Hill Farmstead (2020)

I think yes - they generally are. But it's not linear. If someone's main reason to drink beer was to get drunk - table / session / low ABV beers would be the worst bang for your buck.

 

To quote Ozzy “wine is fine but whiskey’s quicker”.

 

Nah, not really. I think it's mostly commensurate with the amount of time/ingredients involved in the particular beer, as well as existing pricing 'tiers' that breweries adhere to. As some not-that-great-but-relevant examples, Hill Farmstead sells Table Dorothy (4.5%) at the same $10/bottle price as Arthur/Anna (6.2%). Trillium's 3.x% fruited goses are $20/4-pack, the same as most of their 8-10% DIPAS.
My guess is they will be selling Table Clara at $10/750ml, unless they pull something wacky like packaging in cans

 

I’m all about it. I think part of the appeal for a brewer to brew super low alc beers is that they’re actually a challenge to make, and the other part is you can have a bunch without getting tanked. JK Petit Prince is one of my all time favorites and typically rests between 2-3%. Tons of flavor and drinkability. At 1.7% I’d be interested to see how this compares.

 

Are they almost automatically lower in calories because of the reduced alcohol content or are there examples where one would be drinking the calories of a normal beer but without the alcohol? The latter would be bad news for me.

 

I assume there is good amount of carapils or something like that...which I assume adds calories (?).

 

I've got to point out - this adds fruit as another element. You're probably paying more for the different (presumably more expensive) ingredient. Your example of Table Dorothy being the same as Ann is the apples-to-apples here.

Again, fruit (or other) additions have to be an exception this, but putting that aside I always thought a beer without flavorings added I think the ABV to calories is pretty linear. Have heard as much on podcasts and what not.

 

Yes, calories and ABV are often directly proportional. Not sure how many calories a BCBS or Black Tuesday, but it's a boatload. All sugar.

 

For a 12 ounce serving of beer a good estimate to the number of calories is 30 times the ABV as a whole number. For example the 12 ounce pour of a 5% ABV beer is usually around 150 cal. However this number can be significantly different in some beers. However in most beers produced in a somewhat normal way this rule holds so much true giver take a little bit. And a lot of American ag junk ladders this number is a little bit lower. In desert stouts and other beers with calorie additives (like lactose) that are not digestible by the yeast the number can be much higher.

 

I was always told ABV x serving size x 2.0-3.0 = calories consumed. The latter being "okay this saison is super light, thats a 2.0." or "okay this pastry stout is super heavy, so 3.0." Somewhere in the middle is 2.5.

In other words, take a super light grissette at 4.5%. You do 4.5 x 12 x 2. That's 108 calories. Now, lets call Heady Topper a heavy beer, so put it at 3. That's 8 x 16 x 3. That's 384 calories.

Not sure if that's 100% accurate, but it's how I've always done it.

 

I did weight watchers over the last year and lost 85 pounds (hit my goal in January). The way I tracked beer was directly tied to ABV. WW doesn't specifically track calories, but calories are a factor in WW points. I devised a method like this (WW doesn't have a real way to do this, so this was just my personal method): WW points = ABV rounded up (even if it was 5.1, I'd count it as 6) per 12 oz, then do the math if I'm having a 16oz can. I tend to stay away from big stouts, but if I was having something full of adjuncts and it was super sweet, I'd add a point or two. Well, whatever I did worked, because I never stopped drinking and hit my goal weight in about 12 months. I'm sharing this because while it doesn't tell you calories, it is a way to compare the relative impact of different beers on your weight. Also, I only got 23 points per day by the end (you get fewer daily points the more you lose), so if I had a can of Green, that would account for 11 of my daily points. Really helps put in perspective how much beer I should be drinking on a regular basis. Also made me start to really appreciate lower ABV beers. And 12oz cans.

/weightloss advocate

 

God damn no wonder this gut won't go no matter how much running or working out or 'sober' days I have throughout the week. Them Thursday-Sunday drinking days make up for it all and then some lol!!

 

2.5 x12 is 30 so We are the same for normal beers. Good to hear about the other types of beers though. So basically it’s anywhere from 24 to 36 cal per 1% ABV per 12 ounce serving. Makes sense have some light beers are able to get into that low to mid 90 cal number. And it also makes sense so you can have those 12 ounce doubts that come in at close to 500 cal

 

I’m going to be up in Vermont for 5 days in a few weeks. Only day I can get to HF is a Wednesday for pick ups, but didn’t know if there is enough variety of HF stuff being distributed around in Stowe/Waterbury stores area to skip the hour trek up there? Been 3 years since my last VT visit so maybe things have changed some since then (HF in cans for one).

 

I wouldn’t expect to find much HF stuff in distro.
I may be wrong but I thought that that little general store (Willys?) was the best bet. And there you’d likely only find the farmhouse classics in bottles

chime in VTers if I’m off base

 

Cannot get Cans in distro. Probably worth choosing another activity up there to avoid 2 hours of driving out and back. Maybe Caspian Lake? If you golf, the Mountainview Golf Course is a really, really fun 9-hole course about 12ish mins from HF.

 

There has only been a few random drops of cans and bottles during the COVID-19 situation. I think they mostly took place during the time HF was completely closed without curbside.
There were 3 consecutive weeks in April that I was able to buy cans in White River Junction.

 

Thanks for the input. I picked up some at Willie's a few years back (after visiting HF), and sounds like that may still be the situation of present day. I'll plan the make the trek. Its a wonderful drive...I really don't feel pressed for time. I think there was a killer food truck I saw along the way as well that had a line of construction workers for lunch (maybe near Greensboro...not sure). @JackHorzempa the Caspian Lake sounds like a nice combo. Keep the non-beer drinking girls happy that are along for the pilgrimage to beer mecca.

 

Yeah Willey's selection is always expanding it seems so definitely check that out for other VT options. Not sure if there are any Freak Folk Bier bottles making their way there still but you should pick them up if so. Blackback seems to have some Hill on draft and some nice Pilsners on Lukr. Enjoy