Up For A Challenge?

I’m not sure if you are all aware of this, but Vermont has some pretty awesome breweries, 24 of them to be exact.  And, the Vermont Brewers Association has had a little challenge called the “Passport Program” running for many years.  The idea is simple: you get a passport that has all 24 of the breweries on it.  When you go to a new brewery, you get the passport stamped.  The more stamps you get, the more prizes you get.   Four stamps gets you a bottle opener, ten stamps gets you a t-shirt, and hitting each and every of the 24 gets you a shit ton of VT beer swag.  Freaking awesome.

The great thing about going to these breweries is that they are all free to visit.  Sure, you need to leave a small tip after tasting (they generally let you taste between two and four beers), but it only sets you back a few bucks.  Most of the breweries offer free tours that are full of information on how the beer is brewed and the history of the company.  And, you don't need to be 21 to go on the tours (but, you obviously need to be 21 to taste)!

You can easily knock out five breweries in a day-Magic Hat, Three Needs, Vermont Pub and Brewery, Zero Gravity at American Flatbread and Switchback are all located in Burlington.  Hit four of these five breweries and you get a free bottle opener. Boom. Free stuff.

I’ve only just started filling up my passport, but here are the breweries I’ve gone to so far and things I’ve learned while there:

-Magic Hat: They once brewed a garlic beer that had a clove of garlic in every bottle.  Needless to say, it was a massive failure.

-Switchback: Don’t can or bottle their beer, they only sell kegs.

-Three Needs: Won’t be brewing their own beer until 2013.

-Drop-In: Isn’t on tap anywhere north of Vergennes.

-Otter Creek: Also owns Wolaver’s and The Shed (The Shed is still on the passport, so you get two stamps when you go here).

-Fiddlehead: Besides their IPA, they never brew the same beer twice.  (Our server was very knowledgeable and informed us that Long Trail fairly recently bought Otter Creek and that Magic Hat was bought out by North American Breweries in 2010)

So dear readers, are you up for the challenge? What other VT breweries have you been to?