Hill Farmstead hype

I must be one of the only people on this site who appreciates HFB's beers for themselves and what was put into the process. Don't feel like comparing them to other beers, rating it, commoditizing it, or arguing about it. I just want to drink each one with a curious and open mind, share it with others who won't get wacko over it, and relish the experience until the next one comes along to start the fun process over again. That's all I need - bizarre, eh? These threads freak me out somewhat, but I'm pretty rational so will read them for entertainment value - sorta on the order of soap operas for beer.

 

A friend of mine recently went to HF and very kindly brought me back 6 beers: Abner, Double Galaxy, Mary, Edward, Susan and Fear & Trembling in 750ml Growlers. I sent him a couple texts below with my impressions. I have no skin in this game and have not read through this entire thread. So I don't know what direction it has taken. Hopefully, my thoughts will add to the discussion:

Had my 2nd to last HF beer - Mary - solid but not close to a Prima Pils. My friend Pete and I tried 4 others (Fear & Trembling left) during the game the other night. We really enjoyed the Abner - understand why it's considered their flagship - a special beer although Pete felt the Sucks he had the other night was just as good - Sucks don't suck! The other 3 we felt were all good to very good beers but did not IOHO live up to their very high ratings. I think the hype train may very well be leading to higher ratings than the beers deserve. It would be interesting to see how they would do in a blind tasting. So we very much enjoyed the experience but we do not have to feel like we are missing much by not be able to drink their beers on a regular basis. There are plenty of competitive beers as good or better than the HF beers in each of their respective categories. For example, a fresh Double Jack is superb and I can get that right down the street. Of course, they've made over 60 beers so I'd be interested in trying a bunch of others to see if they can come close to living up to their Ratebeer #1 brewery rating. I'd take Firestone Walker easily over HF right now.

I noticed there is a thread on BA titled HF hype - I'm sure that would be an interesting read. When I've read similar threads, typically when people challenge the status quo, they are called trolls etc and sometimes that's the case. And they usually are attacked and people think if they have not agreed with the common perception that the brewery is amazing and they can do no wrong, that they are putting down the brewery and essentially saying it sucks. Of course in my case, I merely reported the experience we had drinking the beers. And that experience was very good, just not the wow experience one would have expected.

Abner provided it and I really liked the drinkability of Edward. But in total the beers did not live up to the scores on BA in our opinion. Of course, others would disagree and personally, I'm always happy when a person likes a beer more than me - I'm glad they really enjoyed it. The total beers we tried only represents 10% of the total beers they have ever made. So it's possible that with more experience with their beers, Pete and I might change our minds and agree that the hype is justified. And you know I'm open to that!

Some other factors involved are the types of beers we drank - mostly of similar styles - and where you drink a beer and the situation in which you drink it can have an effect on your opinion. If you're mainly an IPA guy, one might have a different opinion. And drinking these beers in a pub in beautiful Vermont with good friends can alter ones views. And I wonder if those factors have influenced their scores. I mention those in general, not saying they have had an impact on our personal experiences. That's why I think a blind tasting sometime would be interesting. They often end up with surprising results. Cheers!

 

You sent all that as texts to a friend?

 

Blanco - it was a stream of consciousness - and yes a bit long

 

Yes he did! My wife got a chuckle from it. I do not agree with many of his thoughts, but I do respect his opinion(at least on beer related issues!). Bob and I need to get together and discuss this over some beer this week. He must have been focusing on the SU basketball game instead of the HF beer.

 

I've never sent a text that long so Joe was the happy recipient of it He may be right about focusing more on the beer - watching SU get beat by UConn probably did not make me feel better about the beer!

 

Yeah, the place is overrated! Don't bother with it and let me buy all the Anniversary tickets.

 

About the only thing that's overrated about HF is the trade value. Is it worth trading $250 worth of beer to land Ann? Not unless you have a ridiculous amount of expendable money or you're addicted to ticking. It's a small amount of beer in an unpopulated area and most of the people buying it are going to have to make a trek to get it. If you trade the beer you're most likely making a lateral move and now you have to pay for shipping, so what's the point? This means there's not a whole lot of it that even gets traded

It's beer. You're not supposed to have a mind blowing experience with every beer you have. It sucks that it gets worked up to that kind of expectation in people's minds because it's so hard for people to acquire, but I know the beer is so good that every time I try a new HF brew I get excited and that doesn't happen with many breweries. Hill Farmstead is a top tier, great brewery - not just fair, good, or okay

If you're tasting Susan as soapy and flavorless then I think there are better explanations like unclean (soap residue) growlers or glasses and a growler that's been sitting around. Or you had a cold and were eating soap beforehand. Yup, BoT is flat

 

Shaun delayed release of B of T as long as he could because it was being slow to carbonate. He said he was concerned that it would be low, and maybe not up to consumers' usual expectations of quality. But, he decided to release it knowing it was still a great beer. I had a very uncarbonated but thoroughly delicious pour of Marshall Zhukov at the the HFB tap takeover at Pro-Pig, and everyone, including HFB staff present, decided it had more carbonation that that, with nothing missing. He decided to take a risk on it, but a Tomme Arthur he will never be.

 

I thought Ephraim and Abner were outstanding and a couple of the best DIPA's I have ever tried. Citra IPA and Harlan were well above average for sure. I am still chasing down the double galaxy so hopefully I try it some day soon. I have never really had a complaint about any of their beers and I don't think they are over hyped at all. I can certainly think of a few that are over hyped though.

 

Made it up for the first time on Saturday, spent entirely too much money and time, and was well worth it. I'll be making the trip again soon. Double Galaxy is in my top favorite 2 single hop beers ever, and probably my favorite DIPA ever. It crushes beers that I thought were amazing. Has seriously redefined the DIPA for me. Edward is glorious - given the vast number of pales I have drank, I always love having a new one with no gimmicks or secret ingredients that nevertheless kicks ass.

And the saisons.......... Man. Keep up the good work, guys. Feel bad for Phil and the folks who were doing the growler line on Saturday! It was crazy.

 

Hill Farmstead makes the best hoppy beers in the world (Abner, Ephraim, Society & Solitude 4 & 5, Double Galaxy, etc.). They also make some of the best saisons (Civil Disobedience #1, Juicy, E., Flora) and porters (Everett, Twilight of the Idols) in the world. Admittedly, some of their barrel-aged stuff has disappointed me somewhat (Birth of Tragedy, Genealogy of Morals), but they were still damn good beers.

There just isn't another brewery out there that's so damn consistent across several different styles like HF. They are the best brewery in the US and I really can't even think of a close second. I've made the 10 hour drive from DC 3 times already and I can't wait to do it again in the near future. Absolutely worth it.

 

I loved the Dorothy saison mainly due to the use of rye.

 

I agree about Susan. Not sure what the hype is about that since I think its still very good but at the lower end of what I have liked from HF as far as hoppy beers go. Harlan is still the best regular IPA from them, IMO.

 

On a recent trip to Vermont, I had some HF brews. The Abner I had in Waterbury stood toe-to-toe with Heady Topper as a first-class DIPA. Edward, Double Galaxy and Susan were also quite good to spectacular.

Hill Farmstead is legit. Drink some if you're able.

 

How quickly are they slammed on release days? I'm considering a trip up next Wednesday for the Saison release, but curious if I need to arrive a few hours early.

I'm hoping I can jet over to Alchemist and grab some Heady Topper while I'm up there. I noticed they now can on Mon/Wed instead of Mon/Thurs.

 

I keep changing my opinion on Susan. I have had it three times over the last two months or so.

The first time I had it I thought it was a good but not nowhere near my favorite from them. The second time I thought it was one of my favorite single IPA's they have ever brewed and I actually preferred it to the Galaxy in the taster there. The third time I had it, I went back to thinking it was good and not great.

Obviously it could just be my palate, but maybe there was some batch variation or freshness was really important?

Harlan was good, but if I had to pick a single hop IPA from them, it is Riwaka. That was an awesome beer.

 

Hey everyone, let's give the kid seeking attention some of our attention! Dude is on his high horse about west coast beers and thought it'd be fun to bash people who like HF even though he's rated their beers pretty high. Nothing new to see here.