The Alchemist (July 2016)

BBQ place is Sunset Grill. Was kind of off the beaten bath until now. Have been going there for 10 years and have never had a bad experience, I would highly reccomend it.

 

Very, very excited to make my first trip Tuesday. Never had Focal or Crusher. Sounds like the shirts and glassware available on the website aren't the only ones being offered on-site, correct? For instance: that absolutely killer branded Spieglau-type IPA glass from the Sterk Wit video.

 

I was able to buy those great glasses (and another, tall cylindrical type with similar artwork) last weekend. So yes, there is greater selection than I've ever seen before on the website. However, I don't know how this weekend will effect their inventory... Good Luck!!

Edit: affect?

 

Yesterday they were completely sold out of all glassware. Glad I stocked up last week!

 

Yeah, they had the stemless Heady glasses on Wednesday but that was it. I arrived early too (11:30) so it must just be hit or miss as to which days they the new glassware for now. I imagine as demand quiets a little bit those will hang around on the shelves a lot longer.

 

I was curious and googled the following explanation:

Most of the time, you'll want affect as a verb meaning to influence something and effect for the something that was influenced. The difference between affect and effect is so slippery that people have started using "impact" as a verb instead. Don't be one of them!

 

I imagine you strolling through your glassware stockpile like Scrooge McDuck while here I sit, drinking heady topper out of my cupped hands like some sort of damn animal.

JK, I will just spend the cash I had earmarked for glass on another pint at Blackback!

 

How is the line so far today? if there's a better forum for such a request, let me know!

 

Showed up at 11:50, out by 1, crusher gone around 12:30-12:45. Jen said they set aside more focal and heady than normal for today and tomorrow. Line looked to stay around the same spot so roughly a hour wait.

 

Why sell heady topper glasses? I thought it's best in a can

 

Touché

 

Easy money

 

do u even 2012?

 

I arrived at around 10:15 today, line starting moving around 10:30 out around 11:30. Was expecting worse with the fest this weekend.

Employees were really friendly, they even put a temporary heady tattoo on my 2 year old lol

 

Being able to hang with Jen and See Kenny, Joel, Bob etc... again is the best part of the new brewery. Missed these guys. Last saw Kenny and Joel at the Alchemist's 10th anniv. at Pro Pig but it's been a while.

 

Green Goddess! Delish

 

So I officially checked out The Alchemist last Wednesday and have to say i'm very impressed. The new space and brewery are awesome and all the employees were super nice but most importantly the beer was tasting great! There is one thing, however, that still bugs me. How is it that with a brand new fancy brewery and a brand new fancy canning line that The Alchemist can't splurge and get a laser etcher to date their cans? I mean obviously those machines are expensive but there are breweries half the size as Alchemist (looking at you Burlington Beer) dating their cans so I don't see a legitimate reason why Alchemist hasn't caught on.

I think their old reasoning was that Heady Topper always sold out day of and should always be consumed as fresh as possible and obviously that is still true but now that their beer is being produced more regularly, and is a lot more available, it would be nice to know how a three week batch of Focal Banger compares to a three day old one, for example. I personally think dating cans should be an industry standard and it's kind of sad to see a brewery as popular as Alchemist not follow this trend, but I guess beggars can't be choosers and in hindsight this is a small problem to have.

 

Someone who knows better should correct me, but I think that John Kimmich has never subscribed to the (recent, at least relative to how long Alchemist has been brewing) idea that IPAs more than a few weeks old are garbage. (Hyperbole here is deliberate.)

Yes, they want their beers enjoyed fresh, but I recall a YouTube video floating around where John shows off a year-old Heady in comparison to a recent batch, and says more or less that it's fine. Their beers are well-balanced and don't live or die on the most volatile hop flavors.

Maybe they don't want folks worrying about whether the Focal they buy in Stowe is two days or two weeks old. Anywhere you can get it, it's sure to be more than fresh enough if you drink it soon.

 

The new brewery is amazing for sure, but can we talk about the beer itself for a minute. I just cracked a can of Heady purchased at the brewery yesterday and something seems way off. This is not the Heady I remember loving last time I had it (before the new brewery opened). The beer isn't nearly as hazy (yes, I poured it out of the can and it used to be completely opaque; now I am seeing some light thru the glass), the aroma is lacking and I get more malt on the flavor than that juiciness that I remember. Hopefully it's just a batch issue, or maybe they're still working out the kinks in the new space. Anyone else have this same experience?

 

I believe Heady is still brewed at their Waterbury location - opening Stowe shouldn't have changed anything.