Tired Hands first time visit.

If someone says yes? Go and enjoy!

 

I heard them on a podcast. They sound great! Food looks great too. Please report back.

 

Anything you need to know? Yeah. Eat their food and drink their beer. You can't go wrong with anything there.

 

Candied bacon

 

This. And the bread plate, and the cheese plate. Do tasters of each one until you've had them all, then go back and have full pours of the ones you like best. I know it's after Saturday, but no reason this info isn't helpful to others.

 

Can anyone update me on the current growler policy? I might have time to swing by there on Friday evening and get a growler or two filled. Do they fill other breweries growlers or only their own? Still only 1 32 oz growler per person per tap? Thanks.

 

Fill only theirs and it's one growler no matter what size of each beer on tap per person.

 

Be patient. During busy periods, you don't want to upset Magick Man!

Candied bacon, bread/cheese plate, yes...super yes.

 

Tell them you think Hayden McCall is cool.

 

what podcast?

 

I have nothing to add other than to second (or third, or however many it is) the candied bacon and bread. Unlike just about every other place, they give you a real portion of bacon, about 6 pieces or more if I'm recalling that correctly. And the bread is just awesome.

 

Temper your expectations or you will leave disappointed like I did. They are good. They are not otherworldly like some lead you to believe.

 

Their pale ales and IPAs are on par with the ones made at Hill Farmstead, as are their sour/funky saisons. Their interpretation of a Belgian-style saison is also spot on. They do a great job with English session ales.

They unquestionably make some of the finest ales in the country, but every single beer they've ever made is not a great beer. Some aren't even good, but it's unfair and unrealistic to expect otherwise from a brewery that releases 3-5 beers per week, most of which are brand new recipes, and some of which use a melange of different, and sometimes bizarre, ingredients.

 

I would strongly disagree with that statement, and I'm not the biggest HF supporter out there. TH is good overall, very good for some of their offerings, but on the whole I wouldn't rank it anywhere near somewhere like HF.

 

I've never had any HF so I can't comment on the comparison. I've had Second Level, Such Passion, Beautiful Crystalline Structure, Adult Menu, and Hop Hands. All serviceable but nothing impressive. Such Passion was the best in that bunch. Hop Hands was weak.

 

I wouldn't either, not overall. But the pale ales are pretty much on par, from what I've had. And I've had several of both. And HandFarm is every bit as good as Brother Soigne, for example. Their Emptiness culture really creates some funky beers 6 months or so after bottling, while some of HF's tart saisons like Vera Mae are overwhelmingly tart after that much time.

Hill Farmstead really blows them away when it comes to their porters and stouts, which seems to be what people really flip their shit over when it comes to HF - and rightfully so. But for the farmhouse stuff and hoppy stuff, not so much. At least, not from what I've had. And TH gets extra points for making English milds and bitters from time to time, as they make very good ones, and those are sadly few and far between around here.

 

Agreed, we need more milds and bitters.

Their ESB (KILNTYM or whatever) is tasty, though the dry hopped version tasted off to me (vegetal or something).

 

In fairness to them not everything they make is a knockout. I haven't had any of those other than such passion. It really depends whats on tap when you go. Everytime I've gone they've had at least 2 really amazing beers and sometimes even more. But i've also had a few that were very pedestrian. For the most part though their beers are far above any other place I've had including Hill Farmstead.

 

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