Quick Alchemist Question

Can't comment on the public transportation, but unless my bearings are off you're going to be walking straight uphill to the Alchemist. I don't remember seeing sidewalks, but they may be there...

If at all possible, make sure to go either Mon-Tue or Thurs-Fri ... they can Monday and Thursday, and can sell out quick. Good luck!

 

No sidewalks, but very short uphill walk from the park & ride to the Brewery 1/4 to 1/2 a mile+/-. There can be alot of traffic as it is mostly along VT 100.

A little further from the park & ride to the Amtrack Station in the opposite direction, but it's thru a neighborhood and has sidewalks most of the way.

 

It's not that bad, unless the weather is horrible. 10-15 minutes from the P&R to the cannery, and then about 30 minutes to the train station. Sidewalks are mostly lacking but the busy road (VT 100) has a wide shoulder. You want to bring a very large backpack, for obvious reasons

 

Just a thought - but have you considered simply renting a car for the day? You can usually get a compact for about $25-$30 for a day. (Even less on a weekend) I'd assume a round trip bus is going to cost you a healthy percentage of that, and then you don't have to worry about lugging heavy cans around while dodging cars.

 

Give them a call - they have increased capacity the last few weeks (I think two weeks ago they doubled their batch size) so its entirely possible you can pick up some cans local (i.e. Beverage Warehouse in Burlington) - I would call the Alchemist directly and ask them or maybe call Beverage Warehouse and ask them.

Trekking to Waterbury is a great idea as Prohibition Pig, Blacktrack and The Resevoir are all great places to nosh and drink - Burlington may have the same taps but it may be worth the adventure.

Montpelier is down the street and its also very good - the Coop in Montpelier sometimes get Heady Topper cans and the Three Penny Taproom is pretty hard to beat (multiple greatnesses on tap and excellent food).

Let us know how our prevailed and how it worked out!

I am back up in Burlington next week and will be loading up the car with goodies.

 

^^ yea, don't bet on finding it locally...still going to sell out day of at places where it is distro'd. best bet is going to the source.

 

Even with the increase in capacity?

I was hoping this would let it get some legs in the distribution channel!

I don't mind going to the brewery but then I usually get cases and if I saw a 4-pack at the Co-op - it might curb my urges!

I had even heard rumors of a store near the NH border on 89/93 area that might be stocking some of Vermont's finest craft beers.

 

Just a reminder that canning days have now switched to MONDAY and WEDNESDAY.

Whether the expansion will keep them from selling out? Well, this was the first week of increased capacity and it lasted till about noon on Saturday, but I don't know if that was with or without a case limit. I also have no idea if or how much of the increased capacity made it to retail stores and how much longer it lasted there

So far it's not looking like even tripling production is going to leave a huge amount left over...

 

I doubt they could ever make enough Heady. They could go 10x on production and still find plenty of buyers. I didn't know they switched to Mon-Wed canning, that's good to hear.

 

I think, even with the production increase, they won't be able to supply the cannery and their current distro area. most places in distribution sell out with-in 2hrs the day of delivery. even at the cannery, it's sold out regularly. And it has been like this for months.

I think it'll take another expansion before they can really meet local demand and expand distro.

 

Don't hold you breath, even with higher numbers last week they sold out by 11am on Saturday.

 

Yep - so that was the inaugural double batch - and it didn't make it through the weekend.

It's a Field of Dreams situation - if they brew it, it will sell - crazy but good for them and good for Vermont - brings the beer crowd to Waterbury and helps their economy out (that and the ice cream and skiing/nordic sports).

 

Did you all see that they canned #1,000,000 in this batch. Wahoooo!

 

The economy can certainly use anything it can get. 4000 jobs were relocated to Burlington and Montpelier after Irene. As for nordic skiing, someone is grooming a loop around the rec fields this winter, so you can get a quick, if pretty flat, workout right in town.

 

Do you mean that the area lost 4,000 jobs?

Or that 4,000 jobs came into the area?

 

Pre-Irene, 4000 state employees worked in Waterbury, at the old state hospital. Almost all of them lost their workspace to the flooding and now work in other towns in the area. Needless to say, this really hurts the local small businesses. There are plans to bring 1200 or so positions back to Waterbury but it's happening in super slo-mo.

 

trying to picture it in my mind, but wouldn't he have to walk over a highway overpass to get between the cannery and the train station