Hill Farmstead coming to CO

I can't wait!!!! This is insane!

 

Wondered about that when I saw it on the upcoming Backcountry Pizza taplist; makes sense now! Certainly won't complain about this turn of events

 

Very cool. Have had it many times in NYC (especially at DBGB), and it's one that's actually worth the hype.

 

Yeah, this is awesome. Dorothy is a bomb saison. Hopefully more styles get out here. I could go for a few (hundred) pints of Edward.

 

Hopefully it doesn't end up like this...

 

Nah - this is more like what the brewery in VT looks like on weekends.

 

Now that Pliny the Elder can be found in 4 or 5 different places in Denver and is therefore no longer 'rare', it's good that another beer takes its place. And good that it's one from the East Coast for a change.

 

I think the HF hype is 100% real and this is awesome. At the same time, beer geeks love to line up and businesses love the guaranteed $ that a pre-announced spectacle brings. I hope these kegs are widespread enough that lines aren't needed. Either that or businesses put the taps on without warning. I'd rather have one person alert 75 of their best friends about a 1-off tap than 500 people lining up at the crack of dawn.
Then again, the inability to trade this away might cut down on some of the nonsense, too. If you can't trade it away...was it ever even here to begin with?

 

Whenever I'm in Boston I make the hike to Armsby Abbey - they always hVe on multiple great HF taps - no hysteria, just mellow restaurant scene (w GREAT food) pouring killer HF ... Not sure how they keep it mellow or this stuff on all the time, but they do. Let's hope for something like this. http://armsbyabbey.com/on-tap-2/

 

I think it depends on how many kegs are available in Denver at any one time, regardless of label. PtY still produces lines and you can't take that with you (well, not too far anyway). But PtY is an "event". If HF has kegs in Denver year-round, lines would reduce. I'd kind of like to know how CSA plans to distribute HF beers.

 

I don't think PtY really equates to any other beer event because it isn't bottled. I guess maybe Zwanze, but that's as much about the spectacle as it is the beer itself. HF bottles many of their beers and the hoppy ones at least get packaged in the form of growlers. I'm hoping that cuts down on some of our potential lines and think it probably will.
This is all just speculation of course. It's going to come down to how many kegs we get, who gets them, and how they plan to sell the beer. While some places have mastered beer events, others have not. I'm actually hoping for a situation more like PtE, which is a borderline permanent rotator at the FRTH. Chris from the FRTH is not a big fan of the whole hazy beer thing. I don't think that will preclude them getting any, but I don't know it they'll be as apt to jump on this train as others.
Anyway, no matter how you spin it - this is awesome news. Until Colorado turns into one giant beer line, I'm still game.

 

It's something like 60 kegs in Colorado, I believe. Most in Denver. Maybe ten or a dozen in Northern Colorado.

It's mellow because it's Worcester; a no-mans land for beer, even though it's an hour west of Boston. They have a good relationship with Shaun so they get the goods. They always have a great tap list as well, Hill or no Hill. Veering off topic now, but if you ever have the chance to go for Stoutfest in April, do so. Dynamite beer event.

 

Just curious from the legal/technical perspective how Crooked Stave is distributing this?

 

They have their own distribution company.

 

Yea I knew that. Didn't know if there was anymore to it than that. Who else do they distribute for out of curiousity. How is CSA different than a brew pub distro model?

 

Perennial, Prairie, Jolly Pumpkin, Copper Kettle, Off Color, Westbrook, Shelton Brothers, Twelve Percent, among many others.

 

I think the question here is how are kegs getting from Hill Farmstead in Vermont to the CSA's warehouse in Colorado. Has to be some sort of third party distributor involved. The logistics behind CSA's distribution fascinate me.

However the hell they keep pulling this magic is a mystery to me, but god dammit, isn't it great!?