Beer run to Burlington, VT (KBTV)

My good friend Dave and I have a certain weakness for delicious Vermont Beer. To further complicate things, we have a good friend, Chris, who lives in Burlington and is a bigger beer nut than both Dave and I combined. A combination of perfect weather and an airplane that could make a 9 hour drive into a 2.25 hour flight sealed the deal. We were making a beer run to Burlington, VT via KBTV. This trip was challenging for me since I have never flown into Class C airspace before. A little research went a long way to make it a non event. Our flight path up could not of been any simpler - KDMW to KBTV direct!


Getting the airplane ready.


We can't show up empty handed in Burlington. Whenever either of us sees our friend Chris, we always do a beer exchange. Our mediocre beer for his great beer.



Not a cloud int the sky at KDMW. I topped off the tanks so I wouldn't stick Dave with too big of a fuel bill at KBTV.


We're off a little after 0900. Off to the East of KDMW looks like a controller burn of some sort...or maybe a tire fire.


Passing over the famous Three Mile Island.


We're excited for some VT Beer! Also, we somehow unknowingly dressed the same. Dave enjoyed the new Lightsped Zulu headsets....a nice and much needed upgrade over the crappy David Clark ANR's I previously had.


Crossing the Delaware River from Pennsylvania into New York.


In Upstate NY we ran into some lakes that were still covered in ice. Winter was not friendly to anyone on the East Coast.

Your truly was getting more excited by the minute for VT beer.


Lakes galore presented themselved the further we got up north.


Passing over the Great Sacandaga Lake just west of Saratoga Springs, NY.


North of Saratoga the land below us got unfriendly to engine failures as the mountains started to rise around us.


There was a 27 kts breeze blowing across the hills from the west that gave us a pretty rocky ride as we cross over upstate New York.


Once we cleared the mountains, we were greeted with calm air as we approached Lake Champlain.


Off to the distance is Burlington International Airport. Approach, Tower and Ground were extremely nice and easy to deal with.


Our goods from the south unloaded at Chris's house. He was quite pleased with the selection.


We headed off to Waitsfield, VT by car for Dave and Chris to pick up some special beer you needed a ticket for. Since I didn't have a ticket, I delegated Dave to buy me the beer I wanted while I found food. The Mad Taco seemed to fill two desires I had - Good Mexican Food and Good Local Beer. Here is the Pork Belly Taco's.


Dave showed up 1/2 hour later with my beer and decided food was a good idea also. Carne Asada Taco's for him.

Dave seemed to be tuckered out from all of the excitement on the flight up to Burlington and took a little nap on the way back from lunch. He sleeps in a very interesting way int he car.


Our celebratory picture of what $600 of beer looks like. This is the combination of what we brought up with us, what Chris is sending home with is, and what we bought at the beer event today.


After meeting the mayor of Winooski and then having an amazing dinner at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill, Bank Street in Burlington, we went back to Chris' house for some evening beer samplings. Chris has quite the beer cellar, and was very willing to share some of his rate collection with us. This one is particularly rare - Luscious by the Alchemist.


The color of this beer was amazing.


More? Why not. Anna had interesting head.


The next morning started out a little late as we all decided to sleep in for some strange reason. I had a rather large neighbor next to me on the ramp.


The Herritage FBO at KBTV was nothing less than extraordinary. Very pleasant to deal with, great friendly line guys, wonderful FBO, and readily available beer carts



After doing a quick weight and balance on 16 oz cans, I realized we purchased too much beer to take home with us. This was what couldn't fit int he back.

Last group shot of us before Dave and I migrated south.


I decided to take a different route home - I wasn't a huge fan of being over mountains for as long as we were on the way up. Also, I thought it might be fun to see something new. So we basically followed the Hudson River all the way down to just north of NYC, then hooked west towards KDMW.


Takeoff was easy, and it was a beautiful day to be int he air.


Many boats on land.



The valley on the east side of Lake Champlain was a much better flight path home.



Ski slopes were all around us. It looks like they had a great season.


So you didn't think we left our "extra" beer on the ground at Burlington? We stored 17 beers forward of the spar to keep us balanced. Might not seem like much, but this was 17 lbs of cargo.


Approaching the southern tip of Lake Champlain and the northern tip of Lake George,

We followed the Champlain Canal which lines Lake Champlain with the Hudson River.




Hudson River



Stewart International airport (KSFW) in Newburgh, NY.




West Point, NY.


We we got closer to NYC, the Big Iron surrounded us.


The Martin's Creek Power Plant just across the Delaware river in Pennsylvania. This is an Oil/Gas plant.

Tailwind heading west? Yes please!


The Limerick Nuclear Generating Station outside of Pottstown, PA.


Back on the ground in MD with our take of delicious VT beer.


I can't think of a better use of the RV until now! I almost can't wait to run out of beer to see where the next advanture takes us!

FanFreakingTastic, my kinda Beer Run!

Nice work! This is an RV use that I can get behind.

You guys need to schedule a Portland run.

Mikey,

You gotta clue me in on this stuff!

I made a few local hops today, but could have met you guys up there in VT real easy!

Besides, you could have spent another night here in Plymouth on the way home!

CJ

Heady topper!!

Great write up! Many familiar sites. I like the Heady Topper ... Only in VT. You flew right over my house. You could have lightened your load by stopping at KOQN!

Good write up Mike and great pictures. I followed your site when we were both building and stole several of your ideas. Thanks.

In Flight Worries?

Sounds like a great flight.
Due to the occasional pop of a bag of chips or extra pressure in a soda bottle, I'd have been a little nervous about a bottle cap letting loose.
Any concerns or experience on your part?

Nice trip report! Glad to see you scored some Heady Topper. That stuff is great and hard to come by!

Motivation to fininsh

Great trip report. It is exciting to think about all of the as yet unsampled, by me, craft beers that will be within reach when I finish my plane. I'm going out to the shop now...

Excellent write-up and photos, Mike! I was salivating all the way through it. I hadn't thought of this as another great use for the RV. Going on my bucket list, for sure!

I second what a previous poster mentioned... a run to Portland. Only the West Coast version! As you know, we have some GREAT beers over on this side, too.

Beer Nirvana here in San Diego. Over 100 craft breweries, which is the largest concentration in the world! Any time you get out here, I'll gladly show you around to the best ones. And the fish tacos are much better!

bruceh said:

Beer Nirvana here in San Diego. Over 100 craft breweries, which is the largest concentration in the world! Any time you get out here, I'll gladly show you around to the best ones. And the fish tacos are much better!

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Bruce,

Thanks for the offer! I was just out there 2 weeks ago and my friends from San Marcos took me on a great beer tour. I ended up going to Stone, Green Flash and we found Pliny the Elder on tap near Montgomery Field. Next time I'm out your neck of the woods I'll look you up!