Birth Of Tragedy | Hill Farmstead Brewery
Brewed by:
Hill Farmstead Brewery
Vermont, United States
hillfarmstead.com
Style: American Porter
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 9.00%
Availability: Winter
Notes / Commercial Description:
Birth of Tragedy is the imperial and oak barrel-aged version of our annual winter porter, Twilight of the Idols. Brewed with locally roasted coffee and Vermont honey, we age this beer for a year in personally selected bourbon barrels from our favorite distilleries.
Added by s1ckboy on 11-20-2011
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 1,258 | Reviews: 194
4.75/5 rDev +6.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.46/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.59/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.6/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Black color with creamy brownish head. Aroma is spicy with some liquorice and aromatic herbs. Also dark fruits and whiskey. Taste is bittersweet, roasty, chocolate forward with well integrated bourbon. Medium to full bodied with soft mouthfeel. Overall it's a really well balanced and tasty beer.
296 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Black color with creamy brownish head. Aroma is spicy with some liquorice and aromatic herbs. Also dark fruits and whiskey. Taste is bittersweet, roasty, chocolate forward with well integrated bourbon. Medium to full bodied with soft mouthfeel. Overall it's a really well balanced and tasty beer.
296 characters
4.31/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Slick oily black with a seemingly headless, smooth silky surface that slowly develops a thin mocha film and a bubbly collar.
The aroma of spiked dark mocha pairs well with the charred oak and sophisticated bourbon that comes with the excellent aging Hill Farmstead has done here. Fire roasted marshmallow and vanilla add a new level of decadence, while some spiced, dusty cinnamon emerges as it warms.
Unbelievably deep, complex and luscious flavors of toasted coconut and nougatty yet dry and charred roasty wood mingle with some spicy, black peppery bourbon, while the cacao and cinnamon come out as light accents on the back end, with mocha becoming more apparent at room temperature.
Slick, smooth and round, the carbonation serves to thin it out a bit with a crisp sort of crunchiness, as the swallow becomes a little warm and then sharply dry.
Jesus Christ do they really know how to improve their base beers with bourbon barrel aging--I'm not sure any other brewery does it this well. I didn't really like Geneaolgy, yet found GoM to be great. The same was true for Twilight of the Idols, yet this was a complete knockout for me. Normally my preferences are often the opposite at other breweries, so major props, yet again, to HF.
1,241 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Slick oily black with a seemingly headless, smooth silky surface that slowly develops a thin mocha film and a bubbly collar.
The aroma of spiked dark mocha pairs well with the charred oak and sophisticated bourbon that comes with the excellent aging Hill Farmstead has done here. Fire roasted marshmallow and vanilla add a new level of decadence, while some spiced, dusty cinnamon emerges as it warms.
Unbelievably deep, complex and luscious flavors of toasted coconut and nougatty yet dry and charred roasty wood mingle with some spicy, black peppery bourbon, while the cacao and cinnamon come out as light accents on the back end, with mocha becoming more apparent at room temperature.
Slick, smooth and round, the carbonation serves to thin it out a bit with a crisp sort of crunchiness, as the swallow becomes a little warm and then sharply dry.
Jesus Christ do they really know how to improve their base beers with bourbon barrel aging--I'm not sure any other brewery does it this well. I didn't really like Geneaolgy, yet found GoM to be great. The same was true for Twilight of the Idols, yet this was a complete knockout for me. Normally my preferences are often the opposite at other breweries, so major props, yet again, to HF.
1,241 characters
4.39/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.45/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.25/5 rDev -4.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.6/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.29/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
5/5 rDev +12.1%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Hill Farmstead is plain and simply the best brewery I have ever been to. I would say that it is the best of all time but who really knows? Everything I have had from there, I'm not sure if you could find anything wrong with it.
227 characters
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Hill Farmstead is plain and simply the best brewery I have ever been to. I would say that it is the best of all time but who really knows? Everything I have had from there, I'm not sure if you could find anything wrong with it.
227 characters
5/5 rDev +12.1%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
O M G that was so good!!
24 characters
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
O M G that was so good!!
24 characters
4.5/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.53/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.44/5 rDev -0.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.6/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.34/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25
2016 batch, hard to tell what month due to a smudge on the date stamp. The honey is still a standout, lending a natural sweetness and floral aroma as a counterpoint to the base porter's roasted bitterness, and drying out the finish. The earthy, nutty coffee is less obvious on the nose but still shows up on the palate, alongside an obvious, but not dominating, bourbon and oak character from the barrel. Moderately full body with an exceptionally smooth mouthfeel.
465 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25
2016 batch, hard to tell what month due to a smudge on the date stamp. The honey is still a standout, lending a natural sweetness and floral aroma as a counterpoint to the base porter's roasted bitterness, and drying out the finish. The earthy, nutty coffee is less obvious on the nose but still shows up on the palate, alongside an obvious, but not dominating, bourbon and oak character from the barrel. Moderately full body with an exceptionally smooth mouthfeel.
465 characters
4.44/5 rDev -0.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.27/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Birth Of Tragedy from Hill Farmstead Brewery
Beer rating:
4.46 out of
5 with
1,258 ratings
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