Brian York Brewery Name: Prison City Pub & Brewery Type of Brewery: Retail Brewery Location: Auburn, NY Website: http://www.prisoncitybrewing.com/ Facebook: Prison City Pub and Brewery Twitter: @prisoncitybeer Instagram: @prisoncitybeer Background: I had been to Prison City within the first month or two it was open. It was a great space with some really neat bar components and a small batch brewery that is every home brewer’s dream. Unfortunately, they weren’t yet serving their own beer. I stuck around for the impressive tap list they had at the time, but knew I’d love to come back once their beer was available. Fast forward to current time and I am so glad I kept these guys on my radar! Well worth the wait for some really impressive beers! Growlers: I didn’t see growlers and didn’t ask since I was just passing through the area, but they do offer crowlers of their house beers that they’ll can for you right at the bar! The Beers: Something that makes this brewery a bit unique compared to a lot of the reviews we’ve done is that they serve beers from other brewers. It’s an impressive list that includes a whole bunch of local beers, collaboration specials, and other really solid taps. I went with a focus on the Prison City beers (and liked them a ton!) so I’ll stick to those here:
Vibe: Much more of a restaurant than most breweries this size, but they do a really great job with the bar itself. It’s nice and dark and there is plenty of iron and metal throughout the setup so it gives good homage to the prison feel - almost like a speakeasy. The staff was great (especially Sarah, who chatted with us about some of the Prison City history and the beers recently off tap and soon to come), and there was a wide demographic of people there at lunch time on a weekday. I’d imagine that later in the day (and on weekends) it fills up quickly with locals, regulars, and fans of craft beer. Dogs: No dogs inside at least--they do offer some outdoor seating where I’d imagine it’s fine to have your dog with you, though. Price ($ to $$$$$): $$. Great prices on flights, good prices everywhere else. Food: HUGE yes here! Not only do they offer bar food like fries, beer nuts, and the like, but they’ve got an incredible food menu! I took part in a duck and cherry flatbread and pork belly tacos when I was there and saw another half dozen dishes come out that I’d have loved to try as well. Final Thoughts: Everything you could want in a good bar and just about everything you could want in a craft brewery. Their beers were the highlight, so I’d love to see their own taps and listing boards featured a bit more. Well done, Prison City, impressive all around! -- York Don't forget to follow us on social media!
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Brian York Brewery Name: Burlington Beer Company Type of Brewery: Retail Brewery Location: Williston, VT Website: http://www.burlingtonbeercompany.com/ Facebook: Burlington Beer Company Twitter: @burlingtonbeer Instagram: @burlingtonbeer Growlers: You bet! Full and half available for a few of their beers on draft. The Beers: Well let me start this by saying that Burlington Beer was one of my personal favorite brewery visits that we fit in on our trip. A major part of that was the beer. We had been planning all along to track down a few of their more well known canned beers during our escapades and were able to find a few where we picked up our Heady Topper earlier in the day. The rest we planned to pick up from the brewery. Here’s what we walked away with:
When we were able to grab the seasonal pack of cans AND all three of their staples that we were going for, we were ready to retire happy with out BBC lot. However, once we got inside, it became clear that we were in for a great tasting experience. Burlington Beer does what I’d argue is the best job of any place we went to on the trip of making a lot of different styles of beer really well. Here’s a list of all the others we got to try at the brewery:
Look at all those amazing things! Spruce, cherries, coffee, bourbon, peanut butter...not to mention all those lovely adjectives like Robust, Imperial, Double, Dry Hopped, Sour...on and on with great moves! I’ll let the others speak for themselves, but I found myself in love with the Echo Chamber and really enjoyed the drinkable pine tree known as Coniferous as well as the Chunky for good fun. Vibe: Vermont. Does that sum it up? It’s not much to walk up to, but this place is about as chill as one could possibly want. It’s a relatively small tasting area but there are a few tables, a bar area and although we didn’t notice any furniture, presumably some outdoor space available. There are board/card games spewed about the seating area, tons of really cool art, and a list of food and other events posted near the bar. The seating area is right next to their awesome open style brewing section so you get a great view over to their tanks and aging barrels. The artwork these guys use is another huge highlight. Their brewery is painted white and then some simple art is added so the space is really bright. They have very minimalist base designs for their branding with a flare of color and shine for special releases. This branding translates really well onto swag like glasses and t-shirts too! We all walked out with a mix of shirts, stickers, and pint glasses. As if the great atmosphere and excellent beer wasn't enough to draw you in yet, we got EXCEPTIONAL service from the guys working that day. Trevor was behind the bar and sat to chat with us for almost an hour about BBC's story and some of the other seasonals that were scheduled to come out. A few of the other brewers came and went through the area and always popped into the conversation as well. We were there in the middle of the day on a weekday, so I can only imagine that all of these things are even more impressive when there’s a small crowd and some more bustle! Shane’s Thoughts: Man did we have a great time here. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a brewery with so many beers on tap and available for samples. I’m glad we just split a full flight, because I don’t think I’d have been fit to drive back to the hotel if I had sampled the whole board myself. BBC is doing great things with their beer--and also with their can art, which is some of my favorite around. Bright colors, minimalist designs, and fun names all make Burlington Beer Company a cool and recognizable brand. I hope I get the chance to visit them again soon. Pete’s Thoughts: This brewery initially caught my eye because they have a really cool look to them. The white cans with colored hieroglyphs made them stand out right away. They have a great spot and a lot of fun beers that really makes this place worth a visit. They had a lot of their special limited releases on draft which is always a plus. Overall a really solid brewery that has a good look and makes great beer. Dogs: Like many small breweries out this way, it wasn’t immediately clear if dogs were allowed but my guess would be yes. Price ($ to $$$$$): $$. BBC sells their 4 packs at the brewery for between 11 and 13 dollars each. They’re a buck or two more elsewhere but fair either way. The brewery itself is VERY affordable, offering 5 dollar pints of most things on tap, as well as 2 dollar samples or 5 dollar flights. Swag is fair as well, with stickers, shirts, posters, and glasses all fairly priced. Food: They offer small meat/cheese boards on the premises, but based on some of the events posted it looks like they partner up quite often with food trucks or other vendors. Final Thoughts: This was the brewery I called dibs on to write up. One of my favorite stops of the whole trip! -- York Don't forget to follow us on social media!
Facebook: Together We Drink Twitter: @TogetherWeDrink Instagram: @TogetherWeDrink Untappd: Together We Drink Shane: Finally, we get to the beers I had on hand for our Beercation. Before I say anything else, do you guys know how painful it is to have three bottles of Mott the Lesser staring you in the face for over a month? Well let me tell you right now: it sucks. Mott the Lesser is probably the best stout and one of the best overall beers I’ve had in my entire life, and I had to save it for over a month until you guys were here. It hurt me. It hurt me DEEPLY. And that’s in addition to the rest of these beers. Two Tree House beers (if you read my post on Tree House, you know it’s one of my favorite breweries in the country), two Foundation beers, another Bissell Brothers beer, and a few selections from two other regional powerhouses, Liquid Riot and Grimm. Saving these beers has been brutal, but the result is almost certainly the single best lineup of beers I’ve put together yet.
York: So Pete and I figured we’d each bring a couple cool beers to kick off our New England trip with a taste of home. Heading into the trip, we’ve learned that Shane has a stockpile of beers from his favorite breweries waiting for us. He has been fawning over Tree House since we’ve started this project, so I’m pretty excited to try that, and we have had great experiences with both Foundation and Bissell thus far. Probably the most intriguing is the Mott the Lesser (not sure why, but I had been assuming this was an IPA until this trip) and the Grimm beers. This collection alone represents some of the most renowned beers and breweries in the country--what a way to kick things off. Pete: Shane deserves all the credit in the world for amassing this collection of beers. I was taking a bus up to Boston, so, I chose wisely with the beers I was putting together for space constraints. Shane took it upon himself (with no prompting) to get a huge haul. He saintly saved some Tree House and managed to find beer from Grimm Artisanal Ales, the uber-hyped gypsy brewer from Brooklyn. I could not have been happier because every day leading up to the trip, I felt like I was getting an update from Shane because he had found another unbelievable beer. Also saving Mott the Lesser for us? Come on. Amazing. This was an epic bottle opening. |
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