Our September home.grown. Brewer of the Month: Magic Hat Brewing Company!

We love all things local, and one of our favorite sectors of local food is local beer. There are so many different brews, flavors, and styles, and so many stories to tell! That’s why we’re embarking on a new home.grown. adventure: to bring you fresh craft beer stories each month from our Northeast region; the best region in the United States if you ask us!

Up next: Magic Hat Brewing Company!

Stirring up some mysterious concoctions in the heart of South Burlington, Vermont, Magic Hat is a well-known local brewer. They refer to their brews as elixirs, and their most popular potion is #9. It’s not quite a pale ale, but it runs across your tongue with notes of fruit and floral hop bitterness, bringing an unusual and curious palate. As they say at Magic Hat, #9 asks more questions than it answers. You’ll just have to see for yourself.

Another mischievous feature in the Magic Hat lineup is Circus Boy. A unique and refreshing American-style Hefeweizen. Due to his nocturnal behavior, only appearing under the darkness of a cloudy night sky, Circus Boy is something of an anomaly. Curious for more? Perhaps a closer encounter with this suspicious brew is necessary. 

If you’re not sure which Magic Hat brew to choose you can always go with a variety pack, like the special edition IPA Playlist Variety Pak. A 12-beer variety featuring some of the companies best creations, led by TFG (Taken for Granite) Rock Solid IPA. TFG is a crisp IPA with a smooth malt backing, balanced with orange and grapefruit notes guaranteed to rock your taste buds.

Interested in trying some Magic Hat brews?

Check out our in-store tasting schedule below to sample Magic Hat craft beef, take home some brewery swag and more.

Saturday 9/7, 11am – 2pm at our Shelburne Rd Market 32

Saturday 9/14, 11am – 2pm at our Clifton Shoppers World Market 32

Saturday 9/21, 11am – 2pm at our Bethlehem Price Chopper

Saturday 9/28, 11am – 2pm at our Wilton Market 32

Interested in visiting the brewery?

Make the most of everything Magic Hat Brewing Company has to offer! Visit https://www.magichat.net/ for taproom hours and menu, get info on brewery tours and more.

Brewery House Address: 5 Bartlett Bay Rd, South Burlington, VT 05403

Written by Sara Lilkas Fall has become synonymous with pumpkin season, for reasons far beyond the classic Jack-O-Lantern! I think it’s fair to say that today’s consumer is seriously pumped-up about pumpkin! From pumpkin flavored drinks and baked goods, to pumpkin ice cream and scented candles, there is no shortage of this fall-favorite flavor!Autumn Pumpkin Spice Latte Pumpkins are great for decorating or even eating! Have you ever baked pumpkin seeds after carving a pumpkin for Halloween They’re delicious and super easy! Simply separate the seeds from the meat of the pumpkin, put them on a greased cookie sheet, add some salt and bake at 300° F for about 45 minutes or until golden brown! Pumpkins do not have to be limited to the spooky happenings surrounding Halloween either. They can also be used for your seasonal fall and Thanksgiving decorating. Pumpkins can be hollowed out and used as vases or they look great painted with stencils, glitter, or monograms to fit in with the rest of your decorations. iStock_000049886210_LargeI’m a huge fan of adding pumpkin to everything possible the months of September-November, and if it spills over into December a little bit that’s fine too. (I would eat pumpkin year round if it was available!)  I love adding pumpkin to pancakes, waffles, bread (for toast), and muffins. I found that learning to cook and bake is a lot more fun when attempting to make foods that I really enjoy. This year I decided to try and make pumpkin muffins instead of purchasing them like I normally do. I tried this recipe here and they turned out great! Plus, you get the added bonus of the apartment smelling amazing when baking muffins fresh at home! Now the only thing better than pumpkin would be the addition of chocolate. My next baking attempt will have to be Pumpkin Swirl Brownies. Brownies are my go-to favorite baked good regardless of the season, but adding pumpkin to the mix will probably result in me eating the whole batch, by myself, in one sitting, it’s fine. My pumpkin obsession has grown with time and age, since now there are also many varieties of pumpkin flavored beer! It seems that almost every brewery, no matter how large or small, puts out a pumpkin flavored beer for the fall. Each variety uses its own unique blend of spices to bring out the pumpkin flavor, so it’s exciting to try the different varieties and discover the many flavors! Two of my favorites are the Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale and Magic Hat’s Wilhelm Scream. As always, please enjoy responsibly! What are your favorite pumpkin flavored treats? Leave a comment below! Written by Sara Lilkas, Marketing Intern  Now that we can put the frightening antics of Halloween behind us we can focus on the upcoming holiday and winter season. Even though I am not a fan of the inevitable snow storms that come along with living in the Northeast, I am a fan of the seasonal flavors breweries put out for the holiday and winter season. This November we have a spectacular preview of winter flavors put out by a variety of different brewers. We are happy to welcome the Chatham Brewery, a local favorite out of Columbia County! They will be featuring their brew Farmer’s Daughter during their Growler Station debut. Farmer’s Daughter is a Rye India Pale Ale featuring rye malts from Hillrock Farm Distillery. Chatham Brewery’s Farmer’s Daughter is a locally brewed beer from start to finish! chatham brewingTry Chatham Brewery’s Farmer’s Daughter: Leinenkugel’s Big Eddy Cherry Doppelschwarz is an Imperial Schwarzbier featuring chocolate and coffee flavors, balanced off with cherries. The various flavors present in this brew, makes it perfect for the holiday season! Try Leinenkugel’s Big Eddy Cherry Doppelschwarz:big eddy Our friends at Magic Hat are at it again with their Feast of Fools Raspberry Stout. The name of this brew dates back to Medieval Times and the celebration of the winter solsticemagic hat feast of fools. The seasonal brews of the past may be long gone, but the Feast of Fools is an ode to a time where you couldn’t just switch on a light. The Raspberry Stout reflects the long winter nights and the sweetness of the holiday season. Try Magic Hat’s Feast of Fools Raspberry Stout: Thanks to Samuel Adams we have a special early release of the Grapefruit Rebel IPA this November! You will be able to try a growler of the newest release from Samuel Adams before it’s available in bottled packs! Samuel Adams Grapefruit Rebel IPA is brewed with real grapefruit that only compliments the citrus notes from the hops. On tap just in time to bring a growler home to share with family and friends this Thanksgiving! rebelgrapefruittaplg--en--6a0409e2-9510-4b4e-82a5-79b7d18950acTry Samuel Adams Grapefruit Rebel IPA: The next selection for the month is Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout. An imperial stout aged in a bourbon barrel, it features chocolate, vanilla, and caramel flavors. This incredibly flavorful stout is perfect for the holiday season! Try Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout:goose-island-logo-2014 Let us know what your favorite brews were from this month’s tasting schedule and as always please enjoy responsibly! Written by Sara Lilkas, Marketing Intern  October has always been one of my favorite months. Fall is now in full swing, the days are getting chiller, the leaves are changing, and there are two more beers to try at Price Chopper and Market 32! There’s a great line up with a different tasting event each weekend in October! So make sure your growlers are empty! You won’t want to miss out on any of these brews! First up is a Capitol Region favorite, Nine Pin Cider. Brewed in Albany, NY Nine Pin selects all of their apples from orchards in the Capital Region and Hudson Valley area. Nine Pin will be featured at the following locations on the 2nd and 3rd of October at these locations: October 2nd, 2015 4-7pm October 3rd, 2015 4-7pm On October 9th and 10th we will be featuring the Peroni Brewery from Italy and has been in existence since 1846. The original recipe is still used to this day and is features fruity and floral notes. Peroni will be featured at tastings at the following locations: October 9th, Peroni_Logo2015 5-7pm October 10th, 2015 2-4pm Peak Organic Brewing Company is next to be on tap. Brewed in Maine, their IPA is brewed with three different varieties of hops that provide citrus and floral notes instead of the bittering hops typically found in IPAs. To try Pale Organic Brewing Company’s IPA stop by one of the following stores: October 15th, 2015 October 16th, 2015download October 18th, 2015 brewery-ommegang-85412382 Ommegang Is back with their first ever American-style IPA! Currently the Nirvana IPA is only available in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and we have a special tasting for one day only! Stop by the stores listed below to try this brew which is produced at Ommegang’s sister brewery in Kanas City, October 17th, 2015 Magic-Hat-Wilhelm-Scream-Pumpkin-Ale Now you can’t have beer tastings in October without at least one pumpkin beer. This month’s pumpkin variety is brought to you by Magic Hat featuring Wilhelm Scream. Wilhelm Scream includes pumpkin, cinnamon, and caramel malts to feature all the best of what fall has to offer. Try it October 23rd and 24th at these locations: October 23rd, 2015 4-6pm October 24th, 2015 11am-2pm Follow Price Chopper and Market 32 on Twitter for the dates and times of tastings later this month!