Hill Farmstead hype

I haven't had Anna but I thought Birth of Tragedy was pretty special. I think his pale ales and DIPA's are really where it's at. Ephraim isn't even the best one. With those types of beers, it's better to have it fresh from the source for sure; maybe that's part of it.

 

Fucking deservedly highly. [/thread]

ps "only show in town" - you're right Vermont beer blows…

 

adsf;lkjadsf;lkj PRAISE NOT HYPE.

It would absolutely not be any less regarded. They get praise (NOT HYPE) because their beer is amazing. I've had a number, and they've typically been world-class (and the ones that weren't I chalk up to having traded for them, trading for IPAs is gambling). If anything more exposure might give them more absurdly high numbers just from a higher number of beers making to the BA crowd.

Honestly, if you think Birth of Tragedy was a "C" beer then I don't trust any review by you of any beer ever. To each their own and everything, but man, our palates are NOT aligned.

 

I dunno, I had it out of at least 3 different bottles (it was at a special event in the Bay Area) and each one was magnificent. By far the best BA Porter I've ever had, nothing else was even close. Like I said, to each their own, and you're right, with such a small operation bottle variance is basically inevitable, but your statement is wildly divergent from my experience. (And for the record, lest anyone accuse me of "hyping", I drank my last bottle recently. Wish I had more, I'd drink those too.)

 

BoT has changed a bit since release, fwiw.

HF beers flew under the radar for a short period of time. It was inevitable that they would get hit by the spotlight. They make great versions of every style they attempt. Porter, RIS, IPA, DIPA, APA, Saison, whatever. They let the barrels guide the base beers, not dominate the base beers. They seem to take pride in every beer they brew, which is something I'm not convinced that a lot of other really good breweries do.

If Vermont were California, HF would be getting hated on for not meeting the demand of the local market.

 

I have not had much HF, but I have enjoyed the three beers I have tried, Anna, Arthur and Art, and I would buy them again and again if I could. Anna and Art are two of my favorite Saisons and I wish I had a bottle of each right now.

 

Ephraim is probably the best DIPA I've ever had (except when the recipe was temporarily changed, that sucked ass). Everette is probably the best porter I've ever had. The couple other bottles I've had from them have been nothing short of solid. I have little doubt that HF is one of the best breweries in the country.

Do I think their beers should command what they are in the trading arena? Absolutely not, but I also feel that way about anything LA's ever made, BA Darklords, all HotD beers, anything with a pedigree that means nothing (such as the Bottleworks beers), and anything else with ******edly low bottle counts and a world reknown hyping crew.

 

HF!

=)

 

I don't have an opinion.

 

HF has low bottle counts, but they are a small brewery and probably don't have *fill in the blank* to make tons of whatever beer they are releasing. Stone, on the other hand, is huge by craft standards, but only releases 1,000 bottles of their infected RIS. Thus, HF has low bottle counts, but Stone has ******edly low bottle counts.

As for hyping, I don't think HF needs it as their ratings have done just as fine outside of the nowhere Vermont area.

 

Thanks to trading and eBay!

 

I've had What is Enlightenment?, Double Citra, Everett, Edward, Society and Solitude #4, E., and Harlan. All were beyond amazing. What is Enlightenment and Everett are well worth the praise HF is getting recently.

 

I have tried 4 of their offerings on tap. The 4 of them were really, really good. I could drink the citra pale ale everyday, all day long. IMO it deserves the hype. I prefered HF hoppy ales to double sunshine and HT (which I'm drinking presently)

 

Birth of Tragedy is an A!

 

Ya...it sucks having to drive through the green mountain state. Even more so to drink beer made with well water carefully crafted, in some cases, for over a year. The remote aspect is a part of the allure...it's also they way some of us like it. Your rating seems harsh but if you thought it was truly a C...why even post?

 

I had a one week old Anna recently- It was mailed to me here in Canada. It was in the top 10 beers I've ever had. I had a growler of Edward at the same time and it was really good, but not quite as good as Anna. Recently we also opened a bottle of "E" from the same shipment and it was only "OK".

So, there is my HF experience so far. I also have Art and Arthur in the cellar waiting (from the same shipment), as well as CD#4 and Jimmy from the recent release coming in the mail.

So far, I'm impressed.

 

I've only had a few and generally agree that Anna wasn't too impressive. Far from bad, but not great. Everett and S&S 2 were both great, though. Definitely very close to the top of their respective styles. That being said, I don't really seek out their beers because most people want multiple barrel aged brewery-only releases for even their common beers.

 

My guess is they would rate rather well based on the trade demand and the fact a guy from Oregon felt this topic deserved a thread. It does not matter if it is the only brewery in town or one out of one hundred for the people trading for the bottles. Great breweries are great breweries regardless of location. Being the only show in town only really matters in terms of local "hype". If the brewery weren't worth the "hype" it would not warrant conversation. Even starting a conversation questioning the "hype" adds to the hype.