Hill Farmstead 4th Anniversary

Talk about an embarassment of riches... No whining allowed!

 

Going to Parker Pie tonight, be safe everyone.

Cheers

 

I'll be 450 miles away, cracking open a bottle of Anna tonight and a Flora tomorrow as a toast to Shaun and the beer chaos taking place in Vermont this weekend. Next year i will be in for sure. Enjoy the festivities and try not to give the Waterbury cops too much work to do over the weekend.

 

Enjoy the awesomeness this weekend BA's. I shall be there next year with a mighty Santa bag of goodies from Maine.

 

Stuck in traffic in Nj for an hour now I'm out of gas in Arlington VT at 4 am all the while my wife is texting "I told you so."

What a first trip to VT. If anyone had a few extra bottles of Arthur I'd be more than generous in swapping for it when I finally get up there. I don't think ill make it to HF today.

 

Parker Pie last night was awesome. chill, relaxed and not over crowded. karoake upstairs while drinking numerous Loons was classic!

 

I've been repping the Oxbow crew the last 3 anniversary bottle-shares - your turn!

 

These liquid swords already taste like fresh gueuze even though not a spontaneous. Imagine how they'll be this time next year

I'll bring a full arsenal of goodies. Sick of all my friends going to VT while I work. Never again!

 

Be safe people - I just watched the police / emt's bust open the back window of a car to drag some unresponsive person out to be hauled off by ambulance in the Bevy parking lot. No idea if it was alcohol related or not, hard not to make that assumption though given the location and the day. Seriously, be smart about things!

 

Could'nt agree more.
That was a pitch perfedt night

Cheers

 

Starting the bottle share at the covered bridge behind the Best Western now. Get some.

 

Scratch that. Common room.

 

We got kicked out of the common room. We negotiated the conference room. Haha.

 

I would have loved to see those negotiations!

Hotel: "you cant be here"
Beer People: "we're not going anywhere"
Hotel: "you can use the conference room, in exchange for 1 VSB"
Beer People: "are you crazy? have you seen the trade forums?? VSB goes for waaaay more than the cost of a conference room!"
Hotel: "fine, give me the Switchback bomber and move this "party" to the conference room...this conversation never took place"

 

At the BW, anyone still up?

- Joe

 

By chance does anyone have a room booked locally for tomorrow night that won't be used any longer? BM me. Thanks!

 

Some highlights:

-Birth of Tragedy 2012

-E.: Wanted to try this one most of all and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. Even better than their wild saisons I thought.

-Zombie Dust: Might be my ideal beer. Had fallen down my list of must try's given the crazy number of fantastic New England pale options but it absolutely blew me away.

-Beyond Good and Evil: Just insanely good. Had had it before and passed up trying something new because it's that good.

-Moving between the three bars easily. Being able to go from lunch at Res to Pro Pig to finish my day at Blackback was unexpected but was a nice bonus to cap off the afternoon. Big fan of the different vibe at all three, and the different tap lists at each made for some fun.

 

Had a great 4 days in Vermont, culminating in the HF 4th anniversary last night. Was able to go to HF 3 times, such a beautiful area that Mr. Hill is working in and amazing brews as usual. The Warren store and surrounding area were nice as well, and the waitsfield farmers market and lawsons beers were great.

Downtown Waterbury is a treat, the 3 pubs are fantastic, with pro pig being the standout food/drink wise. And heady everywhere doesn't hurt either. Big shout out to the guys at cbc, top notch store and a bunch of top notch guys.

The standout beets for me, and I'm only saying the ones I had never had before, were the limoncello collabo with mikkeller and the Edward double dry hop with citra cask, absolutely amazing.

Hopefully I can make it up to Vermont from s florida again sometime next year!

 

Jeg518..you were #1 in Lawsons line at Mad Taco, right?

 

So had quite an eventful first trip to VT. Left PA at 11 pm after wanting to leave at 9-10 (wife had some not so nice parting words and texts on the way out of town) so I was already a little anxious about leaving late. I hit a traffic jam in NJ on 78 and was stopped dead for about 45 minutes for a haz-mat issue with a tractor trailer.

At around 2am I was in VT driving through a decently sized town with a bunch of gas stations. I was a little over 1/4 tank and decided not to stop. I get to the middle of nowhere at 3am and start to run out of gas. I coast into a gas station which was closed. The pumps were not turned on at all. So at 330am a townie comes by and tells me the pumps don't turn on until 430am. So I wait until then watching intently to ensure a remake of deliverance doesn't break out. (All of you VT resident's this is not a slight on your beautiful state, just a joke as I was in a remote area of Arlington, VT)

I get to the Lawson's ticket release at about 645 and I was 75th in line. I got to try the Triple Sunshine (awesome), sip of sunshine (great session) and a few other locals at Mad Taco and met some pretty great people in line. Made my IPM's here for some great NEBCO and local CT beers. Also picked up my Maine Dinner here from a separate trade. Both trades I set up were with some great people and I couldn't have asked that they went any better, thanks Erika and George!

I was able to get to get some heady across the street from Mad Taco and then hung out at the Market and picked up some great local items as well as my full Lawson's ticket. On the way to Waterbury for all the drafts and Alchemist releases I saw people walking across the street from a little shop with heady and second fiddle so I swing a u-turn and go inside. No limits on either so I loaded up again.

I get into town and since I have to drive back to PA after the The Alchemist release I just look for some food and then just looked for the release area. I happened to make a great decision and turn left to an area near train tracks and stumble upon the area. I got to be about 15-20 in line and was super excited. I got to catch some sleep and try some great beers in line with some great people while waiting. I brought a growler of Sunday Morning Stout from Weyerbacher and that got shared quickly. There was a Dark Lord, Behemoth, Heady, Second Fiddle, BA Boris, Alpha King, Boat beer and a bunch I'm assuming I'm forgetting.

Got my mixed case from The Alchemist release and met my last trade where I scored a bottle of Sosus. Also got to try the interesting mix of Heady, Focal and the Bub from The Alchemist while in line. Not a home run but cool to try for sure.

Then I left VT around 4:45 and got home at like 10:30 after stopping a bunch to wake up and all. So I didn't sleep for about 42 hours but I did come back with a ton of awesome stuff. I seriously can't wait to make it back up there and to HF the next time. The drive on 100 was a huge highlight and insanely beautiful, I just wish I could have taken it slowly and enjoyed it more. I will no doubt be planning a week long trip to get a closer look.