The Alchemist (July 2016)

What's the line like right now? The usual?

 

Is the Speigelau IPA glass generally in stock at the brewery?

 

What airline would you be flying? If Southwest is an option, you can get 2 free checked bags to fill with cans of beer for your trip back, but SW only goes to Boston, not Burlington. There is so much to do beer-wise in both places, hard to go wrong with either choice. If you chose Boston and wanted to hit Tree House, you would need a rental car to get there, but T and Uber could get you to Trillium and quite a few others.

For 1 day, may get more done in Boston since you hit the ground running. Burlington to Alchemist to HF and back to Burlington will be a good bit of time on the road. Just my 2 cents! Enjoy wherever you decide to go.

 

Very fast line today. 40-45 minutes.

 

I was there last Saturday, in line @ 10:50, out @ 11:50, was about 10-15 people ahead of the cutoff for Crusher. I was thinking that things would have peaked with the VT brewer's festival plus a big lacrosse tournament last weekend, and would be dying down. Apparently I was totally wrong and it's still as busy as ever.

One thing that was curious is that the line follows the sidewalk from the entrance into the parking lot, but then winds back behind the spaces, which makes for a lot of extra work as the guys running the parking lot have to help get cars in and out of spots when they are blocked by the line. It seems like they could use that extra field space and have the line away from all the cars (not sure if they own/have access/want to trample that field area though).

 

I work for united so fly united. all my checked bags are free. I always fly with carry on bags. But check my carry ons in when bringing bottles/cans back.

 

I never drank their hoppy offerings at the original brewpub, and was so hoping for the revival of Petit Mutant, Stern Wit, etc. at the new place. But I don't care to buy an entire case to secure only the 4-pk I've been missing, and the hassle of getting rid of the rest is discouraging. And the stainless logo growler I bought years ago may never have an Alchemist beer in it again since it's first, and final fill. I'm happy for them, but kinda bummed for my future relationship with their "legacy" brews. Willing to sit back while they figure it all out, but this has not been the situation I'd hoped for.

 

I'm pretty sure you could buy a 4 pack of sterk wit without buying a case. I thought you only had to buy a case to get some crusher. I went a few days and each day bought a 4 pack of sterk and some focal without ever buying a whole case. The way it seems to be is either 2 four packs of heady and 2 four packs of focal or the mixed case with crusher included and then 1 four pack of whatever their specialty beer is at the time.

 

I'm glad the process isn't convoluted at all.

 

Does anyone know if production is going to increase from what it is now? It seems like if they could make more beer it would solve a lot of issues (like wait times, limits and required purchase to buy certain beers).

 

Why not call the brewery itself? These questions become tiresome over time.

 

They just opened. It's not going to happen right off.

 

Just returned from my annual VT pilgrimage so thought I would share my experiences at the new brewery....

Wednesday July 20th: Arrived at 3:00 PM to find maybe 5 or 6 cars in the parking lot. Walked in and out with 2 X 4pks ea of Heady and Focal, took all of 5 minutes (was watching the site during the drive and knew that Crusher cans had been sold out early afternoon). Put the beer in the cooler in the car & went back in and had a flight of samples and looked around for a while. They sold out of Heady while we were hanging out, but seemed to be plenty of Focal when we left. We were told that the day before was first day since opening that they ended the day with beer. The place looked AMAZING but the merchandise inventory looked a little light. I guess the brewer fest crowd had wiped them out the week prior.

Thursday July 21st: Arrived at 10:10 AM to find 20 or so cars in the lot. We were greeted at 10:30 AM (or so) and doors were opened shortly after. We drove out with full mixed cases well before 11 AM.

Friday July 22nd: Drove up at 9:55 AM and lot was not open (felt guilty too, I knew better!). Circled around and came back at 10:00 AM with about 30 or so cars ahead of us. We were greeted again at about 10:30 AM (or so) and doors were opened shortly after. We drove out with full mixed cases again well before 11 AM and headed to HF (actually Parker Pie first for lunch).

Saturday July 23rd: Drove up the mountain road (108) at about 9:35 AM just to confirm the lot was not open early (It was not!). Got gas, and checked out some other shops around to kill time. Came back at 9:58 AM and it seemed to have opened a min or so early, but still only 30 or so cars ahead of us. Once again we were greeted at 10:30 AM (or so) and doors were opened shortly after. We once again drove out with a full mixed case well before 11 AM. Easy 500 mile drive back to Baltimore!

So here are my final thoughts:

- The place looks great and the staff were all very friendly and efficient. They are ALL doing a GREAT JOB!
- The beers are all tasting great. The FOCAL is particularly AMAZING!!!!!!
- PLEASE read their rules/ suggestions. We saw someone pull up at 10:25 AM with a camper trailer that was turned away. Also, PLEASE don't come before 10 AM. I can really see an issue arising if anyone we (not that I will be back for quite a while, but anyone reading this is part of "WE") start to wait by parking in a driveway or local business parking lot.
- Don't show up to the line at 10 AM if you in fact do have the characteristics of a DB. If you were barred for life from HF (or any other brewery for that matter) the day before this may be a sign that you need new hobby!
- I also don't think its cool to walk across a neighboring property before 10 AM to avoid the parking lot. I guess walking in is fine if you have a legit reason, but it really seems that they are asking us to not be there before 10 AM (regardless of whether or not we drive there)

If you have been thinking about making the trip for a while, now's the time. The place is great, the beer is great, and all around its a great experience.

CHEERS!

 

You admonish us not to show up before 10:00 but two of the four days of your little annual hoarding trip you do exactly that? Your four day hoarding trip is perfectly fine but you advise others they may need a new hobby? Speaking of DB...

 

Haha beat me to it. Do as I say, not as I do.

 

depends how long of a day you want. starting early and get to hill an hour early (often open early) you're in good shape. if you do stowe too and don't mind little more driving you got foam fiddlehead and burlington beer in too.

 

I apologize in advance if this question has been answered before (I scrolled through the 8 pages of this thread and didn't see it):

Website says RV parking only after 4pm.

Does anyone know where I can park the rig and walk over?

I would hate to miss out on really the main reason why we are taking our trip this Fall to VT (HT, Focal and Crusher).

Thanks!

 

I think the Kimmich's would be pretty upset if people were parking RVs in other businesses' parking lots only to walk over to get beer. Unfortunately, there really isn't any road parking and most businesses around the area have pretty small parking lots as it is.

 

That's not really what I was implying. Just wondering if those who have been there before know of any public parking. Or a local breakfast joint that would let us park there for a little after we ate. I don't mind paying/buying something for opportunity to grab these brews.

 

You know, the bike path parking lot no more than a half mile away. That *could* be a place to park and walk over