The Alchemist Pub & Brewery
As Another Hurricane Looms, Stone Helps Rebuild From Another
While another hurricane blows ashore, Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA) is helping rebuild from another disaster. Her name was Irene – a hurricane that damaged and flooded most of the east coast. One part of the country, in Waterbury, Vermont, the floodwaters were so great, they literally washed away The Alchemist brewpub.
This prompted a very special collaboration with Stone Brewing Co, Ninkasi, and The Alchemist dubbed More Brown Than Black IPA. The group’s collaboration raised more that $115,000 dollars to The Waterbury Good Neighbor Fund. A non profits helping clean up after the catastrophe. To date, the fund has distributed nearly $400,000 to people in need.
“Helping the Waterbury community and our fellow brethren at The Alchemist Pub and Brewery is what the craft beer industry is all about,” Greg Koch, Stone Brewing Co. CEO and co-founder stated. “As soon Mitch heard about the flooding, he immediately reached out to John, and asked how he could assist. We hope these funds will help Waterbury continue to rebuild.”
The Alchemist Bottling Gluten Free Saison
The Alchemist (Waterbury, VT) will be bottling their gluten-free saison – Celia Saison. (Word play of celiac disease?)
…we are proud to announce that we are bottling our first batch of Celia Saison tomorrow at Mercury Brewing. Our award-winning gluten-free Belgian-style Saison was just begging to be produced, and we just don’t have the resources to do it justice. For now, we are brewing 70 barrels a month of this, and it will be available in Massachusetts and Vermont in the next few weeks. With time and increased production, it will spread throughout New England.
Collaboration!
…we have decided to brew a collaboration for the Vermont Brewers Festival in July. Initial conversations have some sort of ridiculously hoppy, devastatingly delicious stout of some sorts… Should be fun and delicious no matter what we decide upon.
Style: Saison (Gluten Free)
Availability: 750ml bottles
Arrival: TBA
Alchemist Heady Topper Arriving In Massachusetts
Great to see better news for The Alchemist (Waterbury, VT) after losing their brewpub in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Heady Topper, a hoppy imperial IPA that hit cans shortly after the destruction will be available in Massachusetts the second week of February (about right now.) The brewery was finalizing the work on a cannery a few miles away from the brewpub last year. It was undamaged allowing the beer to ship out as planned. Since then, it has rocketed to the top of the beer geek want lists. It’s damn good too. Congrats to The Alchemist and the thirsty people of Massachusetts. This IPA is bitter, like the Patriots are feeling right now. [Boston.com]
Stone/Ninkasi/Alchemist More Brown Than Black For Vermont
Stone, Ninkasi, and The Alchemist have collaborated on a new brew benefitting the Vermont victims of Irene. The floodwaters of Irene completely destroyed the The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vermont.
IPA, in American Craft Brew lexicon, has come to mean so much more than a hoppy British style ale designed for export. Brewing an IPA is an opportunity for today’s craft brewers to showcase the magnificence and versatility of the hop, and to explore the wonderful aromas and flavors that the myriad of hop varieties can provide to ales. It is without a doubt, the most exciting ale style for me to brew.
I am thrilled to brew this brown (not quite black) IPA with John Kimmich and Jamie Floyd. John is a New England brewing legend, and one of the very first brewers of the Black IPA (a style have come to love here at Stone) at the Vermont Pub and Brewery, and now at the Alchemist. And Jamie’s Oregon roots are no less impressive; his hop forward offerings at Ninkasi have been favorite of ours for a long time. The fact that the proceeds of this collaboration are going to help Vermont victims of Hurricane Irene (like John himself) is icing on the cake.
For this ale, we used only newer hop varieties. They were hard to get but totally worth the effort: Nelson Sauvin and Delta for flavor, and a dry-hop with Galaxy and Citra. Have fun tasting and enjoying these wonderful, fruity, herbal and spicy hop flavors!
Style: Black IPA
Hops: Citra, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Delta
Availability: 12oz bottles
Arrival: TBA
7.4% ABV
Sadly, No Alchemist Rebuild
I’ve been following the story of The Alchemist Brewpub & Brewery in Waterbury, Vermont. They suffered catastrophic damage to the brewpub when flood waters from Hurricane Irene attacked the town. The Kimmichs, founders of The Alchemist were very positive in the wake of tragedy, vowing to rebuild. The cannery was out of the flood zone, things were looking up. That is – until the insurance company informed them that the basement- where the brewery/brewpub resided was NOT covered.
That is has proved to be the nail in the coffin for the rebuild. In a letter soon published on their website:
Hello friends and fellow business owners.
First and foremost, thank you for all of your assistance and encouragement in the months following the flood. This experience was a challenge made easier by your outpouring of support.
We have made the very difficult decision not to re-open The Alchemist Pub and Brewery. While it is extremely difficult to walk away from the business we have spent our last 10 years building, this is the best option for us moving forward. There were many factors that helped us come to this decision. Primarily, we have recently learned that none of the contents in our basement were covered by flood insurance. Unfortunately, our basement was the lifeblood of our business — our brewery, our beer, all of our food and our offices were in the basement. Moving forward, we have come to the realization that re-building our basement brewery is not a viable option.
At this time, we are focused on reconstructing our building at 23 South Main Street. Zoning has been approved to re-build a 60-seat pub. John and I are determined to re-build as fast as possible to contribute to the vitality of downtown Waterbury. We are in talks with a few different restaurateurs to take over the space. We will find the best fit for Waterbury — someone who can continue to run the pub in a warm, friendly and accessible manner, and provide employment opportunities to our staff.
The Alchemist will continue to be involved in the village of Waterbury. As property owners, we will continue to put our best foot forward with the aesthetics of the building. It is our belief that without the day-to-day operations of the pub and brewery, we will be able to spend more time on community focused special events. Moreover, and probably most important, we will move our 7-barrel brewery to our new production brewery at 35 Crossroad. Once we have installed the brewery, John will be hard at work to supply the community with his creative and tasty small production beers.
If anyone has any questions or concerns about the future of our building or The Alchemist, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Warm Regards,
Jennifer & John Kimmich
The Alchemist
Luckily, there will be more Heady Topper and other tasty canned delights coming from The Alchemist, as they focus on their production brewery. Sadly, the local watering hole seems to be gone for good.
Stone, Ninkasi, & The Alchemist Collaborating To Benefit Irene Victims
UPDATE: The beer will be called will be called More Brown Than Black IPA & will feature 4 different hops & around 70+ IBUs. The beer will use The Alchemist’s house yeast strain.
More details to follow – Stone Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, and The Alchemist are collaborating on a beer to benefit victims of Hurricane Irene. As you’ll recently recall, Vermont based Alchemist was destroyed by floods following Hurricane Irene. They were able still release Heady Topper in cans, as it was outside the flood area. [Stone]
