Vermont Retail and Grocers Association (VRGA) and the Vermont Specialty Food Association (VSFA) work together to guide Vermont made products through the doors of grocery and retail stores statewide. In early 2021, VRGA Member Farrell Distributing approached the associations with an idea: Take Vermont specialty foods and pair them with beverages that would enhance and highlight the unique nature of both products.
With a wide assortment of beers, wine, ciders and non-alcoholic (NA) beverages in their catalog, Farrell was the right choice to lead this project. VSFA reached out to producers around the state and provided their products to Farrell Distributing who then paired these foods with the perfect beverage. Farrell utilized New England Cooks kitchen space in Barre to prepare and shoot a series of pairing videos.
The pairings range from sweet to spicy, savory, and everything in between. Beverages run the gamut from beer and wine to cider and NA. There’s a little something for everyone in this delectable series. We highly recommend stopping in to your local store, grabbing a couple of the below matches and taking a taste for yourself. Many, if not all, are the perfect treat for sunny days. If your store doesn’t carry one of the brands, let them know you’d like them to or consider ordering directly from the producers themselves.
We've got twelve great pairings for you below! To make them easier to digest, we've split them into two groups:
Part 1:
- Hillside Lane Farm Antipasto Tapenade & Sea Salt Beer Crackers paired with Rocca delle Macie Chianti Classico
- Fat Toad Farm Original & Salted Bourbon Caramel paired with Long Trail Double Bag
- True North Granola Nutty No Grainer Original & Mediterranean paired with Cold Brewtus Nitro Coffee, Aqua ViTea Blueberry Social, and Halyard Volcano Juice (alc. Ginger beer)
- Yolo Snacks Original & White Cheddar paired with Zero Gravity Green State Lager & Outer Limits Froot Boots (English-style IPA)
- Pin Up Pickles Classic Dilly Beans & Brew Buddy DIY Pickle Kit paired with Queen City Hefeweizen / Fiddlehead IPA
- Maplebrook Farm Burrata & Smoked Mozzarella paired with Pieropan Soave Classico & von Trapp Vienna lager
Part 2:
- Stewart Maple Popcorn paired with 14th Star Maple Breakfast Stout & Champlain Orchards Mac & Maple
- Lake Champlain Chocolates Moka Fleck Bar & Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate Bar paired with Apothic Dark Red Blend & Eden Heirloom Ice Cider
- Nanarella's Fruit Pate paired with Rutland Beer Works Blueberry Blonde & Harpoon Dragon Weisse sour
- Vermont Nut Free Chocolates Chocolate Covered Mini-Twist Pretzels (Milk & Dark) paired with Good Measure Pitter Patter (porter)
- Halladay's Harvest Barn Classic Beer Bread paired with Drop In Red Dwarf (red ale)
- Blake Hill Preserves Botanical Shrubs - Basil Blueberry & Spicy Jalapeno paired with La Marca Prosecco (750mL & 187mL) & Saratoga Sparkling Water
