Monday, July 06, 2015

1st Annual Rippers Overland Beer Safari - 4th of July in Stowe, VT

Rippers Overland Beer Safari

Josh Kapp was intrigued by Peter Voller's Vermont Overland Beer Safari. Unfortunatley, VOBS was the same weekend as B2VT, and VOBS is for all terrain trucks anyhow. We wanted to do something similar, but for bicycles.

Thus was born the 1st Annual Rippers Overland Beer Safari, held July 3-5, 2015.

Miles covered
  • 99.8 miles by bicycle - An exquisite balance of almost unrideable class 4 roads and achingly scenic dirt roads.
  • 4.6 miles by foot - Mt Mansfield was #50 on my quest for the 67 New England 4000 footers
Beers tasted
  • Day 1 - tasted 21 beers at Rock Art, Lost Nation, von Trapp, (and The Alchemist Heady Topper served at The Whip Bar and Grille)
  • Day 2 - tasted 16 beers at Hill Farmstead, and Crop Brewery and Bistro
  • Day 3 - tasted 5 beers at Prohibition Pig (including Lawson's Finest Sip Of Sunshine)
"Best of Vermont" moments
  • Hill Farmstead Brewery - After standing in line for an hour and a half, Josh said "This may be the best beer I ever tasted." On the way home, Josh reflected on the remote location of Hill Farmstead and the long lines, and lamented, "I may never have another opportunity to drink Society and Solitude again."
  • Lawson's Finest Sip of Sunshine - After tasting 42 different beers over 3 days, we found some Lawson's when we stopped for lunch at Prohibition Pig on our way home. We did a side by side comparison of the Lawson's to Heady Topper,  Lost Nation Mosaic IPA, and Pro Pig Multigrain IPA With Galaxy Hops, some of our favorite beers of the weekend. Lawson's was the clear winner. Surprisingly, Heady Topper did not fare so well. Phillip declared, "I just bought my last Heady Topper."
  • Maple Walnut ice cream at I.C. Scoops
  • Stowe Farmers Market - Dill Pickle Refresher and Rosemary Honeygar; Sage Farm Goat Dairy Smoked Chevre and Sterling; Bonnieview Farm Bonnie Blue Farmstead Cow Cheese
  • Rail Dog Barrel Aged Maple Spirit - $3 per taste, $93 per bottle
Participants
Lodging

We stayed at an excellent AirBnB house at 1086 Moscow Rd. Here is the info I sent our AirBnb host Donald when applying to stay at his place...
Phillip, Josh, Jake, and Emily (two 50 y.o., two 30-something) are coming to Stowe for a weekend of bicycling.  We have some ambitious rides planned on class 3 and class 4 roads. Each ride goes past a couple breweries.  Then in the evening we want to sit around the fire pit and enjoy beers from the places we visited.
Actually, Josh is injured and plans to do some plein air painting instead of riding.
Friday morning, we will drive up and do a 51 mile loop past Rock Art, Lost Nation, and von Trapp before coming to the house.  It would be great if gimpy Josh could come to the house as early as possible, while we ride.
Saturday we are riding 80 miles past Rock Art, Hill Farmstead, and Crop.
Sunday we will leave after breakfast and either do a loop down by Woodstock, or perhaps climb Mt Mansfield and/or Camel's Hump (on my NE4K list).

Day 1


Leg 1: Rock Art Brewery

Lots of scenic dirt roads on the way to Rock Art Brewery, but no real overlanding until later in the day.

 Rock Art Brewery
  1. Bohemian Pilsner
  2. Rock Art Black Currant Saison
  3. Rock Art VT Maple Wheat
  4. Rock Art Session IPA
  5. Rock Art Limited Access IPA
  6. Rock Art Ridge Runner
  7. Rock Art Vermonster
  8. Rock Art Smuggs Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout

I first tasted Vermonster on last year's Bayley-Hazen ride with Don Kelley. On the return from Montgomery Center, we rode through Marshfield and stopped for lunch at Rainbow Sweets Cafe. The pastries were good, but the bomber of Rock Art Vermonster was amazing. I had my second bottle this year, when my daughter Alexa gave me another bomber of Vermonster for Fathers Day.  So part of its appeal is due to these happy memories.

In the excitement of getting the safari started we all forgot that Kevin and Jocelyn were going to meet us at our rental house, the Family Recreation Spot in Stowe. Fortunately, we all met up at Rock Art and rode the second leg together.


 Leg 2: Lost Nation Brewery

The 19 miles from Rock Art to Lost Nation started out all hugs and smiles...



We got our first taste of adventure on an uncompleted section of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.


The first section of class 4 "road" was a bit under a mile between Grow Rd in Johnson, VT and Patch Rd in Morristown, VT.
Jocelyn got off her aero bars for this section. Phillip coached her to ride through the puddles, then abandoned her when she fell in the mud.


My Roubaix is used to dirt, but this amount of mud is uncommon. Fortunately, the "road" was a river for part of the way and I followed Jake's example and stopped to clean my bike in the stream that was this section of class 4 road.



Emily is the goddess of fixies and track stands.

Jocelyn wins the prize for most adventurous on the least suitable bicycle.

 Lost Nation Brewery
  1. Gose
  2. Vermont Pilsner
  3. Petit Ardennes
  4. Saison Lamoille
  5. Rustic Ale
  6. Pitch Black
  7. Mosaic IPA




Leg 3: Trapp Brewery








 Trapp Brewery
  1. Golden Helles
  2. Bohemian Pilsner
  3. Vienna Style Lager
  4. Dunkel Lager
The Whip Bar and Grille
  1. The Alchemist Heady Topper
  2. The Alchemist Focal Banger

Day 2



Leg 1: Hill Farmstead Brewery









 










 

 Hill Farmstead Brewery
  1. Edward
  2. Everett
  3. Excursion #4
  4. Society and Solitude
  5. Harlan
  6. Double Citra
  7. Works of Love

Leg 2: Drive back to Stowe for ice cream and apps


 Crop Brewery and Bistro
  1. Barvarian Weizen
  2. Helles Brook Lager
  3. Crop Bohemian Pilsner
  4. Dunkel Lager
  5. Maerzen
  6. Vermont Pale Ale
  7. Ideltyme Double IPA
  8. Brown Ale
  9. Crop Porter


Around the Fire Ring
  1. ???
  2. ???
  3. ???

Day 3

Mt Mansfield Hike





 














Prohibition Pig
  1. Pro Pig Dank City
  2. Pro Pig Rye'd The Pig
  3. Pro Pig Bantam Double IPA
  4. Pro Pig Multigrain IPA With Galaxy Hops
  5. Lawson's Finest Sip Of Sunshine

Next Year

Back by popular demand!
The 2nd Annual Rippers Beer Safari will be held over the Fourth of July again, Sat-Mon, July 2-4.
Most likely locale is Burlington, VT.

Lessons Learned

  • Many rides have sag wagons. The beer safari must have a beer wagon.
  • Allow time for hanging out at the house before and after the rides.
  • Rides of 40-50 miles is plenty long, with 2 or 3 brewery visits.

Map of Vermont Breweries

In Burlington


South of Burlington


North of Burlington



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