Fantasy Brewery Trades

Does the trade have to be one for one? For example, I was thinking here in Portland we could trade Base Camp, Ex Novo and Tugboat for Trillium. Hell, as a sign of good will and generosity, I'll even throw in Captured by Porches as a bonus (because that's just the kind of guy I am).

 

In fact, there are a LOT of additional extras I could throw in to sweeten this deal. :-)

 

On a somewhat related note, I was at the Tired Hand Fermentaria a couple weeks back, and was struck by how similar their saisons were to those made by Upright. I'm a huge fan of Upright, but to have the opportunity to have some of the IPA's/DIPA's from Tired Hands, along with their Nothing but Void variants, I'd probably make that trade. Maybe not. It would definitely be something I'd have to think long and hard about.

Fortunately, this is just a "fantasy" trade thread. :-)

 

I hear you.

Some of their barrel aged stuff can be hit or miss (in my limited experience). However, Fantasia is always very good, and their pils is one of the best made in the NW (IMHO). Their saisons are always very solid, and sometimes fantastic (the special herbs for example).

To be completely honest, that was pretty comparable to my experience at Tired Hands the other day. Some of their stuff is truly amazing, but when I visited the tap room, I thought quality was all over the map. They had 12 beers on tap, and a couple of their IPA's (the bubble tea and the hazy jane II) were complete flops. The pale ale was passable, but hardly anything to get excited about. The Hazy Jane I was fantastic, and a couple of the other IPA's were decent. One of their saisons was very comparable to the Upright special herbs and was flat out terrific. In my experience, this is pretty comparable to most of my visits to Upright (though obviously, the Fermentaria is a much nicer facility than the dungeon room where Upright is housed).

 

Trevor, I don't even like sours, and most of your farmhouse ales are usually too tart for my taste. Yet there's no way I'd trade dG for Hill Farmstead, an assertion I feel I'm all the more qualified to make after the wife and I visited HF a few weeks back.

I hate having to make the drive to your place from PDX, but every time I make that drive from now on, I plan to remind myself that at least I'm not driving through the mudflats that pass for roads on the way to HF. Your brewery is FAR more accessible than HF, especially in the winter. In comparison to HF, your brewery is easy to find.

In terms of size, I actually thought the HF brewery seemed pretty comparable to your facility (though I realize their production is considerably greater than yours). Yes, they have a separate (small) bottle store and their taproom is larger, but that's hardly a huge bonus, considering that the place is pretty much packed to the gills from opening bell to closing. In terms of service, I think it's a dead heat. Both your staff and the HF staff are outstanding, and I give the HF staff full marks for handling the crowd so well. However, I still won't call the service there superior to what I routinely encounter at the dG tasting room.

In terms of beer quality, there's no doubt that HF makes some great beer. They also make some pretty ordinary stuff as well. I'll agree that their very best stuff is arguably as good as what you're making (though of course that's strictly a matter of opinion), and it's nice for a hophead like me that they make some outstanding IPA/DIPA's. On the other hand, given the number of duds they make (or at least "mehhh" beers), I won't say that their beer is better than yours.

And of course when it comes to value, they're no where close to being in your league (something that is very easy for me to say after the bottle of Civil Disobedience #19 I bought at HF).

Maybe it's just a visceral thing, but I enjoy visiting your facility, and plan to visit time and time again. However, I really didn't have that great a time at HF, and have no interest in ever going back. The tasting menu is very limited, and IMHO, isn't all that interesting (I was told they no longer sell their DIPA's by the glass because of some problems they've had with drunken behavior in the taproom, and apparently it's for this reason that they strictly limit the amount of beer customers can purchase for consumption in the taproom. Like dG, they have an excellent on premise for consumption bottle selection, which is the primary reason for visiting, other than for bottle and growler purchases).

Also, not that it matters of course, but your beer has way better trade value than HF stuff. I don't think that's entirely due to the fact that your beer is much more limited and scarce.

dG and HF are both outstanding, of that there's little doubt. However, just speaking for myself as a consumer, this is not a trade I would ever want to make. Cheers!