Hill Farmstead (2019)

There are a couple folks who normally organize a bus to and from but that leaves/arrives at Waterbury. Unless, you are special, then they pick up because your crew has clearly been drinking all morning Noah, you on here?

 

I really enjoyed both ways, but I liked being able to try the large variety of HF beers.

 

It was a chiller vibe too. The weather also helped that but no real built up hype over so and so pouring limited bottles. The Residency beers w/ Tim from SARA were some of the best beers last year though. But they poured with no line after the hype line.

 

Tried to do something like this last year... I luckily found someone last minute that I never met that helped. Here's my advice, either do the bus from Waterbury, or find someone close by at Highland Lodge - try there or Parker Pie for postings on the board offering rides most likely for $$ . No cabs or anything willing I've called and tried that last year. If you did it would be like $100 each way. Not worth it

 

Thanks for all of your suggestions re: taxis. Found an airbnb that's 2 miles away so doable for walking.

 

Fixed that for ya

 

Keep in mind you usually have to enter with a DD present. So you might want to figure out the plan for convincing them you just walked there.

 

Logistics for Fofa really is a nightmare it seems, especially if traveling from a distance.

 

To get $100 out of a 750ml bottle of Ann doing on-site pours, they'd have to do $17 4 oz. pours, or $26 6 oz. pours, or $8 2 oz. pours, or something along those lines. Now the prices would probably be a little lower to pour on draft because the packaging costs are lower, but there is little doubt in my mind that they make significantly more from selling this in bottles for $100 a pop than they could get from it by selling it on-site.

The lottery will keep from having a huge crush of people the first day, and I think it's a good idea that makes practical sense. Hell, so does charging $100 a bottle, because the market will easily bear that much. I just think it's silly to pretend that the price is somehow related to resellers, and not mainly to Shaun Hill's desire to make maximum profit from the bottle release.

 

They sell full bottles for onsite, not individual pours. Ann would be more than $100 for 750ml. Anne last week was $60 for 375 bottles.

 

I was told there would be no math.

 

Ann on-site was recently and it was $125.

 

They generally have normal hours on the days preceding FoFA.

If you and your wife have the option, I would urge you to make the trip to HF on Thursday (when it will be mellow), rather than on Friday (when it will be busy.) Lots of people attending FoFA show up on Friday to hang out at the bar, which means that the lines will be long and the tasting room will be crowded.

The one thing to consider, though, is that many of the Collected Works members will also be there on Friday. These members have access to a special menu that allows them to order rare vintages of HF bottles. If you are lucky or end up making friends in the tasting room, you and your wife may get the opportunity to try limited release beers from the past that are now very difficult to come by in the wild.

Up until 2016, the annual FoFA week release was Vera Mae. Depending on how things play out, we may see a release of Vera Mae during the week of FoFA 2019.

 

Vera Mae hasn't been released in two years now. I'd love that but doubt it? Vera Mae was released at their 2nd Anniversary too in 2012 then later FoFA. Hoping to see again soon!

 

The FoFA lottery is actually unfair, but nobody really complains about it.

There is a reason why the same faces show up at FoFA, year after year after year, and it's not just because they are all in CW. These people have figured out a way to virtually guarantee entry into the festival by being resourceful (while also playing by the rules.)

The key to winning FoFA tickets is to have someone else win them for you. Ask your girlfriend, wife, mother, brother, father, grandmother, neighbor, mule, and anyone else on your contacts list to enter the lottery. Then, ask entire departments at work (payroll, accounting, human resources, custodial staff, etc.) to throw their names into the hat. Have as many people apply on your behalf as possible, and win up as many tickets as you can. Since tickets are transferable, you can buy up all the tickets you need for yourself and your contingent, then sell off or trade the rest of the tickets you may get in excess. This is how you "win" a ticket to FoFA.

If we want to talk about true Mike Smith scenarios, this is it, folks.

I'm not even going to get into the tinfoil hat stuff...

 

Unsure if serious but I laughed.

@debokle

 

posting shaun hill copypasta on that other forum till people like you seems way easier

 

Curious what guest bottles people are seeing this week (other than Wunderkammer)? I don't suppose those Tilquin bottles are laying around up there still?

 

Yes

 

Yesterday they had 3F Oude Geuze - $13 / 350ml