Hill Farmstead (2019)

Anyone have ideas as to how long BA pales ales like What is Enlightenment?, Sue and E stay at their peak?

 

Have had some great vintages of E., Sue and BA Dorothy before and they all develop well IMO and even better sometimes, but I end up drinking those usually sooner (4-10 months in). Drink one now if you have 2.

 

Double Riwaka is so good, but not sure it'll last that long. Was surprised it was still around this Saturday. Would suggest getting there before 11:30 on Friday since the new release or 1pm or so. In my experiences, theres always a big rush at open in retail that then moves to the taproom and ends up leaving the retail easier to buy at 1-1:30. Up to you, Good luck.

 

How are the roads around the brewery this time of year? Muddy?

 

Thanks. I have a bunch of WiE and love it. Just wondering how long it'll stay amazing. Have a '18 Sue that Ive never tried. Thats the one im more concerned about the shelf life on.

 

Brett is pretty awesome at preserving hop aroma and flavor. I wouldn’t worry about the BA hoppy offerings dropping off much.

 

Depends on the day/route, but this last weekend Friday was real icy and slick on the dirt road and Saturday we went a different route up, it was raining, warmer and Taylor Rd. was more dirt/muddy. Not muddy enough to worry about getting stuck I don't think though. The icy roads were more worrisome.
On another note, not even 20 minutes on our way home Sunday from Waterbury, 89 got dangerous - traffic was at a halt from heavy wintry mix and trucks, buses and cars were stuck on the hill. Luckily I had rented a good Jeep SUV and got past it all. Even tow trucks were getting stuck.

 

well rats it did sell out, buuut its on for growler fills so will just snag one. Thanks for the info though!

 

Happy Holidays HF thread- I am super stoked to have two cases of bottles and cans for the vacation week and beyond. I was skeptical about the Flora cherry based on some uptapped reviews saying it was very sour. I was pleasantly surprised to find it tart but still balanced. I am however battle tested from Trillium sours, so sour is relative. Going to live it up in December and then do a dry January until my Birthday at the end of the month and crack my first Damon.

 

I'm glad to hear that about the Flora Cherry. I went up to the brewery on 12/12, and spent way too much money, but only got two bottles of that because I'm not a huge fan of cherries. I was pretty disappointed to see that I missed Damon and Rhetorica by a week, but everything I bought/drank there has been fantastic, so I shouldn't complain.

 

I had a Flora Cherry on Thursday night. I didn’t find it very sour. It was quite tart, but not bracingly sour and for me didn’t detract from the overall quality of the beer/experience. I agree with with you about the balance. For me, plenty of other things that kept that from overpowering the beer: great cherry depth-fleshy, fresh, light funkiness, and a hint of cinnamon.

That said, a buddy drank one last night and he found it to be “pretty sour” and did detract from experience a bit. He did find the cherry notes to be great.

I think the fruited Floras are always solid, but are never as good as the base beer. Cherry is always one of the better variants for me along with plum, but Peaches/pears probably the best I’ve had.

 

Wow the take-away list is really shaping up to be awesome this week. Thinking about making an impromptu-ish run on Thursday or Friday.

Anybody got any sense of whether Flora cherry will last until the weekend? I think this is it's third week?

Happy holidays all.

 

Yup. It's entering it's 3rd retail week. No idea where the stock stands, but one benefit is one less retail day next week with them being closed on Wednesday, Christmas, so that could help.

 

If you haven’t checked, Flora Cherry is no longer listed as an available bottle so it likely sold out today.

 

Thanks! I ended up going yesterday and it must've sold out quickly. I was there by 2pm and it was already gone. That said, still ended up with a great haul.

 

Anyone heading to Hill today? If so, would appreciate a road / crowd report.

 

Regarding the roads they posted this yesterday to their Instagram story: “Road conditions are tricky, especially on the backroads, but I assure you we are open. Please take your time and be safe on your way here.”

I’d imagine that those conditions wouldn’t have changed too much for the better in the last 24 hours.

 

There was some freezing rain yesterday which resulted in icey roads. Today is sunny and in the mid 30's so ice wont be a problem as the day goes on. Mud may be an issue later in the day.