Ghost Town

 Vermont, Heady Topper, Quilts, and Richard Thompson

Photo by Katie

We had tickets to see Richard Thompson on Saturday night in Albany, so decided to leave on Friday morning for a couple of days in Vermont and then catch the concert on the way home.  The original idea was to hit a few quilt shops (Katie's a quilter) and a couple of brew pubs (Vermont has great brewmeisters).  I had read about Heady Topper, a beer brewed by The Alchemist in Waterbury, VT that is rated by The Beer Advocate as the best beer in the world.  I did a little research and they have no pub (it was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011), but they still brew beer.  They used to sell 70% of their output in their parking lot, but had to cease because of traffic issues and public access concerns.  It's now sold at independent beer stores and they post the days they make deliveries.  They deliver in the Stowe area on Fridays, so we decided to drive up there.  I had read some horror stories about people coming from far away to buy it, so figured I'd be lucky to get any  Scoring some Heady Topper became a quest for Katie and she doesn't drink.  She was determined to not leave empty handed.  We stopped at a deli that was on the distribution list and I went inside.  The guy said he was sold out, he got his delivery (only 5 cases - they only brew 180 barrels per week - that's 5,580 gallons) and it was gone in 5 minutes.  He said it normally takes 15 minutes.  The second store we stopped at was sold out.  The third store we stopped at had not received their delivery yet.  Lots of people hanging around with MA, CT, and RI plates.  I was talking to a local who said to try the Edelweis Market a couple of miles up the road.  I drove there and got the last 4-pack. The lady at the register said she had once gotten a phone call from someone from Virginia who was on his way and wanted to buy a 4-pack over the phone with his credit card (she sold it to him).  There was a liquor store across the street and we bought 2 4-packs there.  The guy said the delivery had just been made and 3 of his 5 cases were already gone.  It's a good thing that Katie is such an optimist.  Because of her, the beer run aspect of the trip was a success.  I would have given up after the first couple of stops.  Are people my age really allowed to go on a beer run?  Yeah!!!!!

"This Double IPA is not intended to be the strongest or most bitter DIPA. It is brewed to give you wave after wave of hop flavor without any astringent bitterness. We brew Heady Topper with a proprietary blend of six hops – each imparting its own unique flavor and aroma. Take a big sip of Heady and see what hop flavors you can pick out. Orange? Tropical Fruit? Pink Grapefruit? Pine? Spice? There is just enough malt to give this beer some backbone, but not enough to take the hops away from the center stage."

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We did visit a few quilt shops.  We visited shops near Londonderry (The Waterwheel House is a good one - even I bought a couple of things there), Chester and Waitsfield.  Vermont is so beautiful at this time of year and we had sunny weather the entire time we were there.  It was fun just cruising the back roads (all roads in Vermont are back roads).

• 1. Stony Ground 
  2. The Ghost of You Walks 
  3. Valerie 
  4. Johnny's Far Away 
  5. Pharaoh 
  6. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning 
  7. Dry My Tears and Move On 
  8. Good Things Happen to Bad People 
  9. Persuasion 
  10. Read About Love 
  11. Genesis Hall 
      (Fairport Convention song)
  12. WWI Project Song Fragments 
  13. I Misunderstood 
  14. Wall of Death 
      (Richard & Linda Thompson cover)
  15. I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight 
  16. Hope You Like the New Me 
  17. Encore:
  17. Beeswing 
  18. I Feel So Good

We've seen Richard a number of times now (16 or 18?).  It was a great weekend.