Vermont State Parks

" Brewing up adventure” has long been the motto for Whetstone Beer Co ., and that spirit of adventure continues with Whetstone Beer’s recent acquisition by North Chair Brewing, LLC. The new ownership is excited to continue the Pints for Parks project, a partnership benefiting Vermont State Parks through Vermont Parks Forever, the foundation for Vermont State Parks. Pints for Parks kicks off the 100 th Anniversary of Vermont State Parks at Camp Plymouth State Park on June 29 th and 30 th where a new release will be available, the Golden Hour Helles Lager, both on draught and in special edition State Parks 100 th Anniversary label cans.   Pints for Parks is a collaboration between Whetstone Beer and Vermont State Parks. In years past, Whetstone has focused on a different State Park to create a unique, limited-edition beer celebrating a specific park. This year we are celebrating the entire state parks system given the yearlong nature of the centennial event, and a whole new...

 Norway spruce tips  Harpoon Brewery 's, Tom Graham, recently created a specialty beer for the fall/winter season named Vermont Spruce Tip Ale using spruce buds harvested from Downer State Forest in Sharon, VT (Vermont's second state forest). Drawing his inspiration from the book, The Homebrewer's Garden , Tom sought out the help of State Forester, Tim Morton who knew just the right place to harvest the beer's main ingredient, young spruce tips. Downer State Forest has a large stand of Norway spruce that hides an understory of spruce saplings. These young evergreens offer easy-to-pick tips or buds. "Harvested at their tender, ripe, bright green peak, the spruce tips impart citrus, pine, spice, herbal and earthy notes" (from Harpoon's website, a description of Vermont Spruce Tip Ale). For the amount of beer that Harpoon wanted to produce, 200 lbs of spruce tips were needed. The process was tricky with only a two-week window for harvesting the tips....