The Alchemist Brewing Closing Retail Shop!

zombi69 · Post by **zombi69** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:38 pm

Happening Nov 15th

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=208041 ... closure%2F

MatttthewGeorge · Post by **MatttthewGeorge** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:52 pm

And I was going there on Nov 25. FUCK!

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:18 pm

MatttthewGeorge wrote:And I was going there on Nov 25. FUCK!

You can still find their beer. In fact for those of us who don't mind visiting a few bottle shops, it might be easier to find. They've said that production will stay constant and they parent' adding any new accounts, which means that the cases that were sold from their retail shop will simply be distributed now.

So Winooski Beverage (for example) might get 50 cases now instead of 25 with each delivery (making up numbers for argument's sake).

rejtable · Post by **rejtable** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 6:55 pm

I can't see how this will make it any easier to get some. It may make it easier for residents of Burlington or Montpellier to get it, but overall at best this will be a wash.

I suspect that, for your average beer tourist, this will make it a lot harder to get. At least before, as long as you were willing to show up at the cannery between Monday morning and Thursday afternoon, you were pretty much guaranteed of getting cans with some peak weekends excepted.

Now, the distribution for those cans will be more dispersed, and urban working folks will find it a lot easier to pop over to Winooski, Pearl or the Co-Op at lunch to get their fill.

instantkamera · Post by **instantkamera** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:23 pm

MatttthewGeorge wrote:And I was going there on Nov 25. FUCK!

Are you taking orders

j/k

Speaking of which, does anyone know if retailers are enforcing the same 2 case limit (or other limits)? If not, that could make it REALLY tough to get for a beer tourist as it will probably get snatched up pretty quickly by the locals. If so, and it's a smaller limit (say, 6 cans max) it may not be worth the trip.

jp_jkl · Post by **jp_jkl** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:45 pm

I was in Vermont last weekend and got ridiculously lucky finding Heady Topper.

Healthy Living Market in South Burlington was loading the shelves with Heady at 5pm on a Monday while I was there buying groceries. They had a six 4-pack limit, or 1 case. City Market Onion River in downtown Burlington had Heady Topper on the shelves when they opened their doors on a Tuesday morning. I was down the street at a record shop buying the new Arcade Fire record and stopped walking back to my car.

I imagine the Alchemist's shipping schedule could change in light of these changes but I hope that helps someone get this delicious beer.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:10 am

Good on them for trying to be a good neighbour. I don't know the community they operate in, but I do know it can be tough when a 'cottage' business takes off and outgrows the local infrastructure. I think it's an indicator of a responsible business that takes a step back and looks for a better way.
As for the accusations that people were using their neighbour's lawn as a turn-around, if true, speaks to a quality of asshole they didn't need as a customer anyway.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:24 am

Buddy of mine that travels there all the time and has family in the area said that there has been a lot of dis respect to the neighbors by the patrons to the Alchemist.

People waiting in line or parking on their lawn, yes parking on their lawn. It's pretty close the buildings. So as the brewery has gotten busier over time the lives of their neighbors has become "more chaotic".

From an article my buddy read is that they are potentially looking for a new space for just their own retail outlet, which would solve their problems and make this just a temporary situation.

Hopefully this is the case.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:41 am

I went there last winter as part of a ski trip (stayed in Waterbury), visited the Alchemist on a canning day and picked up some beer no problem. Did not see any of the issues that have been raised about disturbances - perhaps the brewery has seen exponentially more visits in recent months or maybe everything is just a bit blown out of proportion.

I do find it strange that for a town like Waterbury, where tourism is a big business (Ben & Jerry's is there too) that the residents would have such an issue. Perhaps it is simply their immediate neighbours raising hell.

When I went to the Vermont Brewers Fest in the summer, I stopped into the Beverage Warehouse and they had Heady available. And this was a time where the city was full of visitors - and all beer guys to boot. This doesn't strike me where the product won't be able to be found anymore. Just more inconvenient for the dudes on the east coast who are used to driving up in a single day to haul cases home - and seem to be complaining about it the most online.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:57 am

From what I understand, it's the immediate neighbors.

While news of the closing was greeted with grief-stricken comments by customers who crashed the Heady Topper website Tuesday afternoon, it drew a big sigh of relief from Amy Kinsell, who owns the house next door to the brewery, "The busier they’ve gotten, the more chaotic my life has gotten,"

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:01 am

When I was there over the summer I didn't see anything like that. Lots of parking around back, I don't see why anyone would park on the lawn.

You'd think they could just build the neighbour a fence to keep people off his lawn. There must be more to it than that.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:28 am

Vermonters hate commotion. I know one of hill farmstads neighbours is monstrously unhappy with all the people driving and parking on hill road to visit the brewery.

Alchemist is supposed to be opening a new retail space at some point.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:50 am

I wonder if there is more to it than just pissing off the neighbors. I mean demand seems like it has taken off. But if a lot of that demand is from tourists who are there once, buy a ton and then maybe never come back. If thats cleans out a significant portion of your supply it could lead to problems. I mean you don't want to piss off your bar and store accounts who have regular orders week after week, because people who are essentially non-repeat customers cleaned out your supply.

jrenihan · Post by **jrenihan** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:07 pm

sprague11 wrote:Vermonters hate commotion. I know one of hill farmstads neighbours is monstrously unhappy with all the people driving and parking on hill road to visit the brewery.

That doesn't surprise me at all. When I visited HF, I immediatetly began wondering what the neighbours must think about hordes of beer geeks swarming them 5 days a week. I love HF, but I have some sympathy for the neighbours!
Ren

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:14 pm

jrenihan wrote: That doesn't surprise me at all. When I visited HF, I immediatetly began wondering what the neighbours must think about hordes of beer geeks swarming them 5 days a week. I love HF, but I have some sympathy for the neighbours!
Ren

That's what I was thinking. I was there a few years ago and since then (just based on following facebook and other sites) they have gotten more and more popular. It is pretty much a quiet rural area with a tiny little gravel road up to the farm. I can't imagine what it is like on weekends, or during bottle releases or during one of their events.