Magic Hat

A Tiny Tale of the Magic Hat Brewing Company

The saturnalian saga of the Magic Hat Brewing Company began in 1978 in a Goddard College bathtub, where future brewmaster Bob Johnson first cultivated his maniacally obsessive interest in making “better beer with bigger flavor.” After fifteen years in various non-ale trades, Bob returned to this first fermentational love and made the decision to go pro on Martha’s Vineyard, an island sadly bereft of breweries. It was then, in a moment of supreme serendipity, that Fate sent him off to an accidental meeting on a random Burlington street with future Magic Hat president Alan Newman. Once both neighborhood acquaintances and coworkers at Seventh Generation, an environmentally friendly cleaning product company, the two had crossed paths many times but hadn’t talked for ages. Light pleasantries were exchanged, and upon hearing of Bob’s plans, Alan offered to help him open a brewery in Burlington. Before you could pour a pint, the two were road tripping through the Pacific Northwest, crash-studying the industry and scheming with a New England brewer to bottle Bob’s very first original ale. Seeking some mash tuns and tubes they could call their own, the pair moved into an abandoned Burlington factory in 1994, finally settling into a much larger (and currently expanding) facility near Lake Champlain’s Bartlett Bay in 1997.

Sharpen your craft brew knowledge by visiting our web site at Magic Hat Brewery.

Videos:


# 9

Magic Hat #9 – Not quite Pale Ale. A beer cloaked in secrecy. An ale whose mysterious and unusual palate will swirl across your tongue and ask more questions than it answers.

A sort of dry, crisp, refreshing, not quite pale ale. #9 is really impossible to describe because there’s never been anything else quite like it. Our secret ingredient introduces a most unusual aroma which is balanced with residual sweetness.

ABV: 4.6%
IBU: 20


Ravell

Our Odd Porter
An enormous play in one significant act, Ravell was a porter brewed with whole vanilla beans, once available whenever young William and father John deem it so.

ABV: 5.5%


Circus Boy

Our hazy shade of Hefeweizen is light bodied American style elixir of ultimate drinkability whose wheat malt character is capable of quenching serious thirsts of all kinds.

Best With: Great with lighter foods, like sushi and salads. Or while watching life swing by with the greatest of ease on a flying trapeze.

ABV: 4.4
IBUs: 14


Vinyl

Vinyl Lager is an Amber Lager with a rich sweet malt taste and slight balancing hop touch. This beer is produced using a lager strain of yeast fermented at the low end of ale fermentation temperatures, allowing the beer to maintain its easy drinking lager-like characteristics.

Best With: Vinyl pairs well with a very wide variety of foods. Goes great with a sharp, rich American artisan blue cheese and, for desserts, caramel apple tart or a ginger spice cake.

ABV: 5.1%


Wacko

The song of summer.

Crisp like the morning, cool like the evening and quenching all day long. It’s the beer that dances to the beat of summer. Pop the top and set your summer loose. Wacko is the song of summer.

A delicious, beet-red summer beer with a big malty aroma, a subdued hop bite and a clean, slightly sweet finish.

ABV: 4.5%


Hex Ourtoberfest

A malty amber ale with hints of toffee and caramel and a slightly smoky finish.

Available this Fall.

ABV: 5.4%
IBUs: 25


Magic Hat DEMO Black IPA

Demo is a deliciously dark lick of an India Pale Ale. Its medley of roasted malts and heady hops will have your senses dancing to the beat of a different IPA.

ABV: 60
IBUs: 45


Spring Fever Variety Pack

#9
A beer cloaked in secrecy. An ale whose mysterious and unusual palate will swirl across your tongue and ask more questions than it answers. A sort of dry, crisp, refreshing, not-quite pale ale. #9 is really impossible to describe because there’s never been anything else quite like it.

Demo
Demo is a deliciously dark lick of an India Pale Ale. Its medley of roasted malts and heady hops will have your senses dancing to the beat of a different I.P.A.

Vinyl
Vinyl sails in on her shining wings as the spinning spring sun returns. She is the season-shifter, bursting from her cocoon to sing the ancient song of vernal yearning and to summon spring’s sweet green return. Her metamorphosis becomes our own. Her thirsts are shared by all. Drink in her mysterious elixir as the revolution blooms again.

Circus Boy
As temperatures rise, the fever follows. A portable celebration of unbridled vernal joy, this thawing mixer serves to stir you from winter slumber. Listen as the Rockin’ Robin sings spring into all things… Ca-Caw! Ca-Caw!


Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety Pack - 2011

#9

Blind Faith

Wacko

Single Chair


Lucky Kat

Lucky Kat – Beer Kitty, Kitty….

Lucky Kat purrs as he pours with a grin on his mangy face and a grin in his searching eye. He sits on the fence he calls home, dividing up from down. Is he an imperial beast or a pale soul from the east? Only he knows and we know only this: if you reach out to pet him he’ll bite back with a big, hoppy kiss.

ABV: 5.%


HiPA

HiPA beings and ends with a big bountiful bite of hops, maintains the barest hint of a malty middle and has a long, dry finish. Its light, golden color warns that the winter is over and warm weather is on its way.

Best With: The bold hoppy flavor of our Spring SeasonAle demand strong, spicy foods. The big bountiful bite of hops will compliment both spice and smoke- or the first thaw of the Spring.

ABV: 5.9%


Roxy Rolles

Amber Ale

As the leaves line the trees with colors bright, the Autumnal Amber Ramble comes into sight! Roxy Rolles pours in her wake foliage fallen and a perfect pairing of malt and hops.

ABV: 5.1%
IBUs: 40


Odd Notion - Spring 2010

Spring ‘10 – Spring Fever Odd Notion

This unique surprise cross-pollinates the classic American wheat beer with an American Pale Ale. What grows next is a fruitfully unfiltered union with a delightful hop aroma, a pleasant citrus hop flavor, and a beautifully balanced finish that leaves other ales hoppy green with springtime envy.

ABV: 6.o%
IBUs: 35