Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Heady Topper

Hi Y'all, it's C-pher again...and I have something to tell you....

There's a brewery in Waterbury, VT called The Alchemist.  They are known for brewing one beer, and one beer only, Heady Topper. It's so good that there's a black market out there for this beer.  One Mrs Stephanie Hoffman was arrested for selling a case on Craigslist for $825 for 120 cans.  Yes, this is the real deal.

This is one of the American Double IPAs that Beeradvocate gave a perfect score.  And when you taste it, you can understand why.  The first thing that you see is that this is NOT TO BE poured into a glass. It says right there on top to....

  

And that's what you want to do!  Pop the top and enjoy that aroma that will emit from that little hole in the top.  The first thing that hits you is that citrus hoppy goodness, it's strong, it's amazing and your mouth just starts to water.  If you've had this, you know what's coming, if you haven't, right now you are thinking, "OH MY, THIS SMELLS AMAZING!!!"  And you're going to be pleasantry surprised.

Once you get that can up to your lips and you take your first sip...you get hops, and lots of them...wonderful, tasty hops.  At first it's sweet, citric, and you're thinking, how is this a little bit of both at once?  Then you remember seeing that it's an 8% brew...and you realize that it's not harsh and kinda dry...then comes the change, the pine, the grapefruit..and you think to yourself that there's just SO MUCH going on here.  You have to take another sip...and that all starts over again.

I have a good friend that turned me on to this during one of our bottle shares in his basement.  Then, a few months later another friend brings over two of them to share.  So, what do I do...I take that same friend that shared her last two cans on a pilgrimage to VT to get more.  If you do choose to head up to VT to get your very own cans of Heady, I suggest that you look here, pick the day that you're going to be in town...and call to see what time they get their shipments.  Most places will sell out in hours upon delivery...if not quicker.  We went to a lot of places that received their deliveries on the day we were there and only found two places that had any in stock....and they only allowed one four pack per person.   

These cats are only brewing this one beer, and when you drink it, you know why.  This is all they need to brew.  I'm pretty happy that the Kimmichs decided to start brewing this beer.  Glad that they decided to can this beer to keep the freshness in said can.  Glad that I've heard that they are in process of expansion.  It seems that they brew 120 barrels a week, and each week EVERYTHING they brew is gone.  And this beer doesn't make it outside of about 20 miles from Waterbury. 

So...if you want to get it, and you don't have a friend that will bring you some or share with you...then you better get in the car, drive up to VT and do what we all do, HUNT!

Why would anyone go to Vermont for anything other than Beer and Food?

Hi Everyone!  C-pher here...Today we're going to talk about a little trip that I took last weekend that was pretty much nothing other than Beer, Beer, Guns, and more beer...and then guns again.

It started with a leisurely drive from Foxboro, MA heading up to Burlington, VT.  Why Vermont you may ask?

Vermont

Standout stat: 6.2 craft breweries per 100,000 residents
In most of our columns, Vermont had barely anything going for it (except for per-capita consumption, where it places seventh). But then, we hit breweries. When you think about how small Vermont is compared Oregon — the overall leader in craft breweries per 100,000 — it’s mind-blowing that the Green Mountain State is just a 10th of a point away from winning the category outright. Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Harpoon, and Long Trail are VT-based or -produced labels with strong regional distribution, but the harder-to-get prize is Alchemist’s Heady Topper, a chrome-canned double IPA so coveted there’s an actual black market for it. Well done, Vermont. Well done indeed.

How can you pass that kind of information up?? 

First stop of the day?  Target in NH...where in NH?  I have no idea, but got off the exit on 93 in MA and found a Target in NH...so when we got back onto 93, we missed all the Tolls.  

Bounty at NH Target? Snacks, Water, Gatorade and Monsters, Gloves and a coffee. Tax Free!

Next Stop, Shooters Warehouse.  Friend finds a shotgun, I found an 8 pounder of a powder a buddy has been looking for...Shotgun put on hold because they don't understand MA law.  We now have to wait for a call later that day or the next from the Compliance guy to make sure we can buy it...leave it on hold and drive to Riley's.  See an 8 pounder of Vargant and some .22 for the kids. SCORE!

Now it's time to start thinking about beer!!  So we drive, and we drive, and we drive...and we pull over in the parking lot at Long Trail just in time to have some lunch...and well...beer.

Eat, drink, and do the self guided tour and back on the road.

WE'RE NOW ON A MISSION!  

What kind of mission you ask?

We now living on the Alchemist's Where to Buy page looking for someone that has Heady Topper in stock.  Store, to store, to store...we find Lawson's, and just when stores are closing, we find two places in Stowe that still have a little left and we each were able to score two 4-packs.

We ended up with a lot more beer than that, as we kept finding good stuff along the way...and well...you can't get it here...so we get it there!

Time for Dinner, a few Heady Toppers and then time to catch The Revivalists.  

HOT DAMN WHAT A GREAT SHOW!

And it was great to find that the venue had a GREAT selection of local beers.

We're told that we HAVE to go to Three Needs in Burlington...we drive by...line down the street...we head back to the hotel...it's late and we have to get up early anyway.

(Visit with the Mayor of Sleepytown)

Insert Intermission Music here

Next morning, early rise and getting ready for early drinking.  Free Breakfast at the hotel...hard to get down, just a little hung over...but hey, that's what the Brew Tour was for...

Time for a little...

Head into Burlington for a date with the Burlington Brew Tour Bus!

We start off at Burlington Beer Company.  Sample a few beers, a few REALLY GOOD BEERS, (Everything is right with the world) tour the facility, meet some of our fellow tourers and back on the bus....because...

We're off to Switchback Brewing Company...another AMAZING tour of the brewery and more tastings.  I'm not as thrilled with these as I was with Burlington Beer...these beers seemed more geared to the casual beer drinker.  But we did find that this is the biggest drinked beer in VT

SIDE NOTE: We learned that VT has the highest consumption of Twisted Tea in the United States.

We're once again back on the bus and we're now headed to Fiddlehead Brewing.  They have some amazing beers, so it was great to be able to sample and pick up a few Growlers. Not only that, we just got there for a limited release of there Mastermind in cans.  We were able to get the last four pack available.  SCORE NUMBER TWO!

What could be better than Fiddlehead Beer you ask??  How about Folino's Wood Fired Pizza in the same building???  OH...MY...GOD!  Was this pizza great!! And what's better than Folino's Wood Fired Pizza in the same Building as Fiddlehead??

Man, y'all have some great questions!!

That Folino's Wood Fired Pizza is BYOB, and that the pizza was included in the price of the tour...as well as GROWLER after GROWLER of Fiddlehead beer.

Now we're stuffed, we're all talking, laughing, we're all now best friends.  (It's amazing how beer and food will do that to a group of people)  And we're back on the bus and headed to....

Magic Hat Brewing Company...another tour, some more beer, a VERY WEIRD video about the brewery...and an experience that was very odd, commercial and well...ODD.

We're back on the bus, talking about our favorite beers, our not so favorite beers, and where we're all going to meet later.  Back to the hotel, cleaned up, changed, call a cab and back out to Burlington for Dinner.

We end up at The Farm House Tap and Grill.  WOW, was the beer good, was the food amazing and were the people that worked there ever better.  PLACE WAS MOBBED!!  So we found seats at the bar and ate there instead of waiting two hours for a table...at 5:30 pm.  And it was only busier when we left around 7...and again when we walked by even later than that...

Now we're walking and found this little hole in the wall...have no idea what it's called...but they had a crappy pool table, a great jukebox and Fiddlehead on tap for 4 bucks a glass.  SCORE NUMBER THREE!! 

We have a few beers and then head over to Three Needs (take two), as everyone tells us that we HAVE to check this place out while we're in town.  We checked it out...wanted to go the night before, NO LINE!

Place was disappointing.  Not sure what the hype was, but meh at best.  I go outside to see about getting a cab, FREAKING LINE DOWN THE STREET!

GO HOME PEOPLE, THIS PLACE ISN'T GREAT!  Do you think that people listen??

Anyway, we find out the location of the cab stand and head out to catch a cab....wait...what do we hear?

HOLY MOLY, there's a great band playing in this bar...err....I don't know the name, no one remembered the name...but they had Heady Topper in cans, the had live music that was good...and it was WARM...so we stopped in for two more beers before heading to the Hotel.

Another morning, another few more ibuprofen, we missed breakfast at the hotel...and we're packing up the car.

Time to get on the road, leave this mecca of AMAZING Beers and go back to MA.

WAIT!  We still had a stop at Shooters Warehouse to pick up the shotgun that she wanted to purchase...yes, we found out just before the tour that it WAS MA Compliant (no one listens to me) and we stopped on the way home to grab that...

It was a great trip.  A lot of great beer, and an amazing bounty that we brought home...and the picture doesn't even show it all...

WAY TOO MUCH BEER, 18 pounds of powder and 1000 rounds of .22.  I call that a good trip...a better vacation, and a weekend that I will plan to do again.

Hello everyone!  This is C-pher and Dave over at Silver City Firearms in Taunton, MA.  This is the first post for us, so please be patient while we all grow this blog together.

We look forward to hearing from everyone, and if there's anything that you want to see, have reviewed or gone over...just let us know!!

And if you want to see what we have, then stop on over at www.silvercityfirearms.com