A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
At the northern edge of the region, where the Hudson Valley gives way to the Adirondacks, Warren County is built around one of the most famous lakes in the Northeast. This is more a lake-and-craft-beverage day than a farm loop — the farm stands thin out as the mountains rise — but it has a year-round market, one of the Adirondacks' best cheesemakers, a remarkable concentration of maple sugarhouses, and a string of breweries and distilleries with the lake as a backdrop. Here's a day from Glens Falls up the shore of Lake George, with the Warrensburg cheese-and-maple country waiting just inland.
Start in Glens Falls, a walkable small city with a surprisingly good food scene. The Glens Falls Farmers Market runs Saturdays at the South Street Pavilion — and, unusually for the region, year-round, indoors through the winter — with local produce, meat, dairy, maple, and makers. Grab a loaf from Rock Hill Bakehouse, a renowned artisan bakery turning out naturally leavened, hearth-baked bread. For a fun stop, Cooper's Cave Ale Company is a family brewery whose taproom doubles as an old-fashioned soda fountain and ice cream parlor — named for the cave James Fenimore Cooper used in *The Last of the Mohicans*.
Drive north to Lake George Village, right on the water — beaches, steamboat cruises, and the lake itself stretching off into the mountains. The village is a tidy cluster of tasting rooms: the Adirondack Pub & Brewery brews 25-plus Adirondack-themed beers in a copper-clad cabin brewery (the Bear Naked Ale is the flagship), High Peaks Distilling runs replica copper pot stills for Scottish-influenced whiskey — its CloudSplitter single malt named for Mount Marcy — and Adirondack Winery pours award-winning handcrafted wines. Lunch and a lake view are easy here.
Follow the lake's west shore to Bolton Landing, one of its prettiest stretches. Bolton Landing Brewing has a 7-barrel brewhouse and a big lake-view patio (dog-friendly), and American Oak Distillery ages bourbon and whiskey in charred oak, passing its used barrels to local maple producers for barrel-aged syrup — its Oak Room tasting room on Lakeshore Drive pours cocktails with the lake right there.
Cut inland to Warrensburg, where the real farm story is. Nettle Meadow Farm & Cheese is one of the most acclaimed small-batch cheesemakers in the Adirondacks — spreadable goat and mixed-milk cheeses, washed and bloomy rinds, all from its own herd — with a seasonal farm store, tours, and a popular Cheese and Spirits pairing. The Warrensburgh Riverfront Farmers Market runs Fridays along the Schroon River, and Bandstand Brew Works is a good local stop for a pint.
This corner is also serious maple country — the hamlet of Thurman has one of the densest concentrations of sugarhouses in the Adirondacks. Toad Hill Maple Farm has a beautiful timber-frame sugarhouse and offers wagon rides into the sugar bush, Valley Road Maple is an award-winning multi-generation producer, and Hidden Hollow taps over 5,000 trees with a traditional wood-fired evaporator. (Spring, during Maple Weekend, is the time to catch them open.)
This is a tourism region first, so Lake George Village is busiest (and priciest) in high summer — the shoulder seasons are calmer and the foliage drive up the west shore in fall is spectacular. The Glens Falls market is the dependable year-round anchor. Nettle Meadow's farm store is seasonal, and the Thurman sugarhouses are really a spring thing — wonderful during Maple Weekend, quiet otherwise — so call ahead. With this many breweries and distilleries on the route, a designated driver is a must. And if you're coming up from the Battenkill, the Fort Ann distillery and brewery in the Washington County guide drop you right at the lake's doorstep.
The full Warren County lineup is on the Almanac: craft beverages and markets.
A great lake, a copper still or two, the maple woods behind it — one very good Saturday.