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So... I'm gonna be up there this weekend and I'm a bit excited that I might actually get my hands on some port barrel Damon. Does the extreme cold (high of 8 in Greensboro on Saturday) and threat of snow keep people away from Hill Farmstead or should I expect the usual 2 hour line?
I wouldn't say the cold keeps people away necessarily but I'd say the timing is decent given conditions at most ski areas still suck at this point and the folks up and skiing in the area are die hards that probably won't leave the mountain this weekend. That being said, Damon draws a crowd. I just burned through my last bottle.......ery few beers are worth waiting in lines for like that, if I had to, damon would be one of them.
The release of Damon this week could drive a crowd.
Couldn't make it through all 50+ pages but if you're around Middlebury try the beer[s] at Drop In brewery. It's south of town on Rt. 7 across from G Stone Motors north entrance.
Some of my favorite beers come from them. They had a double Belgium a few weeks ago that was awesome.
Couldn't make it through all 50+ pages but if you're around Middlebury try the beer[s] at Drop In brewery. It's south of town on Rt. 7 across from G Stone Motors north entrance.
Some of my favorite beers come from them. They had a double Belgium a few weeks ago that was awesome.
Some day I'll make it there. I've been to most of the older breweries in VT. Now to hit the newer ones. I'm staying with friends in Woodstock and we're driving up to Greensboro tomorrow and then maybe to Lost Nation on our way back (which is a ways out of the way, but who cares, we got all day). I can't wait to hit the road.
Great article, but I don't necessarily think the lines will be getting longer. More and more small brewers like Shaun Hill and Sean Lawson are popping up around the country. I expect craft beer drinkers to fall back to their local breweries at some point. It doesn't mean the lines at Hill Farmstead will get any shorter, but they're not going to grow indefinitely. I don't care how good the beer is. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would wait 4 hours for a couple bottles of beer (and I know a large number of serious craft beer folks). I don't think I could handle more than 2 hours at Hill Farmstead (though it's easier now that there's more room inside). The only people I can see waiting that long are people who will turn around and sell it for profit or use it as fodder for trades with people around the country for equally hard to get beer. The longest I had ever waited for a beer was standing in line at like 3am in cold icy rain waiting to get a ticket to buy Kate the Great from Portsmouth Brewery (they no longer make the beer because the brewmaster left and took his recipe). After that year (the previous year I think I waited about 20 minutes for it), I decided I wasn't willing to ever do it again. I'll stand in line at Hill Farmstead because I know I'm guaranteed beer (and because I love the location and his brewery), but 4 hours in line? No way. That's outrageous. I'd rather just drive up to Parker Pie or something and drink his beer on tap.
Great article, but I don't necessarily think the lines will be getting longer. More and more small brewers like Shaun Hill and Sean Lawson are popping up around the country. I expect craft beer drinkers to fall back to their local breweries at some point. It doesn't mean the lines at Hill Farmstead will get any shorter, but they're not going to grow indefinitely. I don't care how good the beer is. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would wait 4 hours for a couple bottles of beer (and I know a large number of serious craft beer folks). I don't think I could handle more than 2 hours at Hill Farmstead (though it's easier now that there's more room inside). The only people I can see waiting that long are people who will turn around and sell it for profit or use it as fodder for trades with people around the country for equally hard to get beer. The longest I had ever waited for a beer was standing in line at like 3am in cold icy rain waiting to get a ticket to buy Kate the Great from Portsmouth Brewery (they no longer make the beer because the brewmaster left and took his recipe). After that year (the previous year I think I waited about 20 minutes for it), I decided I wasn't willing to ever do it again. I'll stand in line at Hill Farmstead because I know I'm guaranteed beer (and because I love the location and his brewery), but 4 hours in line? No way. That's outrageous. I'd rather just drive up to Parker Pie or something and drink his beer on tap.
100% Agree with Jim on this one.
I've done my long waits at Hill, all set with that. I've had most of his well known and sought after beers and they are as advertised, however, I don't wait 4 hrs for much in this lifetime.
Add to that the ability to drink so many other outstanding beers without killing the better part of the day and mortgaing the house and it doesn't personally make sense. While everything Hill makes is truely outstanding for that style of brew, there are plenty of single beers by certain breweries that are equally intriguing and enjoyable to drink without the BS.
Great article, but I don't necessarily think the lines will be getting longer. More and more small brewers like Shaun Hill and Sean Lawson are popping up around the country. I expect craft beer drinkers to fall back to their local breweries at some point. It doesn't mean the lines at Hill Farmstead will get any shorter, but they're not going to grow indefinitely. I don't care how good the beer is. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would wait 4 hours for a couple bottles of beer (and I know a large number of serious craft beer folks). I don't think I could handle more than 2 hours at Hill Farmstead (though it's easier now that there's more room inside). The only people I can see waiting that long are people who will turn around and sell it for profit or use it as fodder for trades with people around the country for equally hard to get beer. The longest I had ever waited for a beer was standing in line at like 3am in cold icy rain waiting to get a ticket to buy Kate the Great from Portsmouth Brewery (they no longer make the beer because the brewmaster left and took his recipe). After that year (the previous year I think I waited about 20 minutes for it), I decided I wasn't willing to ever do it again. I'll stand in line at Hill Farmstead because I know I'm guaranteed beer (and because I love the location and his brewery), but 4 hours in line? No way. That's outrageous. I'd rather just drive up to Parker Pie or something and drink his beer on tap.
Well, I was speaking hypothetically, since I've never even been there. The concept at Hill Farmstead is very appealing in several respects. I think, especially with their limited increase in production and international reputation (publicized by The New York Times) and the ongoing fad status of microbrews, they're going to remain packed for a while. I'm like you though and won't wait in line for much of anything. I've only had a Hill Farmstead beer once, when I was in a bar in Montpelier. I got sick of Heady Topper after a few cases (and a few hundred dollars). Lawson's is so hit-and-miss at the Warren Store that I don't bother going there either. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm moving from beer to whisky. I think old Scotch tastes better than any beer I've ever had. It's just expensive and probably worse for your liver if you don't watch it.
Quite frankly, I find it much easier and pleasant to just hit up one of the bars in town and get HF there. I haven't been up to the brewery at all since we moved up here, which is pretty ironic lol.
Quite frankly, I find it much easier and pleasant to just hit up one of the bars in town and get HF there. I haven't been up to the brewery at all since we moved up here, which is pretty ironic lol.
The problem here in Middlebury is that, though there are some good beers in town, there is no Hill Farmstead, Lawson's or Heady Topper ever in stores or bars. I'm not that crazy about the Otter Creek beers, which are everywhere. But that's a price I'm willing to pay to be away from where the action is (traffic, population).
We are really lucky here in Waterbury with the trifecta of the Reservoir, Black Back and Prohibition Pig...if we lived elsewhere it would definitely be harder to stay away.
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