In lttle over two years The Alchemist Brewery was forced to close to the public by its shop localcentric neighbors. Tree House was forced to move, Trillium closed for a period of time under mysterious circumstances, Blackback in Waterbury sold and only now seems to be living up to its former Rep and last but not least Lawson's has gone on sabbatical. If anyone here doesn't realize great beer is not guaranteed and this is an ever changing scene- wake up and let's appreciate what we have/ nothing lasts forever.
Yes lets be thankful for what we have. At least we still have the availability of Alchemist beers and hopefully the state of VT will move forward with approval of the new brewery. There was twitter feed today showing the expansion at Fiddlehead taking place. The boys at Stoneface here in NH are making some great beers. Lets all hope for growth in the future and a good new year.
The Alchemist continued to make and sell beer, so does treehouse. Trillium is still shipping beer to accounts and Lawson's will be back shortly and we still get SoS. Great beer is not guaranteed but all this doom and gloom over still getting the same beers seems pointless.
Son Not glooming and dooming, just pointing out how good things are and how the only thing that stays the same is change. Actually I don't believe Trillium is filling draft accounts.
The New England craft beer market is dog eat dog, even if all the dogs like each other. If a brewery falters, there are worthy contenders ready to fill the void. We consumers have never had it so good. The brewers must be hearing footsteps but all the truly great ones will likely thrive.
All of these are very successful breweries that are at the top of the market, so I'm not sure if these are the best examples, but I understand the point you're trying to make. I am more upset by the small local breweries I have been to that were ok and had ok beer and were fun to visit, but ultimately went out of business and can never be tasted again. Alchemist can handle these minor issues and I am not worried about them surviving. Sometimes it is nice to have a chill local brewery that you can casually visit and chat with the brewer on the spot rather than push your way through a mob for a limit 1 bottle, even if their beer isnt top 250.
The problem with your scenario is that those chill smaller breweries with no line are that way because they're not selling a lot of beer and thus will probably go out of business. Not that I disagree with you. I like stopping by Back East every now and again because it's, like you said, pretty chill. (and on my way home) The owners/brewers are always popping in and out and people are hanging out enjoying themselves. Are they making Gandhi Bot quality beer? no, but their beer is pretty good and improving, imo. And I don't see them going out of business anytime soon.
