A website called Watchdog.org has published an article suggesting that the Vermont ban on happy hours — selling drinks at lower prices during certain times — is economically illogical.

Writer Jon Street quoted the owner of Burlington's Ake's Place, Ronnie Ryan, who suggested that the state should allow bars to lure in customers with occasional happy hours.

“Burlington is so rich in young professionals and college students, I’m confident it would help business, and if it helps our business it also helps the state as it will generate more money in taxes,” he said.

Bill Goggins, director of education, licensing and enforcement for the Vermont Department of Liquor Control, broadly explained the role of the state government in keeping people safe, while a fellow at the Cato Institute lamented, “Why should Vermont insert itself between deals that please restaurants and customers alike?”

A microbrewery in the northern Québec burg of Lévis — just across the Saint Lawrence River from Québec City — is garnering unwanted attention from branding a few of its beers with names and imagery that is less than flattering to women.

This summer, Le Corsaire produced a beer called La Tite Pute, which translates to "the little whore/slut," and was advertised as "easy and fruity." Another beer, Le Perruche, means "the parrot" in French but features a label of a naked woman in a birdcage. Yet another beer is named the Hooker.

Julie Miville-Dechêne, president of Québec's Council on the Status of Women, told the CBC why this was not OK.

"The name La Tite Pute disgusts me," Miville-Dechêne said. 

“[Prostitution] exploits women. There isn’t a lot of choice involved, there is a lot of exploitation, a lot of violence. It’s not something we should be laughing about,”she said.

In the meantime the brewery's owner, Martin Vaillancourt, has explained to various media sources that he intended no harm, and chalks up the names to bad taste. Rather than a slur, for instance, the term "La Tite Pute" is more reflective of the easy-brewing and easy-drinking nature of the blond ale, he explained.

In a blog post earlier today, the staff of the Alchemist Cannery in Waterbury announced that they plan to close their retail store and self-guided tour area. "We had hoped our location at 35 Crossroad would be capable of handling the traffic, however, with growth comes growing pains," they wrote. You can read the full announcement here.

Fans of the Alchemist's main beer, Heady Topper, seemed to reel from the news. The double IPA has cult status among beer drinkers, who mob the cannery's retail store in a steady stream (there has long been a one-case limit at the store).

Their passions flared on the Alchemist's Facebook page, where those who love Heady Topper inexplicably turned on those who produce it. One person called the Alchemist staff "selfish," and another called it an "absolutely horribly run business."

One sad fan wrote, "This is terrible, terrible news," echoing those who complained that it's next to impossible to find Heady Topper in stores. "Remember, remember the 5th of November," wrote another, while others defended the brewery's decision and suggested it might help improve foot traffic in area stores.

Whoever is managing the Alchemist's Facebook page suggests complex forces at work behind the closure, and hints another solution is in the works. They've also done an epic job of keeping up with comments.

"There are a lot of moving parts here," the Alchemist wrote to one follower. "We are thinking long term and we will have a plan in place soon — but Ben & Jerry's didn't start where they are, and they had to make plenty of tough calls like this in order to get where they are. Have patience. Thanks."

This gloomy Tuesday brought bright news for lovers of Alchemist beers. Starting just a few hours ago, the cannery in Waterbury Center began growler fills, launching a brand-new German-made system with 15 barrels (or about 900 fills) of Donovan's Red — an Irish-style red ale that used to pour at the pub when it was still down the road in Waterbury.

"This has been an exciting day for us," writes co-owner Jen Kimmich on the cannery's website. "John [pictured, from a Seven Days file photo] and the entire brew staff are psyched to brew and release some of our old favorites from the pub."

First-time customers will need to fork over $15 each for the sleek stainless-steel growlers that were designed especially for the Alchemist, where the brewers make every effort to keep any sunlight from hitting their beers. Each 64-ounce fill is $12, and the staff request that people clean the vessels before returning for a refill — they won't be fillin' no dirty growlers, and no growlers but their own.

In the coming lineup are a series of "randomly" released beers — about one per month — that will be announced via the Alchemist's Facebook page and Twitter feed on the day of release. The beers "will lean heavily toward hop-forward styles," writes Kimmich.

And in case you're wondering, yes, there's a limit: One growler fill per person, per visit. Read all about it here.

At Sunday evening's Emmy Awards, the celebrity-studded audience in LA's Nokia Theater watched Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney take home golden statues and Elton John perform a tribute to Liberace. Backstage, another drama was unfolding — there wasn't enough Heady Topper to go around.

Alchemist co-owner Jen Kimmich says that two cases of their signature brew made it to the Emmys, but halfway through the show, supply was running thin. "We had multiple requests for more," wrote Mark Gonzalez, dressing room coordinator for the awards show. "Neil Patrick Harris, the host of the show, put in a request almost every hour."

Despite what was probably mad prep for the show, Gonzalez managed to treat his cargo properly. "The Heady Topper was placed in refrigerators the second we received them and were not placed in talent rooms until requested to ensure they stayed cold," he wrote.

It's been a high-flying few days for the double IPA. Last week, The Atlantic's James Fallows praised Heady Topper in a blog post on that magazine's site, before carting home a case for himself.

Most of us know James Fallows as a longtime national correspondent at the Atlantic. But when not pursuing hard-hitting stories, Fallows identifies himself as "a beer guy."

Fallows is in Vermont for his blog series on small cities, which feature positive stories of economic and cultural growth. Last week Fallows tasted his first Heady Topper over dinner at the Bluebird Tavern.

Given the Alchemist's small supply of the beer (two-thirds of it is sold at the Waterbury factory), Fallows had never had a chance to try the beer. "They had it and I thought, Yes!," he told Seven Days today.

When plans fell through yesterday for an interview on "a more worthy topic," Fallows headed to Waterbury, where injured co-owner Jen Kimmich took the journalist on a tour of the factory. Read his post about it here.

Following his hourlong deviation, Fallows was back to reporting on environmental sustainability and public works. But after touring America, the journalist says that despite an encroaching box-store takeover, one thing the country seems to be getting very right is beer.

"There are ways in which America looks more and more the same in a bad way," he reflected. "But what's more and more the same in a good way is every place has a brew pub culture now. America is getting better in that way."

But Vermont is still the only place that has Heady Topper.

When the junior Richard Bushway suggested to his parents, Rick and Karen, that they add a growler-filling station to their South Burlington gas station and convenience store, they were understandably lukewarm. "We didn't know how well it would move," says his mother.

They gave him their go-ahead, though, and their son got to work on a wood-paneled, publike nook at the back of the store. He crafted three tap handles — using brass knuckles, a knife handle and a gun barrel — and on April 15, tapped three inaugural brews: a milk stout from Long Trail Brewing Company, a Belgian-style blonde from Harpoon Brewery, and a double IPA from Breckenridge Brewery.

Five months later, U-Save Beverage is about to sell their 500th growler. "Turns out there was quite a calling for craft beer," quips Karen, pulling a growler of Lost Nation Brewery Saison for me when I dropped in this week. (Also on tap were a stout from Dieu du Ciel and an IPA from Ballast Point.) 

"I noticed they [his parents] weren't make a lot of money from gasoline," notes the younger Bushway, a longtime craft beer lover. "I began bringing in beers that I liked and that people were talking about. Then I thought, you know, some restaurants and bars are doing growlers — let's do a growler bar."

It wasn't as easy as pulling a handle; the law dictates that as a convenience store, Bushway had to directly contact every brewery whose beer he wanted to tap. "So I had to write 15 different emails to 15 different breweries. Some people said, I don't want my beer in a gas station.' But I told them, 'I'm a beer store that sells gas.' Some laughed at that." Yet talking to Bushway, it's clear that's exactly how he sees U-Save.

Bushway estimates they now fill about 25 growlers a week. Next on tap are a black IPA from Dieu du Ciel, and a lemon-pepper kolsch from Long Trail, and another as-yet-undetermined IPA. "It's Vermont. I always have to have an IPA on tap." 

The refrigerators here are well-stocked with interesting bottles, too, from the likes of Mikkeller, Six-Point Brewery and Founders Brewing Co. As Karen Bushway narrates their contents, she has to explain to a customer from Boston that she could only buy one four-pack of the Alchemist's Heady Topper at a time. "They'll be gone by tonight," she says of the limited supply. Even so, the woman — who has been charged with bringing some back to Boston — sneaks on line a second time, with a second four-pack.

U-Save Beverage, 1332 Williston Rd., South Burlington. 862-2907.

Desperate to join the pack for an orgy of brewed goodness? You're probably not alone. The Vermont Brewers Festival sold out just 34 hours after tickets went on sale back in May.  But if you're willing to shell out, scalpers are finding ways to help beer geeks soak in the suds. But watch out — some are selling bogus tickets.

A quick Craigslist search turns up a slew of tickets, with price tags of as much as $85 per person. This may seem like a steal to some — one person posted an ad saying they were willing to pay $100 for a ticket. But for those who scooped up legit tickets from the festival, that's a $55 markup. And the tickets might not even be real.

If you don't have tickets for the sold-out Vermont Brewers Festival on Burlington's waterfront this weekend, you might want to stop reading — unless you're a glutton for punishment. As usual, the line-up is amazing, and the few thousand people who were on point enough to buy tickets (they sold out in 34 hours) will soon be marinating in liquid goodness. Some highlights:

The festival virgins

Of the 43 breweries taking part this year, at least four began brewing in the last year: Covered Bridge Craft Brewery in Lyndonville; Foley Brothers in Brandon; Lost Nation Brewing in Morrisville; and Whetstone Pub & Brewery in Brattleboro. Covered Bridge is offering up what they're calling "the result of a one night stand between a blonde and a pale ale." Foley Brother's Ginger Wheat is brewed with Vermont-grown Cascade hops. And tart, German-style gose (among other brews) will flow from both Lost Nation and Whetstone.

Maybe they hashed things out over a pint.

In a statement released on its Facebook page this morning, Magic Hat Brewing Company announced that it has reached a settlement with Kentucky-based craft brewery West Sixth Brewing. You may recall that Magic Hat filed an injunction claiming trademark infringement against West Sixth and its "6" logo, which Magic Hat claimed looked a little too close to the label for the South Burlington brewery's #9 beer. This led to a very public round of sniping between the brands online (see here, here, here and here) and even a little bit of Wikipedia vandalism.

We'll update on the Bite Club blog accordingly when we know more information. In the mean time, read the full statement after the jump.