My list. Starting with the new Treehouse farm brewery in Woodstock, CT (upper right, tucked under the border of CT/MA) and moving clockwise to follow the blue route shown. Keep in mind, the Trillium farm location is not yet open to the public. Of course, there are a ton of beers/breweries in CT that I’ve yet to try/visit. Also, you’ll notice the breweries and my favorite selections (listed underneath each brewery name) from them lean toward IPA, a reflection of the time period in which I became interested in craft beer—New England, circa 2015. Yes, I chased delivery vans and stood in lines in Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts with the rest of the “gotta catch em all” hop heads.
* Treehouse (Woodstock)
Green (IPA)
* Fox Farm (Salem)
Viridescence (IIPA)
* Trillium Farm (Not yet open to the public) (North Stonington, CT)
Fort Point Pale Ale (APA)
* Beer’d Brewing (Stonington & Groton)
Dogs & Boats (IIPA)
* New England Brewing Company (New Haven)
Coriolis (IIPA)
* Kent Falls Brewing (Kent)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (IPA)
Add ons (not CT breweries) to make a full circle! And it kinda looks like an outline of the USA, no?
* Suarez Family Brewery (Hudson, NY)
Palatine Pils (Pilsner)
* Wormtown Brewery (Worcester, MA)
Be Hoppy (IPA)
* Treehouse Brewing Company (Main Campus, Charlton, MA)
Haze (IIPA)
The CT portion of this drive is 3 hours and 56 minutes (182 miles). The full loop, because I couldn’t resist, takes you to some non CT breweries and a second Treehouse location, lol, and clocks in at just over eight hours (404 miles).
One thing to point out here as I am imagining taking this road trip is the amount of beauty you’d see along the way. The quiet corner of CT, where the drive starts, is exactly as described, quiet and woodsy. The CT coast line boasts some insanely good seafood and, well, the ocean! (Also in North Stonington is a vineyard I have to mention, Jonathan Edwards. Surrounded by stone wall cow pastures, the vineyard itself is picturesque. The wines are made from both CA and CT grapes and they are worth drinking). When you make your way down to New England Brewing, the most OG on this list, I believe, you are in “best pizza in the country” territory—ie Sally’s, Pepe’s, Modern, etc. The upper northwest corner of the state, where Kent Falls is and this make-believe CT beer trail ends, is lush green mountain vibes with natural bodies of water—think fishing for rainbow trout!—and excellent hiking.
But of course the real reason for the map is beer worth finding. I won’t get all technical and try and describe each beer, or even the vibe of the breweries themselves, except to say that, when consumed fresh, these IPAs go tow-to-tow with the best in the country, from Vermont to Illinois and California. And as soon as Trillium opens, assuming it does, I think it’s fair to say you’ve got three of the country’s best breweries in the nutmeg state: Treehouse, Trillium, and Fox Farm. Of all the breweries in Connecticut, I think Fox Farm has to be considered #1. Their IPAs always knock it out of the park, period, and they make all kinds of delicious, crisp European style beers—big-mug foamy stuff that you want to drink while watching soccer—as well as a robust spontaneous and wild fermentation program to satisfy super nerds and curious sippers alike. If you forced me to decide on a “best beer in CT”, I’d have to go local (and less talked about nationally) and say Beer’d Dogs & Boats. It’s a double IPA at a whopping 9.2% abv that I have been obsessed with since my first sip, especially because I think it gives you the same quality as a Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine or Pipeworks Ninja vs Unicorn, that east-meets-west kind of IPA perfection: piney, dank, with delightful floral, citrus, and berry notes, finished with a firm bitter backbone and a pleasant alcoholic buzz.
Having just moved back to Connecticut, this exercise in Google Maps has me pumped on my home state. You could very easily plan a fun day around hitting one to three of these spots, or go crazy and make the full circle over the course of a few days. What spots am I missing, beer ppl?! Let me know so I can add more stops to the map : )
You know where to find me!
Beer Aisle Boy
beer aisle boy 
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