The Alchemist (July 2016)

Crusher and Heady kicked already today ...

 

Yes, just left there. Mixed cases all out but now on for 4 4 packs of FB. There was about a 10 minute line at that point, but they said they should have enough FB to last most, if not all, of the day.

 

Four 4-packs of Focal are worth waiting for.....haha.

 

Focal gone at 4

 

so do they have fresh heady, focal, and crusher available each day right now?

 

Available every day. When they reach the amount they have allocated for that day they stop selling. They were saying that their yields are not where they want them to be on their new system and they should have more to sell when that works itself out.

 

awesome. thank you.

 

some good pics in this article.

http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_rep...cle_c58a15f4-43c5-11e6-ae06-a74e014104f2.html

Crowds swarm to new Alchemist Brewery in Stowe





The folks at the new Alchemist Brewery — the house that Heady built — opened the doors last week on short notice and a flood of social media-savvy beer drinkers immediately aimed their cars toward Cottage Club Road in Stowe.

How short a notice? The notice came out via the Alchemist’s blog, without any warning, “without any hype,” as it read, before noon on Thursday.

The only problem: The brewery wasn’t supposed to open until 2 p.m., but the cat was out of the bag.

Despite that minor hiccup, it was all smiles and suds as hundreds of people waited in line for 30 to 40 minutes at a time to grab a case or two.

“It’s fabulous,” said Sue Thayer of Waterbury while waiting in line. She got engaged to her husband Tim at the original Alchemist pub that was wiped out in 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene.

“I’ve been waiting and anticipating that soon it would open,” Thayer said. “I was gonna make it no matter what.”

Since the Alchemist made the announcement so suddenly, there were a lot of familiar faces in the line, such as Nick Ogrizovich and his son, from Fairfax. Nick is a deaf professional disc golfer, and the Alchemist has sponsored some of his fundraising events, such as a disc golf tourney at Waterbury’s Center Chains disc golf course.

But since this is Vermont in the summer, there were also plenty of tourists who dropped what they were doing as soon as they heard the news.

Emily and Tom Zucaro were visiting from Washington, D.C. They’d heard about the Waterbury/Stowe/Morristown beer scene in a trade magazine, and were just preparing to start their beer exploration.

When they caught wind the Alchemist was opening, they drove straight on through to Stowe.

Connecticut residents Ryan and Ellie Sullivan were in town for the week, and they thought the brewery was going to open after July 4, so they got a little bonus to their vacation.

Despite putting limits on the beer sales— two four-packs on the first day, and a case per person until the brewery can shake out the opening wrinkles — the beer went fast.

By Saturday at 5 p.m., the place had sold out all of its cans, after moving 980 people through on Friday and Saturday alone. On Tuesday, when it reopened, it sold out by 3 p.m.

The brewery is concentrating mostly on Focal Banger, although it will also make runs of favorites from the old pub days. Focal Banger is the little sibling to Heady Topper, the beer that put Alchemist on the worldwide map of beers worth driving, or flying, to Vermont for.

Jen and John Kimmich, the brewery’s owners, are being careful to be good neighbors, and are not opening the parking lot before 10 a.m. — the brewery is open from 11 to 7 Tuesday through Saturday. They also won’t allow buses, and the town is not letting anyone park along the side of Cottage Club Road.

One wag posted on Facebook, “So if Phish showed up in their tour bus, you won’t sell them beer?”

The Alchemist shot right back, “Hell no. Park somewhere else and walk.”

 

Remember when the Alchemist asked told people there was no need to line up and create lines before opening?

Cool to see them on there though. Can't wait to visit.

 

I live in Montpelier. My parents live in Mass. If I lived in Massachusetts I would not drive 3 hours to Vermont to wait in live for a mixed case of beer. I would drive to Canton, walk in and get a case of better beer without any bullshit. I'm surprised it has been this crazy, and I like their beer as much as anyone.

 

I don't think there's any bullshit I think they are getting lower yields with the new system, and there's an understandable excitement about finally getting to go to the new brewery and buy Focal. In time, this should ease up.

 

They are asking people not to show up at the lot before a certain time, so there's that.

 

People are excited, and its a fun place to be. Pretty simple.

 

They have reacted to the early crowd by opening the parking lot at 10am now. So, if you really must line up then that seems like the acceptable time to do so. I don't think that hurts the neighbors at all as long as you use the Alchemist lot. That said, a friend of mine was there at 11:15 today and was out with his case at noon. So showing up a bit later was not an issue. They don't have enough beer to last the day right now but you still don't have to line up an hour early, there is an in-between.

 

I was there a few minutes before ope ing on Wednesday and the owners were certainly not annoyed that there were people there early. Jen Kimmich (sp?) was outside handing out free stickers and let everyone know that they would be opening a few minutes early. She also said that the yields were not where they wanted them to be and that in the future they should have more beer to sell each day. The line should not bother anyone in the town as the parking lot more than contained it (not close to filling the lot at any point that I saw, and I drove by it multuple times a day for 3 of the days they were open. This certainly was not the situation that has been seen at a lot of other breweries recently. I am happy that I happened to be there for vacation when they decided to open.

 

Pretty easy today, I was there for a total of about 45 minutes, got there about 11:15. The Heady delivery arrived at noon, so that should last for a while today.

 

Are these lines lasting long into the day or are they thinning out within a couple hours of opening each day?

 

Line was longer at noon then at open today. Not sure past that though.

 

Is there any real preventable method for these guys to implement so no lines form? perhaps the following:

1. Don't ever announce the hours you're open and stick to a randomized schedule OR...
2. Implement a ticketing system or registration online where you can purchase an allotment ahead of time and pick it up during open hours (and ONLY sell beer this way)
3. Don't sell beer to anyone in line before open (ha)

Just throwing it out there... since all seem pretty unlikely. All we can do is be respectful of their wishes and "rules" - whatever they decide to do so the neighbors don't get angry.

 

Certainly thins out when the beer is gone - unfortunately well before closing time, so far at least.