Ten Bends Beer – Hyde Park, VT – New England Beer Buddy

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By New England Beer Buddy Beer Beer To Go Blog Breweries Craft Beer Craft Brewery New England Brewery Taproom Vermont Brewery May 16, 2024

One of the greatest things about planning brewery tours in Vermont is that, unless you go up 10+ times a year, you always have a new place to check out. Vermont isn’t a huge state but their breweries are pretty scattered throughout their Green Mountain landscape. You may want to visit one place but be resistant to go traveling out of your way, say, 40 minutes or so. On a recent trek to the 14th State I decided to make such a trip and enjoyed the scenery while driving to a bucket list brewery of mine. Ten Bends Beer in Hyde Park.

Renowned for their high quality beer and with small distribution outside of Vermont, Ten Bends has been a popular destination for craft beer enthusiasts for quite awhile. Started in 2012 by co-owners Mike Scarlata and Jason Powell, their journey began in a shed near the Lamoille River. The river bends ten times throughout neighboring towns and, to tie themselves to this community, gave their brewery the namesake. As most beer travelers who visit Vermont are in search of that “Vermont Style” of IPA, Ten Bends’ origins were born in making their very own version. However, their portfolio now is not just incredible IPAs but European lagers, stouts, sours and many other styles.

Upon arriving you pull into a small dirt parking lot that leads you, on the left, to a small industrial building with a built in wooden ramp. Nothing really screams “Beer Here” until you enter the doors and come inside.

What you see if a simple, pub style, two room taproom that is cozy and inviting. A straight shot to the bar with plentiful tap handles and a smiling beertender greets you as you step up to select a pint or flight.

You can take your beverage of choice to one of the wooden round tables or have a seat in one of the small taproom flats. A small merchandise store can be found on the far left side. Adjacent to this is one kick ass record collection (that was for sale) while incredible classic rock was being played on the turntable.

In the same section can be found a cooler with 4 packs to go. Not just a quick grab and go but a build your own 4 pack option as well. Now, I can’t stress this enough and I tell each brewery I go to: Mixed 4 packs are the way to go! Beer lovers will gladly pay that uptick in price for individual cans if it allows them to try a variety of different styles. Not every can-for-sale was available to do this but I was able to curate a perfect mix for myself to enjoy when I got back home.

For the beers themselves, Ten Bends has certainly lived up to the hype. I started off with Split Seasonality, a coconut stout. As Vermont was still a bit chilly when I visited this definitely hit the spot on the colder, rainy day. It was smooth, full of coconut flavor and had a bold body that was very satisfying.

Another highlight was the Alternity altbier. A huge fan of the altbier style, this was brewed with Tettnager hops which gave a herbal, citrus flavor to a copper colored creation.

As one cannot make a journey to Ten Bends without having a IPA, I sampled the Side Porth, New England Style. Full of citrus, very floral, it was a great representation of what I usually consider an overdone style.

Ten Bends also hosts Day Themed events at the taproom as well.

Wednesdays are pint pour upgrades, Thursdays Bring your own vinyl, Fridays broadcast concerts on their television, Saturdays pizza popups and Sundays for sports broadcasts.

Although the weather called for an indoor experience, Ten Bends opens up the doors in the warmer months with a small outside seating area.

If I were to sum up my visit to Ten Bends, I would say it was like visiting a local pub with some incredible beer. A laid back, no frills place to hang out and shoot the shit with your friends. A friendly establishment with great people and some great music playing in the background. The beers are phenomenal and the atmosphere is very welcoming.