The Brewery at Four Star Farms

What a great and beautiful location. Peaceful setting. Love seeing the beautiful hops. Half the fun is gettiong here!

Awesome location that is rustic and beautiful and exactly what-you'd-hope-it'd-be. I must admit I was bracing for something less picturesque and with more middling beer so that may have helped in my glowing impressions of it. Nice, clean, new-seeming tap room with a decent number of handles, though there were only a few the day I was there. Cans and merch and whatnot, too. Food truck outside, view of the brewing area, and a big, nice yard area surrounded on one side by the barn and out buildings and on two sides by rows and rows of big, beautiful bines bursting with bitter potential. The beer I had had an enjoyable hop character and no obvious flaws. So nice I had it twice. The food truck was excellent, the service at the bar was very good and it's really cool that they sell hops in homebrewer sizes (1 oz) at VERY reasonable prices, something that I have not seen at hop growers in Quebec. Well worth a stop and especially so at this time of year leading up to harvest.

 

A January visit, so I was inside. The folks tending bar were very nice, and as always, an amiable crowd. Beer is served in proper glasses. Just a gorgeous place, a soundproofed barn overlooking 17 acres of hops. I understand that Four Star has been growing barley and hops for years, supplying many local breweries. Ordered up a flight, then a Smoked Helles that was very tasty.

Visited on a beautiful, late summer Sunday afternoon with mammosilenus. A clean and attractive, well-designed brew house and service area with a large, grassy outdoor area liberally strewn with umbrella tables and Adirondack chairs in the middle of the Four Star Farms hop fields. Setting-wise, pretty idyllic.

The beer itself was at least very good (I tried seven, myself) with (I didn't count) something like twelve (?) different beers in an array of styles available on tap. Vibe, quality and service all get dinged a few points for the use of plastic cups. Selection gets dinged for only having four beers available in cans for take away and no growler fills.

Here's the thing: you've got some really good beer in a beautiful setting. If you want to be a taproom destination, go get yourself a dishwasher and serve your beer in real glasses. And, God forgive me for saying so, but maybe even serve flights. If what you want to do is sell beer for takeaway, then actually put more than a bare handful of them into cans (and date the cans!), and maybe fill some growlers.

Bottom line: the beer was good, I enjoyed the setting and seeing the hop fields was cool, but I really wasn't tempted to spend the afternoon sitting around drinking beer out of plastic cups - sorry.

03/25/23 Edit to add: Return trip to the brewery and delighted to report that all beers were being served in proper glassware - vibe cranked up a solid 1.25 from 3.5 on that account. The can fridge was fully stocked with a range of options... but the cans are all undated so that's pretty much a washout or worse on that score (Selection +0.25, quality -0.25).