Who knew America is bless country with high quality beers? I certainly didnât. If you ask me ‘what are you missing the most from the US, since you got back home?’, well, certainly I miss a lot of memories, but one of the first thing pops up in my head is BEER.
Stephen welcomed me with Daleâs Pale Ale, on the day I arrived in the United States. Ever since the first day, Iâve been drinking my way around the US, and part of Canada. Blueberry wheat beer, cappuccino stout, double smoked porter, brown ale, IPA, imperial IPA⊠I like that I really could enjoy the good quality of beer in any time of the day, no matter where I am, what Iâm doing. Well, except when I was driving. In lazy afternoon at home, after a good hike around the hill, compare with delicious lunch, share growler with friends, or sometimes used as a little booster for afternoon work.
Micro brewery is taken 11% of total beer sales in the US and it’s growing fast. The number will be much bigger if they count home brewers. With the fact, combines with two semi-professional beer tasters on the road, (taster is so much more sophisticated than drinker), what’s next? Yes, brewery hopping. We’ve decided to including breweries in good parts of our road trip. Stephen made arrangements at breweries around New England, and we met some very kind bartenders who were interested in what we are doing.
We visited seven different places around New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. When we were not hopping breweries, we always keenly looking for good quality beers in local liquor stores, supermarkets, and even from home brewers. We have more places on the list, but due to hurricane Irene, few breweries and brewpubs in Vermont were under repair. Hope they are okay by now.
Here, I made our visit into a video, to give you the ideas about New England breweries and brew pub. Special thanks to Stephen, who is introduced me to the great world of beer and sharing all your insights.
(vlog Sound track: “Galaxies” by Owl City)
Read this while buffering…. –Â Here are places we visited:
Otter Creek  Middlebury, Vermont  @OCBrewing
Hand crafted in Middlebury, Vermont
Harpoon  Windsor, Vermont  @harpoon_brewery
Celebrating 25 years of Craft Brewing
The Liberal Cup Hollowell, Maine
The smallest brewery in Maine
Shipyard Portland, Maine  @shipyardBrewing
Made by people from Maine, world class beer
Gritty’s Portland, Maine  @grittys
Maine’s first brew pub since prohibition
Allagash Portland, Maine  @allagashbeer
Allagash’s passion: Loving beer and doing what we love
Portsmouth Brewery Portsmouth, New Hampshire  @portsbrew
New Hampshire’s Original brew pub
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There are some great micro breweries in California, too, if you ever head out that way! đ
So I’ve heard. đ I haven’t have a chance to stretch my itinerary to west coast of the US but many of travelers/locals told me ‘YOU MUST’. đ I really want to go too, and will do more brewery hopping when I go!
Great video! It was my pleasure introducing you to great breweries here in the States. We are living in the age of great beer! Twenty years ago we would not have been able to do this. Remember also to drink micro-brews because they are for the most part locally owned, unlike all the major breweries which are all foreign owned.
Great to visit the US in the age of great beer. Small breweries/ brewpub we went to have some the most tasty beer. Great to have an opportunity to explore, and have another title in front ‘semi-pro beer taster’.
I’m glad you were able to experience some of the great beers in America, most notably, Dale’s Pale Ale. Many believe our beers suck, but if you look for the good ones, you will enjoy them. The micros will continue to grow and that’s a good thing.
Because there’s no micro-brew culture in Korea, I know really little about Beer and I got to know a lot. I enjoyed a lot of different styles of beer and admired that their experimentalism. After all, beer is another product of creativity, I’ve learn. Dale’s Pale Ale was A-mazing.
Love the video Juno – great job!
Thanks Sarah!
Great Video! Phil will be very jealous :).
Did you actually have the dogfish head IPA that peeped up at the end? It was Phil and my favorite on the last trip.
All the best from Quebec!!
Hey Flor! đ Thanks for stopping by! No, we wanted to visit Dogfish head, but didn’t have enough time to do that. Ah, miss great beer in Quebec! How’s everything? đ
I miss the beers from back home. SO MUCH. And I’m extremely jealous that you’ve been brewery hopping in my old stomping ground, enjoying some of my favorites. Good on’ya!
I get that… only three months I’ve been there, but I miss American beer so much. You guys have some high quality beer culture! Too bad they don’t export them, right đ Which one is your favourite?
How fun!! Sometimes nothing beats a cold beer. Love that you got to try some great local US beers!!
I hear you… nothing beats a cold beer in the afternoon. đ Small breweries were fun and their beer was delicious!
I’m jealous– looks like you checked out all the best craft breweries in New England… and had a blast doing it! Taking a tour/tasting looks like a lot of fun.
It was!! Glad you could see that form the video! đ But I’ve heard there are really lots of GREAT breweries around the US. I would love to go visit them, like Wisconsin, Colorado, California… I like your country, Leslie! đ
Mmmmm…. you know I love a good beer story! đ
Yes I do know! đ
I’m so glad you’re sending the message of how good beer really is in the US. I hate that the first thing everyone thinks of is Budweiser. It’s too bad we don’t export the good beers.
I actually didn’t have Budweiser while I was there. I had few Blue Ribbon and MGD though. There are just too many great quality beers I could have. I didn’t have any beer ever since I got back here, and I don’t think any beer would ever beat American beer.
A lot of small breweries are really cool but it’s too much to export for them I think. I really liked that they experiment a lot of things. But I think breweries like Shipyard of Harpoon could export bigger.
Juno, you were right I love this post I do! I’ve only tried Shipyard brewery before but will have to check the others out. I only hope I can do what you are doing in the US when I begin exploring the world. @(^_^)@
I’m jealous!
Sorry!!! đ
I was surprised at how good American beer was too. I’d only really tried Budweister and Pabst Blue Ribbon prior to visiting Portland, Oregon in 2009. How wrong I was!
I’ll have to check out the above when I get to the east coast.
Out of curiosity, is there much of a microbrew industry in Korea? I found one brew pub when I was there (the German Bar in Gwangju), but never really had much chance to search further afield.
The King of the beer: Budweiser? đ There are not many brewpubs around Korea, but there is, time to time. There’s one in Seoul, owned by Canadians. They brew their own beer in Seoul. But now people are getting more excited about quality beer (very slowly) so, who knows? đ
Is that the Rocky Mountain Bar in Hongdae?
No.. I don’t know that one. I know the one in Itaewon, Crafthouse
That looks like one amazing tour. I am jealous as well. It is not often do we get a chance to have a visit to different breweries and have a taste of their beers. Great video and I really had fun looking at the empty glasses. That was just amazing.
nice video! me and my hubby are great fans of beer (we are from germany:)) and like to visit the breweries all around to world.
Hi! Interesting video. I don’t drink beer in Oz but have developed a taste for beer since traveling overseas. Have not tried Us beer yet! Beer in Japan, China, India and even Cambodia is great. Oz beer is good too, I just don’t drink it at home? Maybe because the wines is better here and mostly terrible overseas. We did have good wine in Cambodia believe it or not! Must be the French influence. Beer is becoming my favourite beverage and far more affordable and great variety as we have seen on your video. Cheers
I didn’t know Cambodia has great wine. I only had beers in Cambodia! But yes, US beers are great. They are so unique, very creative, and people are passionate about microbrew beers. And it’s getting bigger. They don’t sell much overseas, but when you are in US, you have to try it! There are so many great breweries all over the US.
Glad you enjoyed the video!!
I’ve been to shipyard! Very awesome beer đ
Shipyard beer is great; intense, but smooth! I loved it!
LOVE the video!! We have found that seeking out great craft beer destinations is the best way to travel! We are able to belly up to the bar, meet other locals, find out what’s good in the area and enjoy some of the finest craft beer ever made. The US craft beer scene is unbelievable right now. Countires all over the world are looking to the US as the forerunners in craft beer and for good reason! We would love to feature you as one of our craft beer travelers of the week. If you are interested, send us a shout to our email!
Cheers!
Thanks! I loved microbreweries around New England. Few places weren’t able to have visitors due to the hurricane Irene, but I really enjoyed every visit. The brewers enthusiasm was very inspiring as well. Glad to meet another craftbeer lover, and I would love to have an interview with you! đ
Great video and I really had fun looking at the empty glasses. Cheers! The King of the beer: Budweiser? Great to have an opportunity to explore, and have another title in front âsemi-pro beer tasterâ.
I never thought of the US as a beer placec (I thought their beer would be awful) but i have heard great things about New England so this gives me further hope for when I embark on my travels!
Is that the Rocky Mountain Bar in Hongdae? I never thought of the US as a beer placec (I thought their beer would be awful) but i have heard great things about New England so this gives me further hope for when I embark on my travels! Love that you got to try some great local US beers!! No..