I'm headed up to Vermont from Boston early Friday morning and I was wondering what my best bet would be for finding some Heady. I am staying in Middlesex between Montpelier and Burlington, so either direction is an option. I was hoping it would be easier to find some as its between leaf peeper season and ski-season. Any suggestions? Also looking to grab some Lawson's Sip of Sunshine. Maybe some locals can tell me what it's been like the past couple of weeks? And from the "I guess it's worth asking" category: I'm bringing some bottles of Trillium's latest Heavy Mettle drop and was wondering if there were any bars that would trade some Focal Banger cans? Thanks in advance.
The Alchemist does a great job on their website stating what places get drops on what days--you should check it out. (Not sure if I'm allowed to post link here, and The Beer ****s are always watching.) Coming from Boston, I usually go up on Friday or Saturday and grab some 4 packs from the Stowe/Morrisville places, which get Friday drops. Shouldn't be a problem if you're arriving Friday morning/early afternoon--just map it out and hop from place to place. Good luck
Sip also only distributes to warren and Waterbury, or atleast as far as I know. And it's usually a Tuesday/Wednesday deal from the times I've been up there
Thanks for your response. I follow that site, but I was hoping to hear from locals who have recently been picking it up, what the lines have been like, etc. We will be there on Friday morning, so hopefully thats a good time. Cheers!
www.headyspotter.com tells you retail and restaurant delivery dates...times and where cases are available.
Sip is far more than just Warren/Waterbury. Here is a link to their schedule: http://www.lawsonsfinest.com/find-our-beer/
I had some really good luck with Heady back at the start of October, which I thought was going to be a busy time (though it was on a Tuesday). I think you'll probably be in good shape from now until the snow arrives.
I was up there last Friday and things really couldn't have worked better. We went to Sunflower Natural Foods at maybe 10:00 in the morning. They had cases of Heady in the cooler with a one case limit, and only one other person there who was also picking it up. The stores in Stowe also looked pretty calm, but we had already gotten what we needed. I also saw Heady sitting around in Waterbury later that afternoon at the little wine shop that is just a block or so off of Elm. Both Craft Beer Cellar in Waterbury and the Warren Store in Warren had Sip of Sunshine in their fridges Friday afternoon/evening. Saturday at Hill Farmstead was no line whatsoever in the retail shop, and maybe a half an hour wait for growler fills, with plenty of opportunity to sample and order things to have on-site. We expected we would be arriving later than we should at about 12:30, but it was totally chill. So yeah, I would suspect that the between seasons thing is really helping things at the moment.
The bars get the Focal Banger cans with the strict instruction that it is only for sales on-premises consumption.
This is a digression, but that wine shop in Waterbury was the worst efffing store I've been to in Vermont where all the others have been great. They had a sign that basically said "If you're just here for Heady, you should also buy a bottle of wine." It may have even been required. Excuse me? Don't tell me what product of yours to buy. If you sell Heady, don't be pretentious about it. It's why we're in your town in the first place. End rant.
I wanted to thank everyone that replied and/or messaged me with suggestions. I thought I'd share my experience. My wife and I got back yesterday from Vermont and had a ton of success getting Heady Topper in the Stowe area. We drove up from Boston early Friday morning(left about 6:45am) First we went to the Sunflower Natural foods. We rolled in just before 10am(when they were supposed to open) and found out that they had 15 cases delivered around 8:30am, and there were 15 people in line, and they each bought a case. The man at the counter said it was sold out within 15 minutes. He gave us some heady stickers and coasters and told us the route of the truck. He was a very nice guy and a good brand ambassador for the Alchemist. Using Headyspotter.com my wife and I checked the Friday delivery page and called some of the nearby shops to see if they had their deliveries yet. We started with the closest ones that hadn't had their delivery yet. Chasing the truck Our next stop was Harvest Market. They had 5 cases delivered and we were second in line. There was a two four pack per person max, so my wife and I left with 16 beers from there. The beers were about 15 bucks per four pack. We hopped in the car and drove a block down the road to the Alpine Mart. We beat the delivery kid there and once again we were second in line. I think they had like 6 or 7 cases delivered. They also had a 2 four pack per person limit, so we left with 16 from there as well. The beers here were more expensive at just about 20 bucks per four pack. We drove from there to Stowe Wine and Cheese. There were 2 people in front of us and they each had 2 four packs. There was one four pack left in the cooler. So we grabbed it. The girl at the counter(who was super friendly and helpful) asked if wee wanted more, I guess she didn't have time to put the rest in the cooler. So with the 2 four pack per person limit, we left there with 16 more Heady's. The beers were 15 bucks per four pack here. At this point, we had hit 3 shops, within a matter of about half an hour-45 minutes and had 48 beers. (not bad) On the way back to our hotel in Waterbury, my wife wanted to stop at the Cider Mill to get some donuts. The cider donuts were great. Free samples of fresh apple cider were pretty good too. We stopped into the little bar area they have and randomly, they had about 4 four packs of Heady in the fridge. We had quite a bit of Heady already, so we grabbed one extra 4 pack. Total truck chasing time, about an hour and 15 minutes=52 beers, done by 11:20am Random moment of the trip I had been looking for some Sip of Sunshine this whole time with no success. The girl at the Stowe Wine and Cheese shop said they don't sell it in the Stowe area and that her dad has tried to get it for their shop to no avail. I had brought some Trillium Heavy Mettle with me to possibly trade and to give to some friends up there. We were staying at the Best Western in Waterbury and on Saturday afternoon when we were leaving I had one bottle of the Heavy Mettle left and was carrying it and my bag out to the car when I spotted some guys loading their car. I saw some Hill Farmstead boxes and a case of yellow cans. I said excuse me, is that a case of Sip's in your car, one guy said yes, and I lifted the bottle in my hand and asked if they wanted some Trillium Heavy Mettle. The driver of the car was psyched and said sure, dollar for dollar trade? I said, just give me 2 cans of the Sip and Im good. The guy was super chill and said, I'll give you three. Totally random, trading beers in the parking lot of the Best Western. haha Anyway, We had lunch at Farmhouse in Burlington on Friday(great Cheddar ale soup), we ate dinner at the Reservoir in Waterbury Friday night(great beer list and the fried chicken dinner was awesome) had drinks at the Pro Pig and Black Jacks afterwards. Seemed like everywhere we went had a deeper and better beer list, we were def spoiled for choice. Had a great time in Vermont, can't wait to get back again soon.
