The Shed Restaurant & Brewery

Okay food slightly above average beer and poor service. I would probably never go back.

My bf is absolutely devastated that The Shed is closed now! He lived in the Burlington area for a number of years, and it was his go-​to place to pick up his favorite beer: their Mountain Ale. Even living in NYC years later, he would still visit occasionally to bring the empty growlers back up there for the discount, and happily lug full growlers back. Guess he will have to brew his own beer in our bathtub now.

We just finished dinner here. Sweet waiter, Chris, and super efficient — but the food was overpriced and poor quality. Hair in one salad, cold stuffing in a cordon bleu. Drinks were Manhattan priced but not quality.
Ate here last year with pleasure, but many other choices here in Stowe! Come here for the nice local brews, but go elsewhere to eat. Maybe it was the chef’s night off (it was Thursday) but not acceptable to pay $ 40/​pp anywhere in Vermont and come away this sad about dinner.

This place was very cute– you can sit outside, or inside in a sun porch, or in the dining room, or in the pub/​bar. And since we were here for beer, we landed in the bar.
We had the beer sampler, which is called the «Ski of Beer», because it literally comes out on an old ski.
In order from best to not bad: (all of them were at least decently good and drinkable)
1. Raspberry Wheat: wheaty in and out, mouthfeel layered with raspberry, strong rasp flavor aftertaste, very hefe-​like with hint of rasp– absolutely DELICIOUS!
2. West Branch Golden: bitter in but wheaty aftertaste, more flavor than typical golden– very impressed!
3. Shed Amber Ale: malty, bitter, plain-​ish
4. Mountain Ale: like belhaven, good flavor, malty, not too strong, almost light tasting
5. National IPA: not bad but hoppy/​bitter
6. Flood Water Stout: smoky, roasted coffee
For food, we had the appetizer sampler. It was very good, and it came with extra chicken fingers because the cook was new and thought that they came with the sampler! The teriyaki chicken wings were the best, potato skins were decent, chicken fingers were okay, mozzarella sticks were good. So everything was pretty good– but it came out as three of everything– which was annoying to split for two people.
Decent service at the bar, cool décor and TVs, good beer and decent food at okay prices– definitely a good place.

So this place has a couple distinct areas for eating. The first being the patio in the back. Then adjacent to that is a large dining room. There is also a very small bar off to the side in a sun room. There is also a more formal main dinning room on the side. Lastly there is a pub/​bar in the front. I ate & drank in the pub/​bar area.
The pub/​bar is very casual and has a small bar with stools and about a dozen or so tables filling the rest of the room. The bartender was very nice and answered all my questions about the beers and food.
For food I went with the appetizer sampler. It came with the usual selections of fried and deep fried foods. They were all pretty good. The only weird thing was everything came in 3 so splitting it was not as simple as usual.
For beer I went with a ski of beer. Its really just your typical beer sampler, but they stick it on an old ski which did look very cool. The beers I had were all decent, but none really stood out. That said none of them were bad either. I had the West Branch Golden, Amber Ale, National IPA, Raspberry Wheat & Flood Water Stout. The best one of the bunch was the Moutain Ale which tasted like a ligher version of a Belhaven.

We came in to get some lunch here after a 3+ hour drive from Boston. I was starving at that point and couldn’t make up my mind. I ended up with a turkey wrap (I believe), with no onions and my fiancée had a burger. My wrap came with onions, which was fine, but the waitress would have none of that. She took it back immediately and sent another one back to me about 5 minutes later. It was very nice of her.
They have their own a raspberry beer, which was very good. I would visit The Shed if I were in the area again.

The shed make beer. They make food too. First though, they make beer, lots of good beer. Mountain Ale, a hearty American beer, rich, hoppy, thick and delicious. Smooth, very smooth. There’s something about Vermont beer. Maybe it’s the cold weather, long winters, lack of people. But the beer is always good.
A Cobb salad. A very good Cobb salad. Perfectly sliced hard boiled egg, fried onion rings, nicely crisped. Chicken breast, soft and not over done. Crumbled blue cheese, chopped tomatoe, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar, sprouts with crisp romaine lettuce. Topped with a delicious house dressing, close to a parmesean peppercorn.

Shed seems like the place to be if you find yourself in Stowe.
The self-​serve popcorn appetizer is a major plus.
The nachos were forgettable. Half of the toppings came not on top of the chips but in little plastic containers on the side, which I found irritating and counterproductive.
Although it receives top billing on the menu, the Shed burger is pretty average. Supposedly it is soaked or cooked in beer; whatever the case, it tasted like a regular burger to me. I am pro-​English Muffin, but it didn’t really work as a bun because it was too small to accommodate the burger.
The wings were decent; given that they were 49 cents/​wing that night, I would say they were a great value.
My Russian Imperial Stout was solid.
Overall, I would say the beer outperforms the food here.

Food is good. I ordered the Sheppard’s Pie, very tasty.
Service is bad. Not rude, just unorganized. Shouldn’t take that long for the waitress to appear or for the hostess to figure out the table needs a server.

We ended up making reservations at The Shed for New Years Eve and were thrilled that they still had availability when we called only a few days prior. This fact helped lower our expectations slightly, but once we arrived and saw how packed it was we raised the bar in our heads a little bit. The restaurant is a lot bigger than it looks with a huge section under greenhouse glass. On NYE the waitstaff was short staffed, but our waitress was extremely nice and more attentive than we expected.
As mentioned in several reviews — you HAVE to try the ski of beer. It provides a great photo opportunity and a cheap way to sample all of the home brewed beers. Sure they’ll be one or two that you don’t like, but if you still have room after the ski you’ll know exactly which beer you want.
The Shed was very good about making a gluten free dinner for my wife, but they don’t have a specific gluten free menu. They checked every single ingredient and my wife ended up with the filet and mashed potatoes which she loved. I ordered the barn burger, which was served on english muffins and actually was one of the best burgers I“ve ever eaten.
The Shed is highly recommended and I know I’ll be back next time we’re at Stowe for the burger and ski of beer.

The onion soup was excellent!
However…
the service was a C+, not horrible, but just not very attentive/​knowledgeable. Also, the hostess was very rude to a customer in front of my party. Staff did not keep up with cleaning over the course of the night — i.e., there was some food on the floor etc. and seemed unprofessional.
I might go here again just for the onion soup, but maybe try the pub next time?

In my book two words that are always in the finals for the best combination in the English language are «brew pub.» Combine these with good apre-​ski fare and that about sums the Shed up.
We ventured in on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Other restaurants noted by our Unilocaling brothers and sisters were either closed or ghost towns. The Shed by contrast was packed. We sat in the pub. There is a restaurant but the hostron was nowhere to be found.
First Caveat: this is a live brewery. If you are afraid of the hoppy, malty smell of boiling wort, you may not want to choose the pub. For me, a sometime, wannabe, home brewer, it was wonderful.
As others note, the ski of beer is the way to go to start. The samples are good sized, and allow a fine tasting of the house brewed offerings.
Second Caveat: if you are a light beer drinker, don’t expect much from a brew pub. Most brewers will only produce straw colored malt water at either the chiding of a owner trying to please the Bud swilling public or at the end of a loaded firearm. Accordingly, the light selections were nothing special.
The three standouts for beer were the Mountain Ale, a sort of lighter version of barely wine, the stout, the porter, and my favorite the IPA.
The food is hearty pub grub. I opted for the cheeseburger. Juicy, good, it was not as medium rare as advertised, but it was tasty. The fries? Well, French fries and I have a history. These were of the dredged in flour variety that has cropped up in recent years. They were crisp enough, but didn’t need the flour, and there could have been more of them.
The shepherd’s pie was rib sticking good. One person thought it was a bit greasy, but I thought it more rich instead. After a day on the slopes, I’d think it would be just the thing. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try the onion soup which one local who had been coming there for twenty years said was a must.
Well, maybe next time.

I feel bad for giving The Shed three stars.
In a nutshell, The Shed has decent food and really good beer. Normally, this would be enough to earn a joint four stars; however, The Shed suffers from one other problem: a hideous dining room. Plastic plants, vinyl tablecloths, and rickety wooden chairs. It’s downright bizarre to see diners wearing nice, warm sweaters amongst well-​dressed staff… with an artificial green backdrop. There is another dining area with a more wooden motif, but even that is not decorated well. I’m not the kind of guy who cares much about interior decoration, but the repugnant design here is right up in your face.
The food here is ok. Good sandwiches and fresh fish. It is worth noting that the potato skins here are poor. Absolutely drenched in grease. I’m not complaining that the food is fried, I’m talking about, «Who put Afro Sheen on my potatoes?».
The beer is the best part of The Shed. Beer samplers are served on miniature skis here and I would recommend that anyone who enjoys beer try one. After giving their options a go-​around, it has become my tradition to purchase a growler of the Mountain Ale as soon as I arrive in Stowe for vacation. All of their beer is good or better, but the Mountain Ale is a hearty brew with excellent flavor. There isn’t an ale in the world better suited for a snowy weekend than that beer.
So that is The Shed in a nutshell. Normally a phenomenal beer paired with solid food is enough for me. Mix in some below-​average bites and a bleak setting and, well, it’s a little frustrating. The Shed is close to excellence but is holding itself back.

Can you say SHOT-​SKI
Woo hoo!
I actually went with Ryan B. reviewed below — i had the shepard’s pie — it was good — very large.
I also heard that they had a HUGE bowl of french onion soup, which no one at our table ordered and we didn’t get to see one — boo hoo.
The food is a good price, good value, plenty filling — esp after our hike and the beers come on a ski — how fun!

Hands down, the BEST nachos you will ever eat are at the Shed! I have never eaten in the dining room, just the tavern, but this place is perfect for a post snowboard or post hike lunch.
The beer is brewed on-​premise and is mostly darker brews. Go crazy and try the brew-​ski tasting. Free popcorn for appetizers is the perfect way to starve off some hunger before scrumptious, New England pub food.
Really, you can’t beat a beer and nachos at the Shed after a long day skiing at Stowe.

I came with fairly high expectations from the high reviews, so my disappointment was relative. Entering the generic looking restaurant, we were met with the sound of Kenny G — no, not soft jazz. Who plays that anymore?! As someone strongly affected by music, I was ready to leave at that point. It just show total lack of imagination.
My first beer, the one they claimed was voted best ale by Ski magazine, was tainted with bacteria. it was undrinkable. The waitress comp’d me on a second choice, the Imperial Stout — it was fine. Not great but okay.
The food was good. i’ll give them that. My salad had a piece of grilled salmon and it was cooked perfectly. not overcooked as so many restaurants will typically do. My son’s ribs were good too — spicier than necessary, but good.
Our waitress was attentive and pleasant. She did argue with me that the first beer couldn’t have been bad, but she was nice enough when i insisted on a replacement.

Don’t call something LARGE and have it be the size of a side dish… Just don’t. Especially when concerns one of the loves of my life, French Onion Soup.
That’s right, you called it a «large crock» and that’s all I ordered for my lunch since it was a $ 9 crock of french onion soup, I figured it had to be pretty big! But when that crock came to my table, that price I knew was a crock of poo! I swear, I know Vermont people LOVE their cheese. And don’t get me wrong, the melted cheese on that soup was the only good part! They really do know how to make cheddar in VT! So hats off to them for that! BUT they also know how to charge an arm and a leg for their cheese too, so I am guessing that’s how the price for this crock was way bigger than the bowl was! I should have just bought my own brick of cheese from Cabot myself at that price, and I would have eaten about the same thing, since the soup itself wasn’t too great… So thanks Vermont for your yummy cheese at least!
It really makes me sad to give a 2 star review to a brew pub, but their hot turkey sandwich also was not too great… It was open faced with gravy and cranberry sauce and turkey and even came with mashed potatoes, so it sounds like a pretty easy one to win with, but nope. We lost, and so did The Shed on this one. It was just bland. Even the little scoop of stuffing on the side wasn’t good, and stuffing is another one of those loves of my life…
The Shed, you broke my heart twice… French Onion Soup and Stuffing…*tear*

Stopped in for lunch around noon on Sunday. The restaurant itself is quite large with multiple dining areas: the main room with a fireplace, the rear room overlooking the recreation path running out back, and the pub. We sat in the main room where a nice fire was lit, lending a relaxing, cozy feel to the room. Being autumn, the dining room was tastefully decorated with faux fall leaves weaved with white string lights. Soft jazz music was playing in the background, adding to the relaxed atmosphere.
Our server was pleasant and attentive, keeping our drinks filled and checking on us when appropriate.
I started my meal off with a bowl of baked onion soup, which was covered with a thick layer of Vermont cheddar cheese. The broth was mild and the onions sweet, just how I like it. My husband and I both ordered the Shepherd’s Pie. A hearty mixture of ground beef and corn topped with a thick layer of mashed potatoes and covered with — you guessed it — Vermont cheddar cheese. The pie was a little runny and oily from the cheese, detracting from the dish. Portions were not large, but adequate.
The Shed’s menu has a nice variety of dishes — something for everybody. The Shed is also a brewery, making their own beers on site.

I always come here when I visit Stowe, soley for the beer. I was here 2 weekends ago on a Friday night. It was busy, but not packed. It’s a very ski-​bum type place. I have not eaten here. The atmosphere is dark and pub-​y. I got an imperial IPA that was really great, and also tried the Mountain Ale which is a must try. I will most likely come back here every time I come to Stowe!

The Shed is Stowe’s best for a beer and burger. It’s also a brewery — so try the sampler and get a growler of your favorite to take home.
Service has never been their forte, but the food and drink go a long way to keep me coming back when in Stowe.