Jim Lawson <[email protected]> writes: > Really? Can you compare it to what's available at VPB and Flatbread? I've > never been to the Alchemist, but you've certainly piqued my interest. The > name alone is an attention-grabber.
Well, they're all superb, of course. :) VPB is not only an institution, but they have standard that are well refined and very good. I've been very happy with the seasonals and more limited brews they've done in the past few years. The Lupe, Spuyten Duyvil and Blackwatch are all great beers, and wonderful examples of their styles. The Maple porters and pales are well balanced beers with that wonderfully local notion. The more experimental stuff they've been trying recently is not working at all, imho (Absinthe and Ambergris, I'm looking at you) … hopefully spring will clear the palete, so to speak. Flatbread has foremost a great high-quality beer selection … seeking both to import or make available a number of excellent examples whether regional, domestic or international … as well as brew a number of beers themselves. They also seem to be at the forefront of hosting local beer tasting events, having had both Smuttynose and Dogfish Head tasting nights, recently. That being said, I've found their Zero Gravity beers to be … slightly underwhelming. They're good, just not great. At the same time, I've not been to Flatbread nearly enough, so I'm sure I under-represent it. The Alchemist brews are quite unfortunately not available to take away From the location … almost without exception, every beer I've had there is a great example of the style, if not tweaking or presenting it in an interesting way. The Sterk Wit is a beautifully clean and flavorful witbier (especially after a nice day of kayaking the Winooski. :) The Mis-information is strong and funky and crazy without being overwhelming. The Petit Mutant (when it was available) was sour and over the top and great (though I admit, the Spuyten Duyvil bests it, though they're slightly different styles). The focus seems to be on bringing quality to the glass and the table, and it shows. By way of example, the Alchemist always has lines thrice as long as their peers at the VT Brewers Festival … and for good reason. :) Alchemist: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/8227 VPB: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/860 Flatbread: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9784 -- ...jsled http://asynchronous.org/ - a=jsled; b=asynchronous.org; echo $...@${b}
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