The Alchemist (December 2016)

I assume there are no special hours for the Alchemist brewery over Xmas? Looking to go there on Tuesday 27th

 

Really, really good. Definitely my favorite of the style. The subtle roasty character and the mosaic work perfectly.

 

Last time I was up (October), the liquor store in the same plaza as PK Coffee carried Heady, but limited it to a 4-pack. It is so ridiculously close to the brewery - it's worth the quick stop.

 

After the madness of finding parking and waiting at Tree House today (and Trillium earlier this week), I thought I'd get a little more prepared for our Vermont Christmas Beer Run tomorrow.

As we haven't been up to Alchemist since VT Brewers Festival, but hearing the post-open lines have subsided/yields are up, what's the prognosis for crowds on the Saturday before Christmas? I'd like to make sure we get some Crusher since were shut out last time, plus Focal and El Jefe, but from a drive perspective (headed to Burlington from Boston), it makes sense to go to Hill Farmstead first at their noon open, then drive over through the forecast snow, which I assume is a 1:30-2PM arrival time in Stowe.

Will we be OK or should we go for the 11AM Alchemist open first, then go out and back?

 

IMO- go to hill first then alchemist.

 

I was there at 12:30 today and Crusher was out.

 

Man, maybe this has been happening for a while and I've just missed it, but I've been to like 3 bars in NYC this week that were all selling cans of Focal Banger (and not unreasonably priced either, by NYC standards at least). How do bars get away with this? I'm not complaining I guess, because I love Focal and I'm not in Vermont enough, but I know John (and most other breweries with purely local distribution) hate it when this happens. Oddly enough, the last time I was in the ADKs it was the other way around, and a bar was selling a can of LIC Beer Project's Pile of Crowns. Is this kind of thing illegal, or just frowned upon by the breweries?

 

Are we sure Alchemist isn't starting to distribute a little bit outside of VT? The bars you're talking about (Fool's Gold and The Jeffrey at least) have common ownership, get Grassroots / HF distribution, and didn't exactly keep the Focal a secret. They seem like unlikely places to be tempting the wrath of their VT friends (and who knows what NY distribution laws) just to sell a few "bootleg" cans.

 

Yeah let me walk back my post a bit, that's part of what I'm wondering -- it was actually a totally different group of bars, and checking beer menus it appears to be all over the city right now. I agree -- most of these bars are places that wouldn't want to risk being blacklisted or whatever (and just overall nice people, I live near The Hogshead and love that place). Is this a holiday present from The Alchemist, or has distribution really blown up that much? Seems like a huge step for them and I'm surprised I didn't hear more rumblings about it. I was stunned the first time I saw HF on tap here, but these days it's all over the place.

 

If there's one thing we know about the Alchemist's new brewery it's that it was built to turn out a ton of Focal. I don't think it's sold out there in a while, and in seasons when their local restaurant/bar channels can't absorb it, NY distribution makes a lot of sense.

Obviously they could distribute it retail in VT instead, but that would probably mean getting less for it unless they relax their longstanding insistence on minimal retail markup over the brewery price.

 

The Alchemist sent a few hundred cases of FB down to New York via distribution. It was all on the up and up. Seems like a one-time (or at least once-in-a-while) type of thing.

 

That's awesome, thanks for the info! In retrospect I guess this should have been more obvious to me . . .

 

Some of this was covered in the Mid-Atlantic Forum as well:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/alchemist-in-nyc.470974/page-2

 

Looks like no Crusher this week

 

They also sent a pallet to Warpigs for Today's Focal banger fest

 

Are they selling out of Focal and Heady pretty quickly into the day?

 

They have not been selling out on the majority of days. Some of the special releases have been selling out later in the week (Friday/Saturday), but they haven't been selling out of heady and focal at the brewery during the week. I've gone at 6:30 pm on multiple days over the past few months and they still have beer. Beer could sell out later this week due to holiday demand, but you definitely don't have to go line up before they open.

 

When the brewery first opened and things were selling out quickly, there was a decent amount of talk that the expansion wasn't big enough. From what we're seeing now, I think John, Jen and crew (shocker) got it just about right. I know that it's going to get busier during vacation seasons, but the brewery operates year round, and it's probably better for them to be a little short on beer in July than have a huge glut of it in November.

 

Any insight to what might be next after El Jefe? Just curious as it seems El Jefe was released around the 12th and they said 2 weeks it would last. I'm heading over there on the 30th for my first visit. Can't wait!