VT Hopjam

FYI...

 

I have to go to Philly for training the week before this and I was flirting with driving to VT to bring back goodies. The BIP includes 10 tokens and if they are full pours that might make it not so bad.

The event runs from 1100 to 2200. Does early admission get you the standard extra hour or more than that?

 

So everything is full pours, and drink tokens are $5 each. I heard that last year everything was 1-token per pour, except for Alchemist cans (Crusher) which were 2-tokens each. The BIP is definitely worth it if you're going to be spending the majority of the day at the fest - it includes the 10 drink tokens ($50) plus 2 food vouches ($12) and a T-Shirt ($10?)... the cash value of the premium ticket is $112 (only $8 below retail price) without even considering the value of early admission (11:00 vs. Noon), VIP Bathrooms, and access to BIP-only pours. Definitely worth it.

Here's what they have on their website for last year's BIP beers, although I heard this wasn't the whole list:

• Burlington Beer Company – Strawberry Whale Cake
• High Horse Brewing – Anti-Imperialist IPA Cask
• Hill Farmstead – TBD
• Lagunitas – Sucks Cask
• Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Knockout Blond | Super Session IPA #3 (Sorachi Ace)
• Lost Nation Brewing – Gose Cask
• Tree House Brewing – Curiosity Seven | Julius
• Trillium Brewing – Heavy Mettle | Congress Street

 

Also, BIP ticket sales are cut off on August 10th... act fast if you're on the fence!

 

I can't justify paying that much. So tempting but wow. For the same cost of general admission to Hopjam, I was able to attend the VT Brewers Festival, which was a much better event beer-wise.

 

Agreed, it's a bit high, but you get full pours of some pretty amazing beers, some of which are one-offs or extremely tough to find. Personally, I wasn't that impressed by VTBF. The venue and beer was good, but lines were absurd for most of the beers that I really wanted to try, most of the best stuff was gone way too early, and the line to just get in was absurd. Hop Jam is a music festival/concert with an amazing tap list. If you look at it like that, it's not too expensive.

Also, for next year buy your ticket early. The BIP was $106 for early bird sales, and GA was only $27.

 

We are all entitled to our own opinions, but I would argue that beer-wise Hopjam has a significantly better tap list. VTBF has a greater variety, absolutely no argument there. But from a quality perspective I don't think there is a comparison at all. Add the fact that it includes 10 full pours, 2 meals, and a concert (and a free roundtrip shuttle from Burlington) its a damn good value. However I understand everyone's tastes and priorities are different.

 

BIP tickets are only on sale until tonight, then you're SOL. Here's the partial BIP beer list:

 

For an event called Hop Jam that looks like a pretty shit list. A sour? A kolsch? A saison? Hopefully those TBD breweries are having something for BIP. If my travel orders get approved I'm definitely going.

 

I'm happy to see a well-rounded list with various styles instead of all hoppy beers. This isn't an IPA fest.

 

I guess I'm taking HopJam too literally.

 

This is the BIP beer menu - all the breweries listed (Tree House, Trillium, HF, BB) will have something on tap, just TBD for now.

There will also be the General Admission beers not listed here - BIP members can also order the "normal" beers. Check my post from above, and @RKing44 's edits/updates for last year's list. JC from Trillium already said they're bringing a brand new beer for the fest, and Tree House posted (and @HopJamVT re-tweeted) a photo of Nelson Sauvin hops 4 days ago... I'm thinking that's probably what's coming up to Hop Jam.

Don't worry, those non-IPA beers listed are just to mix things up. There's also two cideries coming to the event, but the way I'm looking at it - more beers for me!

 

Those are the beers available for BIPs from 11am-12pm, dude. All the "highly anticipated" beers will be later in the day.

I'm hoping they learned from last year and will stagger the highly anticipated beers a little more this year instead of running out three hours before the event ends.

 

Its this weekend!! Who wants to join me in speculating wildly as to what each of the breweries will bring?!

anyone think theres a shot of Tree House bringing Good Morning?!
(Tree House (et al) if you're reading this, please bring Good Morning)

 

aaaand if I had just taken a moment to look, I would have seen that Bissell Bros has tweeted what they are bringing.

looks like:

Substance
Seed
Lux
Baby Genius

(don't know whether I can link on these forums or what, but its on the VT Hop Jam twitter)

 

I'd be ecstatic if we see Good Morning, but considering that Treehouse and Trillium had the best beers of the day by far (IMO) last year I'll be happy with whatever they bring. They posted a very partial list yesterday that looks good to me, can't wait for Saturday, it's been a long week!

 

For a "Hop Jam" there seem to be quite a few non-hoppy beers so I wouldn't put it past TH to bring a sixtel of Good Morning, or perhaps a variant (GM on Vanilla Beans?) but I'd say it's doubtful.

Question about last year - do they tap everything at once, or do a random sampling of kegs throughout the day? Hop Jam's latest post on Twitter is just confusing... "The following list is a selection of the beers will be tapped at 12pm..." Huh?

 

They tap throughout the day. If I'm not mistaken that partial list is what will be tapped right at 12, and there will be lots more different stuff throughout the day. Trillium posted a pic of some nelson sauvin weeks ago, can't wait to see what they bring.

 

Trillium Brewing on Twitter



(mic check) Headroom double IPA brewed for #hopjam Saturday 8.22 at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont @hopjamvt

Headroom DIPA bottles (limit 4) & growler fills (limit 64oz) Friday 8.21 at the brewery at noon