Hunger Mt. and Crop

Today was glorious.  It's been cold in Vermont.  By cold, I mean excruciatingly cold.  But today was so beautiful, we had to hike.  We decided to make it a short one.  Sam and I pounded up and down Mt. Hunger, less than 4.5 miles round trip, then headed into Stowe for some beers and food at Crop Bistro and Brewery.

The hike: It was -4 degrees in the parking lot when we started at 9:45am, and 7 degrees when we finished at 11:55am.  Seriously cold.  But the beauty of the Mt. Hunger trail (from the Waterbury side) is that it pounds uphill so quickly that we had a good sweat going after just 10 minutes on the trail.  We hit ice about 3/4 of a mile from the top, at which point we threw on the microspikes.  The views were killer.  So clear, so sunny.  We could see all the way east into the Presidentials, south past Killington, and even the Adirondacks looking west past Camel's hump.  There are some pictures and a panoramic video below.

The beer: It was my first time at Crop, and I was impressed.  I was disappointed when the Shed closed a few years back, but glad to hear the spot was snatched up by another microbrewery.  I had a killer Willi Vanilli Porter.  It had a nice balance of Vanilla aroma and flavor without being too sweet.  It had a nice dry, bitter finish, characteristic of a good porter.  I then went on to the Vermont Pale Ale, an American style pale ale.  It was solid, though I was left wanting a bigger hop feel, especially for an APA.  I probably should have started with the VPA and finished with the porter, but what are you going to do.  Solid beers, solid day.