The Vermont Pub & Brewery

mymrnngjckt

Pennsylvania

2.36/5  rDev -38.4%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 2.5 | service: 1.5 | selection: 3 | $$

Stopped in Friday night prior to the Vermont Beer Festival. The place was packed but managed to get a seat at the bar. Tried a flight of the beers in addition to the Dubyil. The beers were goodbut the place was too packed to actually enjoy them because we kepy getting bumped into. Because of the packedness of the place, the service was spotty at best. You couldn't really ask questions because they were too busy and just gave short answers.

I will have to give this another try when it is less busy.

07-25-2007 16:36:16 | More by mymrnngjckt

nh2032

New York

2.83/5  rDev -26.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

Visited after dinner on a Wednesday night. It's a pub-like setup, but had a surprising amount of families, especially considering the time. There is a dedicated bar area that seemed to be mostly the college crowd.

There were a decent number of beers available, but unfortunately all I tried were mediocre at best. My picks were the Grandslam Baseball Beer, Bombay Grab IPA, the Dogbite Bitter, and the Forbidden Fruit. Out of the 4 there was nothing that I would want to have again. And considering I picked styles I typically prefer I'm afraid what the rest of the options would have been like.

We ordered a couple apps which were both fine, but nothing spectacular. Service was fine too. Prices were reasonable, 4 oz samples were $1. Those are about the only positives I can come up with unfortunately.

04-14-2012 20:54:33 | More by nh2032

coreyfmcdonald

Georgia

2.86/5  rDev -25.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | $$

Stopped by here fairly late on a Thursday night to a fairly crowded bar. It was quite dark and seemed pretty standard, nothing special.

We had two beers, a Flanders red and a raspberry fruit beer. The FR was extremely funky and not very sour or really anything else. It tasted like bleu cheese and that is about it. The fruit beer was aged in oak - all I could taste was fruit, though. Neither were great, but neither were terrible. Those were the only 2 interesting looking beers.

The service was standard for a bar, not very good for a brewpub. This just seemed like a standard bar that brews their own beer.

12-26-2010 20:51:36 | More by coreyfmcdonald

Hautacam

Connecticut

2.93/5  rDev -23.5%
vibe: 2 | quality: 2 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5 | $$

Sat inside in the slightly cramped quarters of the dining room....not a bad thing; kind of Euro-close. The dining area was a bit dark , but nothing negative....probably would have liked the patio better , but they allow smoking out there, which sucks. Flatbread doesn't, so we were spoiled.
The waitress was very cool and knew her beers, but that's about all I have to say that's positive about our visit.
The food was ...eh. I had tasteless Mahi-Mahi.
The beers were kind of disappointing across the board...and we actually got charged for the two samples we requested. That sucked.
There was a bizarre rhubarb beer on cask...I hate that plant !
The smoked stout, which I had such high hopes for, was pretty thin and had no smoke flavor that I could detect.
We finished quickly and headed to Flatbread !
We'll give them another try in the future...but we were not impressed by this visit.

08-08-2008 01:01:05 | More by Hautacam

laurastradford

New Jersey

3/5  rDev -21.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $

Stopped during a VT brewery tour. Had a sampler with Forbidden Fruit, Beetlejuice, Grandslam, American Imperial Wheat LAger, Vienna Rye, and Tulch Leis. The samples were only $1 each which was awesome. Our bartender took forever to take our order which was torutre since there was no air conditioning where we were and it was late July. My favorite from the sampler was the beetlejuice but I didn't stay long to enjoy because I was too busy sweating and dreaming of a cooler place to enjoy a good brew.

12-16-2012 20:59:25 | More by laurastradford

Citadel82

New Jersey

3.05/5  rDev -20.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 3 | $$

I had been itching to try this place since it opened. A move to Kansas and three children somehow hindered this plan. Well this past vist was my first chance in a while. We came, we saw, we ordered dinner and we were satisfied. We were not thrilled but we were lookng fo a little more wow. The service was average, the beer was ok and the food was acceptable. nothing spectacular.


We will perhaps try more of the brews at this place but my wife and I both agreed it was the weakest of the Vermont venues that we tried.

08-27-2005 01:45:32 | More by Citadel82

rhinos00

Colorado

3.08/5  rDev -19.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

So, we used to come to this place all the time...before I knew about Flatbread and the Alchemist. Given that it was one of the places we frequented often, my wife and I decided to go back.

The atmosphere is very similar to that of a college bar type feel. Crowded, dark and very hard to find any space to function. This also may be due to the fact that I went in the evening, rather than the afternoon.

Service? What service? While standing at the bar we were ignored multiple times for up to 10-15 minutes at a time. It seemed that the two bartenders working were more interested in carrying out conversations with their friends than serving their customers.

The selection of beers was average. From what I remember they had a about 8 beers or so that were on-tap. While I normally wouldn't care about a smaller selection, the quality definitely wasn't helping. Their Bombay Grab IPA was really weak in comparison to many IPAs that I have had as the the beer had a water downed quality and the hops were pretty non-existent. The other beers I had were nothing to write home about.

Food was one of the only positives. It's cheap and tastes pretty good for the price.

Overall, I won't be coming back to this place any time soon. With American Flatbread a block away and the Alchemist being a short drive outside of Burlington, it's a no brainer. I based my decision solely from the quality and selection of beers served, along with service. However, what shocked me most was that even my wife recognized how much better the aforementioned places were and she really isn't that big of a beer drinker. Bottom line: if you are from out of town and have a short stay, don't waste your time coming here.

01-08-2009 17:59:22 | More by rhinos00

davide169

Pennsylvania

3.2/5  rDev -16.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 2.5 | $$

I made the unfortunate choice of visiting this place on a Friday night. If you don't want to have to part the red sea to get to the bar or wait a good hour for a table then this place may not be a good choice on a weekend night.

When you walk in you can go to the right to a front bar or walk an extra ten feet and there is a bar directly behind it. There is seating all around with tables and some booths.

I ordered a sample so I could gauge all the beers. I was not all that impressed. There were a few decent beers but most were missing any kind of mouth feel. They just seemed to be lacking and distinct flavor.

The food was nothing more than normal pub grub and it didn't seem to do that well either.

This is not a place I will be going back to when I am in Burlington but if you have some extra time its worth trying at least once. Just remember not to go during a busy weekend day.

02-07-2008 16:52:30 | More by davide169

birdyone

Rhode Island

3.28/5  rDev -14.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

I tried a flight of their beers. Some were good, others were a struggle. I took recommendations from the waitress, she put the berry flavored beer on the flight, I'll let you fill in the rest. I should point out I've never been a fan of any of those. They make a lot of different beer, so I probably could have sampled 2 flights if my friend wasn't getting bored (as a non beer drinker, she was a good sport). Right down the road you have American Flatbread, so the competition breeds some good beers between the two. If you're in Burlington, give it a shot.

12-10-2010 02:29:53 | More by birdyone

arizcards

Arizona

3.33/5  rDev -13.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2 | $$

Part of our tour of Vermont in early October. VPB is located near the campus of the U of Vermont in downtown Burlington...great location. We sat on the outside patio, taking in a beautiful 75 degree early fall day. Quality of everything averaged out to be OK. The service was average at best as it was a busy Monday afternoon. The selection of beer and food was a little better than average as the food was limited. The presented food was overcooked for both Da Boss and I as they killed our chicken and burger and then some. Price was reasonable but the food and beer left something to be desired. It was only the campus atmosphere that made this trip to VPB wothwhile.

11-12-2005 00:42:19 | More by arizcards