Heady Topper

Yesterday, after a few final stops in Montreal including Old Montreal by daylight, the Notre Dame Basilica (beautiful - it's a must-see!), and an open air market near our AirBnB, we crossed back over the border and made it to Burlington, Vermont, where we stayed with my old friend and former housemate Alison. Burlington is a cute town and Alison showed us the sights last night including a great little microbrew place with a patio and a view of Lake Champlain. We headed over to Winooski for dinner on yet another patio (can you tell I don't want summer to end?). This morning we stopped for coffee at Onyx Tonics, possibly the coolest little coffee shop due to its artisanal brews and wine-tasting-like descriptors. After brunch at Mirabelle's (also delicious!), Amanda and I packed up for the journey back to Buffalo. However, we didn't want to come back to Nick empty-handed....

The last time Alison visited us from Vermont, she offered to bring an item of our choosing. Nick mentioned the Heady Topper beer, which I had never heard of. Apparently, it's a pretty big deal. Supply is low and demand is high, so people will literally line-up and wait for stores to open and deliveries to be made in order to get their stash. Oh, and most stores have a limit on how many you can buy at a time. Alison made some calls and we discovered the delivery truck made its rounds in South Burlington on Tuesday mornings, so we might be in luck if we stopped on our way out of town. Our first stop was sold out by the time we got there. We had found another place about a mile down the road, but the delivery wasn't there yet. With a seven hour drive ahead of us, we weren't eager to wait around, but we agreed to give it 15 minutes. We saw another car drive up and a couple get out and start milling around, and I had a feeling they were seeking the same thing we were, but knew something we didn't. Alas, a few minutes later, the little green truck arrived! We lined up behind the couple (who, it turns out, were literally following the delivery truck driver and purchasing their limit at each stop), and we each maxed out on what we could purchase.

So now we will hit the road back to Buffalo to surprise Nick with 24 Heady Topper beers! 👍🏻🍺 Until the next trip....Read more