Wolaver's Ceasing Production

Sorry to see this line fade away. My favorite is the Alta Gracia Coffee Porter. Glad they are closing their production with that style.

I am going out to get me some of that for sure!

 

My beer distributor told me it's no longer available. Tried to get 4 cases. I have a very good relationship with them so I can say it's not available. Bummer since it was a great sub $36 case of great organic beer. Maybe we will get a redux non organic for less $.

Enjoy

 

Can someone give me a hierarchy or family tree of these breweries? Wolaver's and Outer Creek were the same brewery or owned by one? Is Long Trail in their too or just in the same niche/from Vermont?

 

Long Trail bought them.

http://archive.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091201/NEWS02/91130016/Long-Trail-buy-Otter-Creek

 

Crap! As I read this I was drinking their Alta Gracia Coffee Porter for the first time and was really enjoying it. I'll scratch that off my "to buy again" list...

 

Not a surprise to hear at all ... not much noise coming from that brand for a good while now. Glad to see Ottercreek and Longtrail doing different things.

 

I really enjoyed Alta Gracia Porter. It was one of my first coffee beers.

 

Couch Surfer is the same recipe as Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout except organic grain has been replaced. Also, I'm told, O. C. will produce a coffee porter again some day. Really like their changes this year.

 

There is a "farm to table" restaurant near me that only has organic beer and wine on the menu. I guess they'll only have Sam Smith's organic stuff on the menu now.

 

There are a few other organic breweries distributed in our state of PA...like Peak Organic, Fish Tale, and Uinta have organic beer options, but Wolaver's was one of the bigger names.

 

I just had Couch Surfer for the first time this past weekend. Definitely a world-class beer and a worthy successor to the organic version.

 

The good news is...at least they didn't sell out.

 

Sorry if anyone already made a thread about this. Not recent news, but I thought it was worth discussing.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/blog/2015/12/03/wolavers-organic-ales-closed/

I'm disappointed to see them go. The brand had a lot of nice balanced, subtle brews that I enjoyed. VT has a ton of intense IPAs, so it was nice to have a more relaxed version every once in awhile. I also liked their logo of a farmer pounding a growler of beer out in a field. Trying to pick up bottles in stores while I still can, both for labels and for one more chance at a Wolaver beer.

Anyone else think that Shed will get cut at some point too? I know that Shed used to be a big name in Stowe, but it seems like nowadays it is just a side brand used by Otter Creek to capitalize on some of the nostalgia of the old location. I think at some point it will hurt Otter Creek to waste time producing beers under a branding that fewer people recognize and are less likely to buy.

 

very sad to see them go, some of the first craft i had was Wolavers brown ale. their oatmeal stout was always a go to for me. i'm just glad i was able to pick up a case of Alta Gracia before it's gone, possibly my favorite coffee beer ever. also i agree on the logo, definitely one of my favorite brewery logos, so iconic. it is pretty nice to see OCB pursuing non-gmo ingredients as well.

i don't think shed will be cut anytime soon, especially with the brewery expansion currently happening. that will allow OCB to continue to make large batches of year-round brews as well as new brews, but also allow Shed beers to stay in production too. i could be completely wrong about all of this, but that is my take on it.

 

Damn I am a fan of their dark ales. Although I'm as guilty as anyone else of not purchasing very often in favor of "sexier" beers. Alta Gracia Coffee Porter was often one of only a few craft offerings at largely BMC bars, that's mostly where I enjoyed them.

 

I dont think it would be anytime soon, but maybe a couple years in the future. Otter Creek has been growing quite a bit and gaining a lot of popularity and brand recognition outside of VT this past year. Shed has stayed pretty dormant, from what I've seen. If that trend continues, Otter Creek will eventually get to the point where it doesnt make sense to keep making Shed beers. They will have to decide betweenusing their capacity to make a Shed beer that caters to a small population of local Vermonters, or a much more popular Otter Creek beer than can be distributed to a much larger fanbase spread out over multiple states.

Just speculating of course. Otter Creek could always throw some crazy beers into the Shed brand to keep it going strong.

 

I usually enjoyed the Wolaver's Line. Sorry to hear this.....

 

Bison Beer based in San Jose faces that exact issue. Organic hops are apparently very expensive and hard to come by without paying an arm and a leg. They have to rely on their very good chocolate stout. Basically, if you wanna be an organic focused Brewer, you better have great chops with malty beers.