Drop In to this brewery in Middlebury, Vermont

   The name is in my title: Drop-In Brewing Co. in the super-quaint town of Middlebury in the middle of the Green Mountain State.  If Congress were ever tempted to add National Boutiques to the National Park System, Bernie's whole state would be the obvious first candidate.  This brewery and brewing school is several miles south of the town and its eponymous college, along Otter Creek. It shares space with the Grapevine Grill, an eatery run by a couple of ladies from Maryland, who brought their crab cake recipes with them.

The school side is the American Brewers Guild, an organization founded in Davis, CA and purchased by Steve Parkes, a native Scot who crossed the pond in the 80s.  He is now the brewmaster for Drop-In and head educator for the Guild.  A classroom for sit-down note taking is in the back of the building, while I surmise most of the learning takes place in the 15-bbl system that turns out the Drop-In beers.
    Heart of Lothian was the first beer that caught my eye.  I remembered the Heart of Midlothian, a mosiac set in an Edinburgh sidewalk along the Royal Mile, which one is supposed to spit on for good luck  Mr. Parkes and his students forego the expectoration as they make a deliciously malty Scottish Ale.  The abv is 5.6%, the hops are Fuggle and Kent Golding, and the malts and yeast are also Brit.
  One of the IPAs has a catchy label.  Dude Are You OK? features a photo of a guy (one of the brewing students?) dangling from a chairlift. My friends Paul and Linda and I went through a tray of and liked the Scottish Ale best. (Visit date 09/01/17)