the menu now, I'm really kicking myself for not having the stamina at the time to pay more attention to it. the menu easily has 20 beer that are on my bucket list. I guess that was my punishment for drinking a Bud Lite with Lime.