Why does The Alchemist only brew one beer?

Also, with the craft beer craze, as soon as Alchemist start selling their old brew pub beer for growler fills, we'll see a new BA thread with people complaining the Alchemist should be using those barrels and time to make more Heady Topper. Just wait and in less than two months from now, someone will complain that the Alchemist should be making more Heady Topper instead of their old brew pub recipes.

The first brew pub beer will be an Imperial Red hopped the same way/schedule/varieties as Heady Topper. The growler station should be installed by now. Also, based on what others have said, the Alchemist will only fill their own aluminum growlers, so they may be waiting until they get enough growlers to sell before starting the growler fills.

 

No offense, but that is a very strange analogy : )

 

None taken. I'm a very strange guy.

 

They are unique in many ways. Obviously the brewer doesn't have a problem with brewing one beer. They sell out faster than they can make it. So why do they need to making anything else? The Alchemist was very successful before they even started canning HT so they don't really have anything to prove by making other beers.

I think they would just like to level out demand without having to expand any further. If at some point they are able to meet that demand and have space to can something else I'm sure they will consider that. With the growler station installed I guess the main question in this thread is not so relevant anymore. But describing the Alchemist as a one-trick-pony is incredibly ignorant.

 

The better question is why does The Alchemist only distribute a gluten free beer outside of Vermont? A shitty one at that.

 

They built the cannery while their brew pub was still up and running, no? So were they originally going to brew HT exclusively while they operated their brew pub or did they just do that after the brew pub was destroyed?

 

It's probably been said, but they do 2 beers (or did) and will be doing more (growler fills) and they did a lot more before Hurricane Irene

 

I've seen the gluten free in cans in retail locations in MA. It doesn't fly off the shelves, but it's made and sold.

 

An excellent point.

 

I think he contracted that out to Mercury Brewing. Not a bad saison considering it was gluten free. Would hardly call it shitty though. He came up with the beer for his wife who has celiac disease, thus the name.

 

Sweet story, but its not a good beer. Shitty was a bit harsh

 

Where was their brew pub? I was just getting into the craft brew scene when the Hurricane hit... having been to Waterbury a few times since, I am curious to know where they were and what is there now.

 

It was in the location where Prohibition Pig is now.

 

Ok, thanks. Went to the Pig for the first time on Thursday. Thanks again.

 

Better to do one thing very well than a dozen mediocre. This is the problem with Sam Adams IMO, they spread things out too much, and brew some real crap. Better to have a few that you do very well. I don't sweat HT branching out, I hope they don't to be honest.

 

They make two.

 

Well the word is that the beers at the pub were ever bit as good as HT (which not being blown away by HT doesn't surprise me).

disclaimer: NOT saying HT is bad.

 

If you saw how small their operational space was you'd understand why they are so ltd. I love HT, but I think Abrasive is a little better, but that's my opinion. The local competation makes some great rival brews as well. HF is a prime example of how you can be a small nano brew and do killer right down the line. Lawson makes superb Hoppy brews too.

 

Why brew anything else? They make one beer, and it's THE shining example of the style as voted upon by its peers. In fact, in that same respect, it's the best beer on EARTH. In ANY style.

Why make anything else when you're in the middle of nowhere, continue to expand production, and still sell out in a couple days even when limiting patrons to 2 cases? They're probably selling the beer too cheaply.

 

Why brew anything else?

Probably because if they did, this forum would be full of moaners pissed off that they couldn't get their car filled with Heady since production rates got reduced to make other beers.