The quintessential
Vermont pilgrimage just got sweeter. Although visiting the Green
Mountain state for the “big 3” (The Alchemist, Lawson’s, and Hill Farmstead) is
the heart of the Vermont beer haul, a humble new brewery is making that pilgrimage
even more enticing.
That
brewery is Lost Nation. Founded by Jamie Griffith and Allen Van Anda, Lost
Nation opened its discreet doors last summer in an unlikely industrial park in
Morrisville VT. If Morrisville sounds familiar that’s because Rock Art also
calls it home. In fact, Lost Nation inhabits Rock Art’s old facility that they
recently moved out of. Conveniently, this spot is on the way from The Alchemist
to Hill Farmstead.
It’s
worth noting that the Vermont beer pilgrimage was already complimented by a quaint
little stop in the town of Stowe – that’s the Von Trapp Lodge with its
traditional Austrian and Germanic lagers and cozy café serving up quality lunch
fare. See a review of the Von Trapp Lodge brewery.
What’s interesting
is that Griffith and Van Anda were originally the brewers at Von Trapp. Van Anda was their founding brewer in 2009 and he
brought on Griffith as his assistant a year later. In 2012, as the von Trapp
family planned a dramatic expansion of the brewery funded with money from EB-5
immigrant visas, Van Anda took his leave. Griffith stayed on a little while
longer. In stolen moments from family duties they began shaping the business
plan for what would become Lost Nation.
The two men spent time methodically planning how they would
extract maximum flavor from sessionable beers. They’re noted as saying, “I want
to taste everything. I want to taste malt. I want to taste water; I want to
know you’re using good water. I want to taste yeast.”
Their solution was to use an additional mash tun that enables
them to put their wort boil through “temperature rests,” as Griffith calls them.
This is known as step mashing. After the beer ferments, it’s pumped into
cellaring tanks just as lager brewers would do. There it conditions for a few
more weeks on yeast to allow flavors to mature.
We’d
heard great things of Lost Nation and paid a visit while on a trip to secure cans
of Heady Topper and growlers from Hill Farmstead.
Visiting
wasn’t easy. Our GPS led us to a dead end road from which we could see the
brewery but drive no longer. It seemed like temporary construction was to blame.
We eventually found a way around through a neighborhood and walked in for lunch
on a weekday. Presumably the construction is no longer there and access is
better now, so don’t let that deter you.
We
walked in and saw only a few people sitting at a table who we eventually learned
to be one of the brewers chatting with sales people of some kind as there was
paperwork on the table. So as the first real guests, we felt we had service all
to ourselves. The sales folk seemed welcome enough as they had beer in their
hands and eventually joined us at the bar, chatting jovially.
The
restaurant is small, dim, dressed in dark wood, with only daylight illuminating
the interior. On the right is a bar with approximately 10 seats; on the left are
about 7 tables.
The
food menu is very small, but the eats are thoughtful and made with care. They
focus on local and fresh ingredients cooked in a rustic way. I had a grilled
cheese made with local blue cheese, apple, and bacon along with a roasted red
potato and garlic soup. My better half enjoyed a pork chop in apple cider glaze
over spaghetti squash. We were beyond pleased with our food.
As for
the beer, we like where these guys are coming from. If you’re familiar with the
quality in the lower-alcohol offerings from the Von Trapp Lodge, then you have
an idea of the ballpark in which Lost Nation sits. No beer they make exceeds
5.9% ABV. Roughly half of them sit below 5.0%.
The
entire stable beers in Lost Nation’s arsenal were available at the time of our
visit. That’s around 8 beers – some ales, some lagers – covering styles native
to Germany, Belgium, and America. The bartender could not have been more
friendly and happily let us sample each beer – sometimes without us even asking
for one.
First
up was their flagship beer in the gose style. It was divine. As one of Germany’s two beer styles contributed to the world of sour/tart beers, gose beers are seeing a slight resurgence
in popularity among American brewers. But, it’s still largely an unknown style
to many. Gose style beers are traditionally brewed with salt and coriander
seeds, and should taste a bit tart. Lost Nation’s take on the style hits pretty
close to bullseye. While some beer geeks may wish it was a bit more tart, or
even sour, its balance of refreshing tartness, spice, and bright drinkability
is addictive. We brought home a 64 oz. growler of it, killed it, and found
ourselves turning the growler jug upside down hoping more would pour out.
Another
version of the gose was available that was fermented on red and black currants.
We only had a sample of this but it tasted delightful; a bit more tart than the
original, but still not sweet.
I next
tried their pilsner, which they claim sits squarely in the Franconian style. It
was spot on. It’s hard to find well-made pilsners as the style has been
bastardized by large production breweries and a good pilsner requires high attention
to detail. When I voiced my fondness of their pilsner to the brewer, he was
grateful and went on to say it was the beer he was most proud of. He proceeded
to describe how he has to “baby” the brewing of that beer more than any other
beer he makes. His efforts were noticeable and to see his face light up when
talking about it reminded us why interacting with the brewers themselves can be
such a rewarding experience and enhance your enjoyment of the beer. His passion
for his work was genuinely palpable.
My
better half had a full pour of their “Pitch black” ale, and it was a fantastic
blend of smoke, light cocoa, earthiness, and a balanced hop presence. Similar
in flavor to a classic porter, with the drinkability of a schwarzbier, it’s a
winner.
Other
beers we quickly sampled included a “rustic
ale”, a saison, Belgian pale ale, and a märzen. As we only tasted these beers and didn’t drink a
full glass, we don’t have thorough tasting notes to share. However, they all
tasted solid and would seem to be very approachable for many people.
The bartender mentioned that in addition to beers of their
own, they normally have a guest tap or two. They happened to be in between
guest offerings during our visit but he mentioned they were soon expecting a
barrel of the acclaimed De Dolle Oerbier. Various offerings from De Struise have
also made appearances there.
What we enjoy most about Lost Nation is that their brewing goal lies against the grain of Vermont’s high profile brewers. Similar to the Von Trapp Lodge, Lost Nation is essentially a session-beer brewery sitting in the middle of world-famous double-IPA territory. They’re a valuable and unique addition to the already first-rate brewing state. The pub makes an ideal stop during your Vermont beer pilgrimage to the Big 3 as it breaks up the sampling of hop bombs with quality food and refined session beers that don’t leave you feeling groggy for the remainder of your trip.