The Alchemist (July 2016)

1:00 and Crusher not sold out yet? Is that a record?

It would be interesting to see what happened if they opened up the limits. I think Crusher might be popular for a while because of the tickers. But for me, Focal is it. I, personally, would just buy cases of FB. I'm sure others would only buy HT or Crusher.

 

Jen was telling me and others they've messed around with Focal and this new version is just incredible.

 

It's not human nature. It's beer geek learned behavior.

 

Stopped by today at 6. No wait - 16 cans of Focal and some nice samples of the others. Great time to make a quick visit and see the new facility without the chaos.

 

Did you have someone else with you? Just curious because I was under the impression after HT and Crusher were gone you could still only get 2 4s of Focal. If you can get 4 4s of Focal, makes it intriguing to just go later in the afternoon if you prefer that.

 

Is sterk wit still around? Or is there a different specialty 4 pack?

 

Nope - it was a 4 pack per person limit of the Focal. I'm guessing it changes once the others are sold out.

 

Sterk Wit is no longer available and no other speciality 4 packs at the moment.

 

Got there today at 10:15. Out by 11:05. 1/2 outside and then 20 minutes in the AC. Opened about 20 minutes early - very smoothly run.

 

I think you're giving beer geeks too much credit. I don't think lines for Black Friday sales are just beer geeks-(yes, except for at the Bruery)

 

Was the line when you left at 11:05 shorter or longer than the line at 10:15?

 

Interesting debate on one of the VT brew fb groups today (and info I didn't know before) - to get any Crusher, you have to buy the full mixed case. Tbh I thought whoever said a couple pages back that to get Sterk Wit you had to buy the full case was joking. Anyways, someone posted complaining about this and is getting crapped all over.

Dare I say it - they're right? It's a lame policy and also a weird one when they're running out of Heady early every day anyways. Heady is an awesome beer, but I've had a lot of it over the last 6 months. I don't think it's that crazy that I'd make the drive up there and still forego buying it.

Surprised me, because in my experience the Kimmich's have been easily among the most customer friendly brewers around.

 

The line ended in about the same spot I started, but there were also a number of people inside at that time. 11 seems like a pretty decent time to come - maybe a 40-45 minute wait.

 

I guess I can see both sides of it. Crusher is the rarest and highest in demand right now (in part because of tickers). It is probably necessary to prevent people from coming back day after day to only buy Crusher just to trade it away. Having to buy an entire case to get 2 4-packs of Crushers may make some traders and mulers balk. I'd be curious to know if that person on FB was complaining because he wanted to buy Crusher just to trade.

They're probably not going to get too much sympathy for complaining about getting 'stuck' with Heady Topper. Boo hoo hoo, woe is me, I drank too much of the #5 rated beer in the world and don't want to buy any more. That deserves a paddlin'.

 

I think that's right and I'm totally OK with it. Even discounting tickers and traders, if it means another person waiting in line gets Crusher because some couple ahead of them thought twice about really needing two cases, that sounds like a good outcome.

I'm sure if supply catches up with demand, they'll be happy to sell individual 4-packs of whatever you'd like.

 

The dude complaining was admittedly a mule. I have little sympathy. Worse problems in the world than having to buy Focal and Heady

 

Anyone not buying Heady or Focal can simply ask their neighbors in line to buy their excess, and there will NEVER be a case when no one say yes (unless there is no line). I am sure it is locals who are the ones where it stems from, but they could also benefit from it. It is an easy problem to fix, no need to complain.

 

Just wondering why the parking lot is so small? Went up on the second day.it was a great experience and all.just parking was an issue that day. If you closed your other facility because of parking issues? Why wouldn't you make more of it at new place.i see a big field of grass that's not all needed.
Cheers!

 

It's bigger than any other Vermont brewer's parking lot I can think of.

 

It's hilarious to me that someone who swings over to a brewery their friend can't get to gets shit on and called a mule. If you care that much about who's buying beer in front of you maybe you're taking it a biiit too seriously.

Fwiw, I agree that with this given situation there are plenty of people who will buy excess Heady and Focal off anyone who doesn't want them, so it is largely a non-issue. That said, it still strikes me as kind of lousy practice, and when the solution is to encourage second hand sales where others walk away over the limit on the second and third offerings, it hasn't really solved all that much. I'm sure things will get worked out in due time - probably a good handful more people would wait rather than slam the parking lot right away if Heady was lasting longer.