Vermont Brewers Festival

I had such a fun weekend! Once again I'm expereinceing all of the symptoms of the post-vacation blues. Guess that means I've just gotta start planning the next one!

On Friday Tom picked me up from work around noon and we were on our way to Burlington, VT! A while back we bought tickets for the Vermont Brewers Festival and planned to spend the night with Tom's friends who live in Burlington. He picked us up some delicious sandwiches from Flour Bakery -- the grilled roast chicken with brie, arugula, roasted red peppers and caramelized onions for me. He also made sure to grab some of Flour's famous sticky buns. These buns were featured on BOTH Throwdown with Bobby Flay and The Best Thing I Ever Ate -- how have I not tried these yet??

We arrived in Burlington around 5, freshened up and headed over to the Festival! The Festival featured mostly breweries from Vermont and a few special "invited guests" from other states and Canada. Upon entering each person was given a very cute glass and 15 drink tickets. 

On the car ride up I attempted to strategize a plan of attack, but ended up just deciding to get beers only from breweries I had not heard of (or tried) before.

With about 50 tents set up along Waterfront Park overlooking Lake Champlain, the location of the festival was just gorgeous. I've only been to indoor beer fests and this one really took the cake on location. The weather was perfect for being outside at night and while there were lots of people at the festival it never felt overcrowded. 

Towards the end of the night we were able to watch the sun set over the lake -- it was really stunning and I can see why people continue to return to this festival year after year.

As for the beer, it was fantastic as expected. The brewers were so friendly and the pours were generous. Some of the most memorable beers I had were collaborations, particularly Captain Jack's Scurvy Syrum (collaboration between Kingdom Brewing and Vermont Beer Company, special recipe of smoked malt and fresh spruce) and Juhlia (collaboration between Zero Gravity Craft Brewery & Earth Bread and Brewery, Finnish rustic beer brewed with juniper and fermented with bread yeast). I probably tried over 40 beers -- including tastes of Tom's choices -- and wish I could remember them all, but unfortunately my memory faded  with every beer I tried. Oh yea! I really should have bought some lottery tickets because apparently it was my lucky night. In a span of 10 minutes I found $30 and 8 extra beer tickets on the ground. Go me!

Of course every beer festival needs some food to go with it. About halfway through I heard that there was a jerky tent and I may a beeline for it. Say hello to the lovely Mr. & Mrs. Jerky.

Can this be my job?? Tom and I picked out a bunch of different jerky and I was in heaven. I LOVE jerky and have considered paying over $100 to get some biltong (a type of jerky) shipped from South Africa!

As we were leaving the festival around 9:30 a food truck selling Thelma's Bread Dough caught Tom's eye. Bacon and cheddar wrapped in fried dough? Yes please.

The rest of the night was pretty blurry! We went to a bar (the name of which I don't know) and then headed back to Amanda and Andrew's for some late night pizza and finally, sleep! I love Burlington and am so happy we got to visit in the summer. Yay Vermont Brewers Fest!