Hill Farmstead Bottle releases

http://www.hillfarmstead.com/bottle-release

 

Ah, not sure how I missed that. Wasn't Earl on a list of future bottle releases a while ago?

 

See, now this is how you BA.

 

Was up there on Saturday and it started getting bottled up due to a massive group that seemed only interested in buying tastings. Anyway, Phil got up and announced that anyone who was buying just bottles or merch could go right up to the front of the line. I think the system they run there is good with their space as limited as it is, but a section for tasting/deciding what you would like to buy could speed things up for people who already know what they want. There was a guy in front of me that had only wanted 1 growler filled and had to wait until that massive tasting group decided they had finished.

 

I think they do a separate tasting are during the summer. When I visited last July they had a little section roped off where you could buy tasters of 5 beers and full pints of two others. Not sure if this is the norm but it was really nice! A beautiful day standing out in the sun drinking a HF IPA.

 

Looking for a miracle. Looking for one ticket. Will pay for the extra and your ticket

 

I just posted a thread. I'm looking to upgrade to VIP session. Pay in $ or beer or whatever. Longshot but I have to ask/try.

 

Typically people drink while waiting in line. Ie. If anyone wants to purchase beer of any sort in growlers, they are in line... while tasting beer. No space for separate tasting area, separate bottle line, separate growler line...
And, for the record (!) - it's not that we dislike the crowds of people, it's that we don't like seeing people having to wait in line. To purchase beer. The mind never shuts off in an attempt to figure out quicker/better solutions. Progress is slow - new buildings by Fall should help with space... We appreciate your patience and understanding.

 

Phil and company do a great job with handling the lines, in my opinion. There are worse line-waiting experiences in this world than sipping on a tasting of Frienship & Reuinion or Edward or whatever while waiting for growler fills. Personally, I can hardly envision making a trip to Greensboro without wanting to wait in line for growler fills.

I'd go batshit crazy having to deal with the masses of people and, I'm sure, emails, phone calls, letters carried by Pony Express, etc. that you all must be dealing with. You do a great job, keep it up.

 

From facebook: "Madness and Civilization #1 being emptied from Bourbon Barrels today. Complex components - 2 year old Buckwheat Rye aged in Elijah Craig 18 barrels, 15 month Maple Wheat Imperial Stout, and a blend of Vanilla and Cacao Nib Bourbon Barrel aged Everett... This should be released on May 26th. 9%(ish) abv."

okay so let me sure i have this straight-
buckwheat rye- aged in elijah craig
maple wheat imperial stout- 15 months (aged in some sort of bourbon barrel?)
everette- bourbon barrel aged on cocao nibs and vanilla beans

I just broke into a cold sweat

 

I just want this. All of this.

 

Holy crap that sounds awesome.

...I wonder if the upcoming BA Everett is also cocao nib/vanilla?!

Holy crap.

 

Ohhhhh yah, I'm def picking that up. As for the other two releases... I'll leave more for you fellas. Or swap mine out for more stouts! Yeehaw!

 

I love the idea of sipping on beers while in line, and would wait a couple hours if that's the case. My question is, how hard is it to get pours while you're waiting in line? Also, how big are the pours?

 

it's $5 for 4 pours. What, maybe 4 oz each? I've never had any trouble getting refilled with relative speed, but I've also never been there for a total clusterfuck multiple hour wait before.

 

why cant these releases be like music releases where I can "find" them early...going up on the 16th is making me feel worse and worse with every more bit of information I am getting about upcomming beers.

 

Hmm, it looks like they took down the description from facebook now

 

People probably started lining up.

- Joe

 

Although online sales will probably never be allowed, online reserves could still work. I agree allowing reservations for everyone for each release could not work under your current operation, the list would be too long.

But I think if you offered some kind of limited reserve system it might help both the people who were travelling great distances as well as locals. The reserve system could be membership based (free or otherwise). Upon announcing an upcoming release, members could choose to reserve 1 bottle that only the member could pick up within a fairly limited time frame. BUT the member would only be allowed to do this for one or two releases of their choice per year. In addition, maybe members would have to reserve it based on their Drivers License number to avoid any abuse of the system.

By limiting members to one or two reserves per year, it should limit the number of requests per release, which should also be capped based on bottles produced. Additionally by restricting the pickup time window, the amount of storage required should be minimized, as much of the beer might even be picked up while it was still being offered on the shelf (in which case you might allow the reserved bottle to be added to the bottle minimum).

Maybe still a logistical nightmare, just an idea I wanted to share. Might be an option that would give locals a chance to pick up a big release without having to worry about getting there on the day of release and waiting in a crazy line while also giving people travelling far distances the certainty that at least something they reserved will be waiting for them.

 

that is an admirable attempt... but truth be told, so long as demand is higher than the supply, there will be no true "solution".

ideally, Shaun just continues to put out great beers that meet his standards and he does not feel that his quality or craft are compromised in order to meet growth demands... and consumers as a whole become more understanding and realize what we're talking about here....

I do appreciate Shaun being open ears about this... and posts like the one above for just trying... I mean, that's all anyone can do... try your best.