The Alchemist Pub And Brewery

On Thursday, June 10, from 5:30pm – 7:00pm we are delighted to host a very special evening celebrating the beauty and bounty that is Vermont artisanal cheesemaking.

Mingle in our bar and sample cheese provided by Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery.

Allison Hooper, Founder and Co-Owner of Vermont Butter and Cheese, and Adeline Druart, Raffineuse and Master Ager,  will be present to discuss their cheeses and cheesemaking processes.  We are honored to have these true pioneers of American Hand-Crafted cheeses at The Alchemist!

Alison will also be signing her book, “In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen“, which be available for sale (in case you forgot yours!).

Finally, all evening (until 10:00pm), we will feature additional menu items that have been taken from or inspired by Allison’s book.

Come celebrate Vermont cheese with us!

Pretty big announcement for everybody:

As you may know, for several years we’ve offered to our guests an in-house hot sauce.  Jeff has been working his recipes for both the mild and hot varieties and has been the only one making these sauces.

Well, the time has come to sell!

That’s right, starting immediately, you can own your own spicy piece of The Alchemist by buying one (or both!) of our currently two available hot sauces.

As with John’s hand-crafted beers though, they are only available at the restaurant.  Quality comes first, and as a first effort at selling food, Jeff, Jen and John want this to be just perfect.  If you’ve ever had them with your meal here before, it seems hard to disagree that they are!

We’ll be selling two varieties: a Green Jalapeno and a Red Habanero.  The flavor profiles for both is really rich and full, and while appropriately hot, do not depend on heat to impress you.

How about some ingredients:

• Organic Fresh and Dried Chilis (Jalapeno or Habanero)
• Distilled Vinegar
• Filtered Water
• Sea Salt
• White Sugar
• Fresh Garlic
• Corn Starch

Simple, well balanced and complete.

And just as important, we’d like to thank Jess Graham for the fabulous labels.

When you arrive, ask any of our staff and they will gladly accept $6.00 in exchange for a bottle.

And just like that it is August.

The Vermont Brewers Festival has come and gone and we are in the thick of it at The Alchemist.  The gluten-free beers are both on tap now and are being very well received.  I think that the Celia Framboise will be the direction I take with that beer.  I like the Celia IPA, but the flavor of sorghum seems to be really suited to the fruit and wild yeast.  The next batch is potentially going to be sour-mashed much like the last batch of Wild Child.  Look for that sometime in the early winter…

The Rapture is currently on tap and is flying away as we speak, so come and get it soon.  This years batch of Ouroboros will be ready to go on August 10th, the day after KENNY’S WEDDING!!!! It was a special request by the groom himself.  So if you were lucky enough to get an invitation, you’ll have a chance to drink it before anyone else.  When I get to work today, I’ll be racking this years Hefty Weizen (6.2%ABV).  I was once again able to obtain yeast for this batch from my friend Wil Gilson at Moat Mountain and it will be pouring mid-August into September.  And, as always, we will NOT allow you to put a lemon wedge in it…

Tomorrow morning I will be brewing a new IPA.  I’ve got a can of British yeast, my usual British malt, and an overabundance of Fuggles that must be used.  So it will come in at about 6.5% ABV and it will be absolutely overflowing with hops.  Technically it will be a British IPA, but the hopping rates will be very much American.  Still haven’t been able to come up with a good name, but the working title is Ello Guvnah! (spoken loudly, in a terrible cockneyed accent).  I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Other than that, I’m just trying to keep up.  The next round of seasonals I brew will be Harvest Ale 2009.  I’ve ordered 100# of wet hops from Washington.  Instead of using them wet( Harvest Ale 2006- not my favorite), I will dry them myself and use them immediately after drying. Should be nice.

The hops on the side of the building have started forming cones and are on schedule to be ready for use in Heretic. ( release date 9/9/09).

Before you know it, I’ll be brewing winter beers;  so stay sharp and stay tuned in…

I know that I am a terribly inconsistent blogger.  While I do apologize for that, the record will show that my blogging skills are being under-utilized but I have been cooking up some incredible food back at The Alchemist lately.  As I previously prognosticated, the new kitchen would not directly impact you, the customer but it would make it so much easier for me to cook up the food that you all love so much.  Well, I was right.  On the other side of that same hand I hope it does impact you.  In my many years of cooking/working short-order lines/ being a Chef,I have never worked in a kitchen that is so efficient and just flat out fast.  I hope that our new kitchen is making your night out at The Alchemist that much better, because I am enjoying the hell out of cooking in it.There’s just another gratuitous chili picture.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

This year’s chili assault began with my favorite chili from last year: Pleasant Ridge Chili.  I deviated from the formula and ordered two cheese coneys with extra mustard and a three way.  That is spaghetti topped with chili and cheese.

The chili could have used a little more salt and the spice was kind of mild, but overall it made for an excellent first outing.

That is how to eat a cheese coney in case you wondered.

In keeping with my great success last year, this year at the record store I found vinyl copies of The Rolling Stones’ “Beggar’s Banquet”, “Let It Bleed”, and “Exile On main Street.”  Yay me.  As of yet I have had little succes turkey hunting, but that is generally how it goes.  Hopefully today I will post two more chili reviews if I ever figure out how to work my damned camera.  Also look forward to an account accompanied with pictures of my conquering of the “Atomic Wing Challenge” at Quaker Steak And Lube.  Ouch.

Until Next time…

Jeff