Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

For reference, beers of the burgh was $45, but had no free food and a lot less on quality and quantity of brewers.

 

Hit up Hitchhiker this weekend to try their Barbarian (their new "Vermont IPA") and the Grisette. Felt the IPA was their best to date, though the brewer noted they may be further tweaking the hop profile in the future--he was nice enough to share a sneak peek at their Berliner Weisse, which, while young, tasted pretty promising; excited to see this one be draft ready.

Tried to make it out to BG, but between a wedding and the timing of kiddos' naps, the trip never materialized.

 

Oh yeah, definitely hoping to stop at HF. And cool, I'll map Fiddlehead and see if I can fit that in.

 

In my experience the best way to get full cases of Heady is at the Hunger Mt. Co-op in Montpelier. They get their delivery at about 9:30 Thursday mornings. The most under-the-radar place to get 4-packs is in Waitsfield, mostly I think because it is the only town that is a good distance off I-89. There are several gas stations that consistently have 4-packs (usually limit 2 per person) days after their delivery along the main road. There is a butcher shop called Bridge St. Butcher that is the most DL place to buy Heady in the state that I've found. The Warren Store (just south of Waitsfield) also gets their Lawson's delivery very early on Thursday morning. Now that Lawson's doesn't do the farmer's market anymore, I think there are additional deliveries in Warren and Waitsfield on Thursdays too. My ideal VT beer run is:

Start in Warren early Thursday a.m., grab Lawson's at the Warren Store, head north toward Montpelier, loading up on Heady in Waitsfield on the way, grab a case at Hunger Mt. Co-op, and then drive to Parker Pie for lunch.

Parker Pie is about 10 miles from Hill Farmstead. They will have 4-5 HF taps, and usually Cantillon bottles for on-site consumption. (last time I was there they had all 3 Lou Pepes, all for <$30) The pizza is also amazing. It also gives you something to do while avoiding the opening rush at HF.

After lunch head to HF, where hopefully there will only be about 10 people in line. If so, you should be able to get unlimited growler fills.

After HF, I'd recommend Waterbury. Focal Banger is being distributed in cans to restaurants (no retail sales), and you can probably find it at Prohibition Pig, Blackback and/or the Reservoir. All 3 will have HF taps on. Pro Pig is the best food IMO.

Lost Nation is also on the way between HF and Waterbury.

I think HFs Festival of Farmhouse Ales is next weekend, so it might be busier than normal.

 

So if Lawson's doesn't do the farmers market anymore, do you have to hit up retail for all of their bottles as well and not just SoS?

 

Should I make it to VT any time in the near future I will reference this for sure.. Good work man.

 

I haven't been since last year (and he took a break from brewing over the winter), but from what I gather there are more retail deliveries and then also occasional special sales - sort of like the former Alchemist truck-sales, but they are ticketed. I think there was one a couple weeks ago in the parking lot at Sugarbush.

 

You or anyone else know what's up with Double Sunshine? Is he going to brew it again? Is it retired?

 

I love the idea of what Lawson's does, and I can appreciate his apparent lack of desire to scale, but it just seems more trouble to me to acquire than it can be worth. Chasing trucks, ticket sales in parking lots?

 

I have no idea. I can't imagine why he wouldn't brew it again. In previous years I've got it in late summer, so it might be that it is coming up.

 

PSA: Beware of making any negative comments about a beer from a brewery that you generally always support. There's people here leaking those comments to the brewers, and you might end up getting a snarky comment the next time you try to give them money for their product.

 

Or maybe the brewers are on here and can read it for themselves... if your butt hurt about a snarky comment to you. Maybe find a more constructive criticism of their beer than a snarky comment about it.

 

Constructive criticism doesn't occur much here, unfortunately.

 

It does. And it's coming from the majority. However, the vocal minority overshadows it so it's hard to find.

 

I feel like I don't see it much, but maybe it's just over shadowed. I feel like I don't see the posters who I find to be reasonable saying much at all positively or negatively but rather just disseminating information.

 

yeah seems more likely to get a review of "warm cat piss" than anything that's helpful to a brewer tweaking a recipe or a fellow BA who might actually enjoy the beer

 

To be fair, if a professional brewer is in a position of taking brewing advice from anyone on here - they are already screwed.

 

im no brewer but I would think that hearing from the people who care enough about drinking your beer to waste their time telling other about it on the internet would at least garner a little of my attention.

 

Fat Head's has Holly Jolly and Pimp My Sleigh on.

 

I'm confused. Did something happen?