Why does The Alchemist only brew one beer?

Reminds me of the way Vinnie at Russian River thinks. They are turning out a product that is quality and pretty much sells out as fast as it is produced. At this point they want to remain quality over quantity. While the beer lover in me does not agree and wants more PtE available, the guy in me that appreciates a quality product I really enjoy even if I have to search for it understands being true to the product and the quality effort going into making it.

 

They collaborated with Dieu du Ciel to make the fantastic IPA Moralite

 

you have an interesting perception on this subject. things like " one trick pony" and " created this problem themselves" interesting my friend, very interesting.

 

Because money.

 

Trust me trying to keep Conan making good beer is not exactly boring, in fact so far for me, just finished batch 6 with it, it has been a bit stressful. Great yeast, with some peculiar tendencies.

OTOH the selection of great beers they had at the pub is mindblowing.

http://beeradvocate.com/search?q=The+Alchemist+Pub+&+Brewery&qt=beer

Ouroboros is easily as great a IIPA as is Heady.

 

I don't agree with that at all. If you make just one beer and it's great I'll happily call you a great brewery.

Never had this Heady Topper stuff, but there's no reason they can't be a great brewery if the beer is great.

 

I think they discontinued that beer. I've had it at the old brewpub and thought it was as good as a sorghum based saison could be.

I never understood why people went nuts searching out that first bottled batch. Like anyone on here drinks gluten free beers.

 

I remember Holy Cow and Ouroboros both being fantastic as well.

I think people forget that not too long ago you had to drive up to the brewpub and just hope it was going to be on tap, and that they did not can anything at all; they were just a local brewpub who made lots of beers and a couple of the (D)IPA's happened to be fantastic.

 

I'm not sure if you are trying to discredit the alchemist because they only currently brew one beer or are really trying to understand why they do that. I think they are comfortable with canning HT and selling it all by the end of the week. They prefer an uncomplicated lifestyle.

Comparing it to Toppling Goliath's business plan is way different since not many people have heard of that place and dont have a beer with a cult following as big as Heady Topper. The alchemist is in a strange position where demand far exceeds supply no matter what they do.

 

If I owned a company that made widgets and every time I put them on the shelf they were bought almost instantly I'd focus on making widgets only until that stopped.

 

To understand why they only brew one beer, you have to consider the logistics of starting a new brewery. If they designed their production brewery to brew and can just one beer, then there are significant alterations that would have to be made to brew rotating selections or to switch focus to drafts (e.g., where are they going to install their keg storage area and cleaning and filling equipment? that giant expensive empty wasted space they decided to include in the floorplans? and even if they did have a nice big space available, think of all the work they'd have to go through managing plumbing/electrical/installation/startup while keeping up operations). It's also not as if you can take any recipe/process from your brewpub and replicate the results on a production brewery without adjustments, and they were more-or-less in the middle of shakedown when their brewpub was destroyed and they've been brewing at capacity ever since. Anyway, the one beer they brew is highly regarded and supporting them financially in the meantime, so they are not under any pressure to immediately implement changes.

 

i seriously doubt they had any idea what the future would hold when they made heady topper, obviously as brewers they were satisfied with the beer they made so they wanted to unleash it on the craft beer world but i don't think they anticipated it being such a huge hit. people going out of their way all the time to obtain cases of it and i think thats awesome. consistency is key and they're showing that with flying colors right now. maybe in the future they will use the profits from HT and expand their brewery and start making small batches of new beer, i'd love to see what other styles they put out !

 

Personally I would like it if more breweries made less beers. How many more pale ales do we need?

 

Anyone know about this? http://*.com/?itm=4431

 

$150 for that??? what a joke

 

I can think of a few breweries that should only brew one beer, because the remainder of their beers are junk. It makes me scratch my head and say, "How the f@ck did they make this beer not suck like the rest??" They know who they are!!

 

Yes. I picked up my bottles in the flooded Alchemist Brew Pub a few weeks after it was destroyed at the annual Waterbury harvest festival. The bottle was like $10 or 15 with money going towards the Waterbury fund and (I think) to help the Alchemist recover. Still have my Hell or High Water t-shirt from there, but it's a tad too small now... I got to watch John Kimmich get dunked in the water tank by a kid throwing baseballs

After the brewpub was destroyed, the Kimmiches nearly gave up on the cannery and almost closed shop altogether. So as long as they continue to be happily making beer, I'm happy to partake in their offerings.

 

I just saw another one on there for 80.

 

I've never had a HT, but it is an interesting question as to why they only brew one beer and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

On the one hand doing one thing the best is great. On the other I think a lot of people see it as wasted potential to brew many more great beers.

Let's take a couple comedians as an analogy. Louis CK may be the best stand up guy in the world. He does it and he does it well. If that's all he did it would still be great, but he also produces a great TV show which brings joy to a lot of people. Mitch Hedburg on the other hand seemed perfectly content doing only standup and doing it well.

If the Alchemist is satisfied brewing one beer and doing it great then more power to them. I don't think anyone here feels entitled to more beers and we don't have that right, but I think that a lot of people are disappointed that there is potential for more great beers that isn't being fulfilled.