Hill Farmstead Bottle releases

Correct. But..... again, they didn't cancell the festival. I'm not really sure why I'm arguing this, but you are equating the cancelling of an on sale event for bottles that people haven't paid for in advance, to a festival that was sold out for about 80,000 people. The bottle release is something that is easily rescheduled. They didn't however cancel the festival that was taking place in the bad weather, with camping and parking in soaked fields, with people that had already paid for thier tickets, which is much more similar to what Phish was facing 9 years ago. That's all I was saying.

Not to take anything away from HF. They saw a problem approaching and made a tough call becuase they thought it was the best for everyone, the brewery, those attending the festival, and those hoping to get there for the bottle release. As Shaun often says, you can't please everyone. Some people will be happy, and some people will be upset. But they did what they thought was best, and that is commendable as you were suggesting in your original comment. I was only saying that it isn't really fair to compare it to what phish didn't do.

 

Who, let's be honest, are the bread and butter of Hill Farmstead. I'm not faulting Shaun, it's his ass and money on the line.

The Alchemist is much more local friendly these days. No grand announcements. No shit show circuses. They make it and put it on the shelf. People from out of state can't be here during the week and it sells out by Saturday. Too bad, take off work . I prefer Hill Farmstead over Heady, but I find myself drinking more Heady these days.

When the stars align properly, I visit Hill Farmstead and enjoy it. Pain in the ass or not, it's still the best brewery in the country.

 

I guess if you're more local to the Alchemist than HF, but they've still never made an attempt to limit sales in such a way that they have Heady week-round. I don't think there's any excuse for why they don't other than to create some sort of mystique as it sells out each week. It's hard to see how letting people from MA, NY, NH, etc walk out with 6 cases is local friendly when that means I have take a special trip in the middle of the week in order to get a four-pack. At least Hill Farmstead never runs out of stuff on tap, even if the uber-rare bottles have sold out

I know, I know. Woe is me

 

Not sure where you live, but with the new setup, it's available Monday through Friday somewhere between Burlington and Montpelier. The Burlington area gets at least two deliveries a week now. I get my groceries at a couple of places, one gets it on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. As long as you don't fall asleep at the wheel and wait until Friday night, you can get it. It's much better than it used to be.

Agree on the limits.

 

That's good news, it definitely sounds like it's been easier to acquire if you're on the edge or in Chittenden county since the last expansion, but seems pretty much the same everywhere else since they didn't really increase the distribution footprint, just volume.

In 2011 of course at first it was easy to get at the brewery on most weekends, then by winter it became easier for me to get at Hunger Mtn if I was passing through on a Friday or Saturday. By Spring/Summer 2012 it was always sold out at the Co-op, so I would have to get lucky late on a Friday night if I was going out to one of the fine Waterbury establishments for dinner. I would say it's about the same availability now, but I guess I could get some right at opening on Saturdays most of the time

 

There were about eight to ten cases at the Co-op when I stopped in this morning! I haven't seen that mid-week in a long time!!

 

Yeah, I think that may be because they changed their delivery schedule a couple weeks ago to earlier in the week. Probably means more locals get it than out-of-staters looking for Lawson's on Friday, but doesn't really make it any easier for those that don't live in town. If I was already in Montp during the week and wanted some Heady I would just drive 15 min further. Oh well, guess I'll just have to choke down some Abner instead

 

Again...woe is me. ;-)

 

for anybody that went up today, how busy was it?

 

I got up there about 11:45. There were around 20 or so people in line when they opened the door at noon. Line grew from there. They moved the tastings to a station outside so the growler fills and bottle sales would be less crowded and hopefully go a little quicker. Here is what it looked like at around 1 when I was about to head out.

 

Any word on bottle counts from the releases today?

 

He is probably moving. They always give you empty boxes as long as you buy 1 bottle.

 

Anyone know the ABV of elaborative #1?

 

6.5. And Prolegomena is 8.5 BTW.

 

Last I heard about bottle counts by the way, Elaborative was 1600, Prolegomena was 700.

 

Made the trek up Friday and popped open a Elaborative #1 when we got back to Maine ! Great beer and it was the chillest most relaxed day at the Hill that i have personally seen in quite sometime, maybe 10 people in line at about 2:30... though with Lawsons selling at the farmers market today Im assuming it was a much different atmosphere... curious to see how long this release lasts.

 

It will definitely last through June 15th. Without a shadow of a doubt.

 

This is awesome news..

 

Both?

 

Nice ! Thanks for the info... oh and for making good beer too !