The Alchemist (December 2016)

Don't forget the farmhouse or one of their sister restaurants in Burlington

 

I was at Alchemist around 11am today - line was just snaking outside the building; so took 20-30 minutes to get through. Still - I got the full allotment, did a trade and am now tucking into an El Jefe now from one of the aforementioned Spieglau glasses. Great experience, beautiful brewery - only disappointment was the fact that a lot of the main local eateries didn't open until 4/5pm

 

Are those IPA glasses ever available on their online store? I'd love to get one.

 

Never seen them online.

 

El Jefe is gone.

Does Hunger Mountain usually have Frost, Burlington, Fiddlehead, etc? Planning to go Friday after a nice dumping of snow on the slopes.

 

I just had my first River Roost and it was very good. Well worth the stop if you can

 

Great Trip yesterday

Go to Hill Farmstead at 11:30.Walked up and they opened after standing for about 3 minutes and was #7 for fills. We got our samples and a bunch of fills and were out in a few minutes. Walked over to the bottle shop with 3 people in front of me and grabbed some bottles. The line by the time I turned around must have been 50 people behind me. The single hop Galaxy is awesome.

From there headed straight to alchemist. Grabbed our samples and as mentioned before Heady ran out at about exactly 1:10. We were just about to purchase when they said it. Plenty of the others to go around so grabbed our Focal and a can of Jefe. I knew a shop in Waterbury that always has head that no one goes to so we went to Waterbury and grabbed our couple of 4 packs of Heady which is all I wanted amount wise. I would stress to anyone today to get there early and the weekend I would get there very early judging by the crowds we saw. Grabbed a coffee at the coffee shop across from Alchemist which was good.

Headed into Waterbury as I mentioned and checked out Pro Pig. Nice that they have the full draft list at the brewery and pub. My buddy lucked out to get a pour of Pow Pow as they had just tapped it. I had the grain IPA and the 2nd anniversary double, both were awesome. The place is set up a bit strange and trying to get and order in if you aren't at the bar is pretty tough. We lucked out with seats. The burrito bowl was pretty good and the hot sauces are hot. Walked over to Craft beer cellar to get a few sours for my wife. Plenty of super session around if you're into that.

Headed into Burlington after to hit Foam. Place was really cool and had some excellent beer on tap. Pavement was excellent. Really enjoyed that one. Grabbed a bottle of the sour and our growler fills and headed out. Cool set up inside I will add and a place I could see chilling at if I was going to UVM. Shot over to Burlington Brewing Co and had a flight and grabbed a few bottles. I really like the Wizard but nothing else truly blew me away. The imperial stout was pretty tasty. We stopped at Three Penny on the way home for dinner and some heady and Hill Farmstead. I can't even think of how many Hill Farmstead beers I got to try through the day. I don't get to do these trips often. So we made this one count.

Great day.

 

Tx for the write up. What time did you arrive at Alchemist?

 

We got there just before 1 expecting it might sell out about 1:30 or later. We didn't expect it to go that fast and there was a line inside to purchase beer.

 

They had some Red Dot bottles yesterday?

 

Yes, seemed like they had a good amount.

 

They posted Weds. afternoon that Red Dot was sold out.

 

Not sure what changed but I grabbed one when I saw someone else with one

 

Anyone else find Focal off a bit last week? I get a case about once a month since new facility opened and it's always amazing, but with this most recent case (12/21) the Focal cans are more bitter but less flavorful overall. It's missing that fruity funk. This is probably the first time I've noticed variance in the Alchemist cans. Hoping it's just a bit raw but i doubt it.

 

Do you have a link? I'm having trouble finding it.

 

Was a FB post on their release event page. And it was evening, not afternoon because I was home from work when it popped up in my feed. Was surprised it had lasted that long.

 

Got it. Thanks!

 

Frost & Burlington always (at least as of earlier this year). Fiddlehead used to be more common, but now it's pretty rare that anything they can sees much distribution.

If you like your VT IPA in 16oz cans, I was really impressed with the batch of Rock Art Limited Access I picked up at HM over the summer.

 

Have you always drank them fresh? Myself and friends think they have seemed pretty raw for a while and brighten up at like 2 weeks....just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah I always get them fresh but have had them 2+ months old. Even old they taste good but get floaties which I'd expect. I actually still have some in another fridge from early oct I will compare but I'm quite sure this is different, having another right now. It's still great just an observation.