Switchback Porter & Mussels at RiRa's on Church St.

These conditions, however, did not stop my weekly ritual of microbrews and half-price burgers at RiRa’s, located along Church Street market place.

If you haven’t been in Burlington for Christmas, colorful lights shine throughout the streets, families bustle around to get their last minute shopping in, and to top it off, a thin layer of snow covers everything. A true winter wonderland!

Due to temperature drops, I knew tonight’s microbrew of choice had to be the new Switchback Porter.  Unlike ice-cold light beer, porters warm you from the inside out. After checking out the wide range of menu options, I decided to skew from my usual Guinness barbecue burger and go with mussels in whiskey garlic butter sauce.

The porter’s rich creamy flavor paired splendidly with the mussels.  It was so tasty that I had to snap the picture after the 2nd round. Switchback released this new brew December 6th, so I was very excited to see more pubs and restaurants carrying it.  Next time, I‘ll probably have to go back to my usual burger, but this dish and drink combo were exactly what the doctor prescribed on this frosty winter night.

The moral of this post; bundle up and whether it be RiRa’s or the local liquor store you frequent,  go out and try the new Switchback Porter!

Drum Roll… The beer of the week is Spuyten Duyvil at Vermont Pub and Brewery. Supyten Duyvil is a Flander’s Sour Red. Now let us discuss this styles origin. This style, indigenous to West Flanders, was made popular by the Rodenbach brewery in 1820. The beer is aged for up to two years, often in huge oaken barrels, which contain the resident yeast necessary to sour the beer. This yeast strain is lactobacillus. VPB’s Spuyten Duyvil uses both lactobacillus and Brettanomyces. Brettanomyces is mostly found in French Bordeaux wines. These wines, like their beer brethren, have horseblanket and earthy flavors. Vermont Pub and Brewery has aged this beer to near perfection!

Head into Vermont Pub and Brewery and try the aged and conditioned Spuyten Duyvil OR join us on a Burlington Brew Tour, where you will sample Spuyten Duyvil and many more Vermont beers!

In addition to our weekly blog posts, we are going to feature a beer a week from one of the four breweries we visit on the Burlington Brew Tour…

This weeks beer is the Vienna lager from American Flatbread/Zero-Gravity Brewing Co. American Flatbread has a great new Vienna Lager on tap. This beer has an elegant malt complexity; with a firm enough hop bitterness, which provides a balanced finish. One might notice some toasted character from the use of Vienna malt.

If your living in the state of Vermont, pick up a copy of the 9/11 Burlington Free Press. A special autumn article is written about Beer and Wine all over the state of Vermont. There is even mention of Burlington Brew Tours.

Thanks for visiting the new and improved Burlington Brew Tours Blog, Bringing the best beer Burlington has to offer to the masses since 2008.

Cheers until next week!

Don’t forget graduation for all you Burlington VT Seniors is coming up, so don’t forget to invite your friends and family on a Burlington Brew Tour!  The economy may be in a recession, but there is always room for BEER!