Burlington Brew Tour

At the risk of sounding like a lush (doing two consecutive posts on alcohol), I'm going to tell you about the adventure that I had today.  I had the opportunity to join a group of friends on a Burlington Brew Tour.  It was a last minute decision, but I didn't have anything else planned so I figured why not.  I'm glad I went!  We were picked up at the house by the tour van.  We visited four breweries in Burlington:  Vermont Pub and Brewery, Zero-Gravity Brewing, Switchback, and Magic Hat.  (I'm telling you Vermont has so many notable products - Ben and Jerry's, Cabot cheese, Magic Hat... Vermont rocks!)  I sampled around 20 beers today.  No, I didn't finish all of the samples - okay, most of the samples - but I did try them all.  I learned so much today (please don't shoot me if I got something wrong here):

• First off, I much prefer doing wine tastings over beer tastings.
• Beers fall into one of two categories:  ales and lagers.  Lagers are brewed in colder temperatures.
• Contrary to popular belief, darker beers have fewer calories.  Something about the way they are brewed or something.
• Dry hops means that the hops were added later in the brewing process.  This tends to create a more citrus or floral flavor.  I like dry hops.
• In the middle ages they did not use hops instead they used spices and herbs.  Apparently it is rare to find one of these Gruits, but I really enjoyed the one I had from Zero-Gravity (at American Flatbread).
• I learned that I don't like IPAs or wheat beers.
• My favorites were the Gruit and Magic Hat's Single Chair.

Next weekend I'll be going to the Vermont Brewers Festival.  Not quite sure what is in store with that, but should be interesting at any rate.