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The "Sugarbush Thread"

Hawk

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Man, I am not sure why Mother nature is so pissed off at the Bush. That R#@ Saturday night could not have been more poorly timed. You have to feel bad for them. Lets hope that this week brings better fortune.
 

rocks860

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Birch run was pretty good on the run I took, the groomed stuff was pretty smooth and not icy except for a portion at the bottom. Time to venture over to heavens gate


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flakeydog

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Feb 7, 2014
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I will ski anything and like Eric said on the MRG report, always better skiing than working. Saturday was fine in my book, trails firm but you could dig in. Sunday was less so to say the least. We always manage just fine but there are some friends and family that visit that I may have steered them clear on Sunday. I did see a few skiers having some "moments" on lower snowball. I will say there were several bright spots over the weekend though. Black Diamond and Upper Bravo skied ok, nice to have something open in that category. The temps were somewhat moderate, nice to be above zero for a while. Hot Shot was the pick o' the day on Sunday, almost bumps on the skiers left side. Finally, I have to give major props to the next generation of skiers here. If anyone caught any of the mogul competition Saturday on Elbow, these kids were giving their all in about the toughest conditions I could imagine. Keep it up! On Sunday, some of my crew had to train Slalom on Spring Fling, again in less than ideal conditions. Way to go, takes a lot of guts to go out and put yourself out there in these conditions.
-
 

rocks860

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Well ripcord was surprisingly decent, not as icy as I was expecting. Steins was ok, not really icy but very chunky. Top of snowball was very very nice but spring fling was god awful. And for once downspout was actually the easiest/nicest route to get to heavens gate. Lower jester leading to the lift was literally just an ice skating rink


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mikec142

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Anyone been to alchemist recently? How early is it a good idea to get there in the morning to not have to wait forever/get beer. I’m planning on going Wednesday morning

The Alchemist opens at 11am. With the new brewery these days, there really isn't a wait. Especially mid-week.

There are two lines. One line for tasting (they usually have Heady Topper, Focal Banger and Crusher). I think the longest I've waited for a taste is 2-3 minutes. The second line is to buy stuff (beer and Alchemist swag). The past 7-8x that I've been there I haven't waited more than 5 minutes on the "to buy" line.

Unless you're a fanatic who wants to ask the guys at the brewery a million questions or who wants to just revel in the fact that you're tasting Heady Topper at the source, I can't see spending more that 20-30 minutes there. A couple of minutes to taste, a couple of minutes to decide on what you're going to buy while milling around with all the other craft beer lovers, a couple of minutes to pay, and a couple of minutes to carry the stuff to the car.

I love it and make it a point to stop and grab some beer, cheese, and hot sauce almost every time we are up there, but it's always a quick in and out experience.

As a side note, if you're heading to the Alchemist from the Sugarbush area, there is a new coffee place on Route 100 just north of Ben and Jerry's called Vermont Artisan Coffee (you can't miss it, big red barn with a huge sign) that serves great coffee and pastries.
 

rocks860

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The Alchemist opens at 11am. With the new brewery these days, there really isn't a wait. Especially mid-week.

There are two lines. One line for tasting (they usually have Heady Topper, Focal Banger and Crusher). I think the longest I've waited for a taste is 2-3 minutes. The second line is to buy stuff (beer and Alchemist swag). The past 7-8x that I've been there I haven't waited more than 5 minutes on the "to buy" line.

Unless you're a fanatic who wants to ask the guys at the brewery a million questions or who wants to just revel in the fact that you're tasting Heady Topper at the source, I can't see spending more that 20-30 minutes there. A couple of minutes to taste, a couple of minutes to decide on what you're going to buy while milling around with all the other craft beer lovers, a couple of minutes to pay, and a couple of minutes to carry the stuff to the car.

I love it and make it a point to stop and grab some beer, cheese, and hot sauce almost every time we are up there, but it's always a quick in and out experience.

As a side note, if you're heading to the Alchemist from the Sugarbush area, there is a new coffee place on Route 100 just north of Ben and Jerry's called Vermont Artisan Coffee (you can't miss it, big red barn with a huge sign) that serves great coffee and pastries.

I’ll have to check that out. I drove up to Stowe last night as I was bored and I wanted to get some dinner at piecasso. Glad to here alchemist isn’t a mess, I’m used to going to treehouse and waiting an hour to get beer


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djd66

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We can complain til we are blue in the head about how much the skiing sucks now - we just need some F#@*ing snow! I do truly feel bad for the Mtn this year - they just have not had any breaks. (Xmas + New Years being too cold and rain before MLK) If i were Win,... I would not want to be looking at any financials. Let's just hope things turn around for part 2 of the season.
 

KustyTheKlown

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heady topper is overrated. as far as Vermont IPAs go, I'd take foley brothers over alchemist every day.

eat at doc ponds.
 

rocks860

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heady topper is overrated. as far as Vermont IPAs go, I'd take foley brothers over alchemist every day.

eat at doc ponds.

Disagree, I’ve had both and I wasn’t a fan of the foley brothers. Wasn’t bad but definitely wasn’t heady topper


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KustyTheKlown

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heady tastes kind of muddy to me. I can't exactly put my finger on what I don't like about it. dark, grassy, muddy are the words I use tho.

foley bros, particularly the prospect and the triple maiden, are bright, floral, citrusy. much more to my liking

on that same note, I think the focal banger is way better than the heady too, for the same reasons. heady gets a LOT of hype and I just don't think it lives up to the same

hill farmstead is obviously tops, but they aren't so IPA focused. they're my easy favorite for sour/farmhouse beers, and stouts/porters.
 

jimmywilson69

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Heady is still a great beer. There are just better beers in Vermont. that being said I have had Heady in My fridge non-stop for 3 years.

I like the Foley brothers Beer. If you haven' had any offerings from Foam, Burlington beer, or Frost, you should.
 

rocks860

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heady tastes kind of muddy to me. I can't exactly put my finger on what I don't like about it. dark, grassy, muddy are the words I use tho.

foley bros, particularly the prospect and the triple maiden, are bright, floral, citrusy. much more to my liking

on that same note, I think the focal banger is way better than the heady too, for the same reasons. heady gets a LOT of hype and I just don't think it lives up to the same

hill farmstead is obviously tops, but they aren't so IPA focused. they're my easy favorite for sour/farmhouse beers, and stouts/porters.

Literally just finished an Edward at castle rock pub. Heady and Julius from treehouse are probably my 2 favorite iPas. I like the heady because it’s got the hop punch but doesn’t have that super bitter aftertaste. The Julius is much more citrusy but the heady is a double ipa and the Julius isn’t. If I remember correctly the focal banger is the single


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KustyTheKlown

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Heady is still a great beer. There are just better beers in Vermont. that being said I have had Heady in My fridge non-stop for 3 years.

I like the Foley brothers Beer. If you haven' had any offerings from Foam, Burlington beer, or Frost, you should.

love frost and btv beer. have not tried/heard of foam.

I got two 750s from back acre last week and I'm eager to try. will try one soon and let the other age

Florence from HF may be my favorite beer in the world. I'm a sucker for a nice tart farmhouse ale. suarez near Hudson NY makes great beers in that style too.
 

rocks860

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Heady is still a great beer. There are just better beers in Vermont. that being said I have had Heady in My fridge non-stop for 3 years.

I like the Foley brothers Beer. If you haven' had any offerings from Foam, Burlington beer, or Frost, you should.

I had the it’s complicated being a wizard from bbc and it was very good but there was a whole lot of sediment in the bottom of the can which was pretty gross


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jimmywilson69

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I had the it’s complicated being a wizard from bbc and it was very good but there was a whole lot of sediment in the bottom of the can which was pretty gross


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that's just yeast. Not gross its what made that beer be beer! With the unfiltered "Northeast" style beer, it doesn't hurt to turn the beer over before opening.

@krusty... Foam is in downtowns Burlington. Excellent beer.
 

KustyTheKlown

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yea, with unfiltered beers, just give the can/bottle a roll to spread the sediment. it's not "gross" tho I can see why some people find it offputting.
 

Hawk

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love frost and btv beer. have not tried/heard of foam.

I got two 750s from back acre last week and I'm eager to try. will try one soon and let the other age

Florence from HF may be my favorite beer in the world. I'm a sucker for a nice tart farmhouse ale. suarez near Hudson NY makes great beers in that style too.
Yes. Hill Farmstead, Frost and I also like Fiddlehead a lot. Also Sip-o-sunshine. Lawsons bought the rent-all building in Waitsfield and is building a welcome center similar to the Alchemist in Stowe. It will be interesting to see what different offerings they will have.
 

KustyTheKlown

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Lawson's is doing a lot of their brewing off-site in Connecticut now. noticed this when I bought a sip o sunshine in Brooklyn and it had a small print notice that it was canned in ct
 

Hawk

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In order to keep up with demand they have been using that facility in CT. Not sure what their deal was. I think the main purpose of buy the Rent-all building was to move production back up to VT. I am sure all the details will come out.
 
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