Hill Farmstead 4th Anniversary

This is an attitude that I have a hard time identifying with. I don't mean that to be a slight on you or your character or your opinions, so sorry if it sounds that way. But someone asked a question, to which someone responded that they felt discouraged that they missed out on bottles and that's it hard to swallow the fact that their local offerings are pretty much exhausted the day they hit shelves. It's a message board. It's a sounding board for statements like that. If every Thursday my butcher was packed with people who travelled four hours to buy up all the steak tips, I'd be discouraged too, even more so when he started releasing the steak tips at farmer's markets when I needed to be there to get a ticket at 6am.

The "Welcome to 2014 ... don't complain, you weren't prepared" attitude is a tough way to respond to someone voicing an opinion. It reeks of condescension and rudeness even if that wasn't your intent.

 

Not pointing it at anyone specific, just voicing my opinion. I think the boom has been going on long enough where we all know how these things play out now.

 

You are missing the point.
We want to spend our money on a locally produced product that is of high quality.
We have no interest in getting up at 5am, waiting in a line for 4 hours, fighting a crowd, etc...for beer

My money now goes to other local brewers where I don't have to spend hours or fight a crowd to get a sample of their product.

While the 'big 3' are enjoying the overwhelming amount of out of state money flowing their way week in and week out, I believe it is only a matter of time before those same customers move on to the 'next hot thing' and the 'big 3' are wondering where half their customer base went.

 

And I think that's a fair point, but I don't blame people for getting discouraged that, increasingly, this ("this" meaning, 4am wake ups, ticketed sales, et al.) is what it's coming to. There are people who can afford the time and money to attend most of these releases, but there are probably more than cannot for various reasons.

 

Its just what this has become, there is no sense in getting upset or discouraged about it, it wont make it better or change things. We are all a part of it. Its not just Vermont, there are certainly other parts of the country were people travel great distances for releases - im sure those locals would love to be able to exclusively drink such local beers. Hype gets people to travel and try new beers, a stellar product gets them to come back again and again. Its not gonna change anytime soon, so yeah, "deal with it" really is the best response. Either its worth it to you to make the extreme (sometimes) efforts to get said beer, or its not.

And seriously, it might be a newer thing up here, but I was living in central PA when Troegs was releasing their first few Splinter beers. This is an article from the Blue release, nearly 4 years ago:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/09/beer_enthusiasts_flock_to_harr.html

 

We had a great time on Friday at Parker Pie, really appreciate all the effort.
The night was rich with offerings and a fine crowd.
The Vermont food scene, cheese, beef, beer, chacuterie, etc, is a treasure.

Cheers all