Vermont Summer is Coming and TasteCamp is Here

La Crescent pre-bloom

It’s been building steadily, and the heat of summer is here. Fruits are blossoming and afternoons are for swimming. For many thoughts or memories of summer camp adventures are strong, and so this is an especially great time of year for TasteCamp to visit Vermont. A group of media and trade people will be rolling through the hills, and navigating the valleys of the Green Mountain State seeking to discover what makes the craft fermentation of Vermont so special.

TasteCamp will start late Friday morning with a visit at la garagista winery in Barnard. Then the group makes just a short drive up the Locust Creek valley about 10 minutes to the Heartwood Fable Farm Collective market at 12:30pm where they hang out with the Fable Farm Cider boys and grab lunch at the market space. There they will meet with producers from mid and southern Vermont who will start to pour for the TasteCamp core group at 2:30PM, and then will open to the community at 4PM until 7PM for an event called Fete of Fermentation.

Fable Farm Event

Fable Farm Cider

Whetstone CiderWorks

SILO Distillery

Hermit Thrush Brewery

Fernleigh Cellars

Fresh Tracks Farm

Newhall Farm

Putney Mountain Winery

North Branch Vineyards

Upper Pass Brewery

We’ll leave from there and proceed north to Waterbury where we can check in at the hotel and then take a walk to the Prohibition Pig for a tap dinner 7PM.

Saturday morning we start out bright and early to head to the Lake Champlain Valley for visit and taste with Shelburne Vineyards. Shelburne will also host other producers for us to taste and chat with.

Shelburne Vineyards Event

Shelburne Vineyard

Smugglers Notch Distillery

Boyden Valley Winery

East Shore Vineyard, LLC

Snow Farm Winery LLC

Caledonia Spirits LLC

White Mountain Distillery, LLC

Citizen Cider LLC

The group’s bus next travels south to Lincoln Peak Vineyard just outside Middlebury where they will fuel up with a buffet lunch from Costello’s Market, then visit with the Granstroms before enjoying yet another tasting market with producers from around Addison County.

Lincoln Peak Event

Lincoln Peak Vineyard

Shacksbury Cider

Huntington River Vineyard

App Gap Distillery

Whistle Pig

Freestyle Brewing/Drop In

Champlain Orchards

Foley Brothers Brewing

Stonecutter Spirits

Eden Ice Cider

Windfall Orchards

The crew will shuttle back to the hotel Saturday afternoon to spruce up before the bus takes them to Ploughgate Creamery in Waitsfield. There we’ll have a little dairy tasting and “Vermont Casual” dinner from the Mad Taco while looking at the slopes of Sugarbush Resort..

Sunday wraps up TasteCamp with a special brunch at The Hen of The Wood.

TasteCamp is not an all-expense paid trip for this particular group. While many of them have enjoyed red carpet treatments to far flung regions of the wine world, they each have elected to travel to Vermont, while lodging and eating here on their own dime. So, from an economic perspective, the event is helping to bring energy into this nascent region. TasteCamp was originally organized to get away from the model of big conferences underwritten by large multinational brands and corporations. With that in mind, TasteCamp has welcomed limited support for bus transportation and hospitality expenses from local/regional organizations and businesses. There is deep gratitude for this this particular kind of help, as TasteCamp could not have happened without it.

In the days and weeks after TasteCamp we’ll report on attendees’ impressions, but if you want to check in on the action this coming weekend June 3-5, 2016, searching the hashtag #TasteCamp on Twitter, Instagram and FaceBook to see a taste.

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