Hill Farmstead (2021)

As an aside the thread about this on the Tree House fb group is fucking hilarious.

 

Holding out hope that the grounds will be open come Fall

 

Heading there the following week (April 14-16). Hopefully, they stick to the same schedule of Wed-Fri!

 

"Nate and Dean have longer lines every single day."

That forum is a treasure.

 

Given their marketing, how it was as they opened, what it became, how big it got, feats, parties, interviews, etc. There is no way SH could say he wasn’t trying to build a business and one to get bigger and bigger. And considering overhead costs (unless he is a hidden trust fund kid) he needs to keep the business moving to live. Not to mention it would suck for anyone working there that loses a job if they chose a different model. He is free to do what he wants with his business and money. But I for one, closing in on 40 do need to work and always strive to do better and increase my take home. To pay my bills, mortgage and provide with family. This to me, reads like financial responsibility is less of a concern to him. Even though he literally owns the business. Also, even if the customers of long ago started to come back, by all accounts they were replaced anyways. But don’t push more away. Also, just because you add a bunch of things to beer doesn’t mean that brewer or human is less than him. They are just being creative. Which I’m not sure he is the god to rule if it is or not. He’s just another human. I like to think he likes creativity. Otherwise things just get stale and sit on shelves.

 

That's pretty funny. TH and HF aren't even playing the same sport IMO.

 

I'm sorry, what overhead are you talking about? How extravagantly expensive do you think it is to live and own a business in Northern Vermont?

 

Don’t think the interview was particularly surprising. I’ve always gotten the impression that any growth over the years was fairly reluctant.

 

I thought maybe I saw grain, hops, water, electricity, equipment, staff, adjuncts, barrels, cans, merchandise, bottles, insurance, permits, among other repetitive purchases that would cost some kind of money.

 

I don't know if I'd call that totally fair but yeah there were some dudes being like "HF has been outclassed in every style at this point" which lolll.

Anyways as far as SH's preferred direction for the brewery, I feel like the growth has had elements of deliberate and reluctant at different times and I don't see anything wrong with that. I get the sense Shaun likes making beer, likes what the brewery brings to Greensboro's economy more than he dislikes it, and sees the business as a not insignificant tool to bring attention and financial support to the causes he values. Wanting the past year's lack of crazy crowds to remain post pandemic is only in direct opposition to maximizing the $$ involved in each of those goals. The interview reads to me like a happy medium will be the priority.

Separately, I don't even necessarily agree with him on the candy stout/fruit juice craze. I roll my eyes at plenty of beers I see and could not want a smoothee beer less, but it bothers me 0 that they exist. But I also think it's completely reasonable that HF doesn't go there.

 

More than in Ohio.

 

The definitions of reason, sanity and normality have changed for all of us over the last year. And Shaun does have a philosophy degree...

I don't think HF is shutting down anytime soon, but the world has changed, and a lot of the changes will stick. Let's just see what it brings us.

 

There’s middle ground, between constantly expanding, and shrinking into oblivion.

HF as a brand has to be worth quite a bit. I don’t think they’ll have any financial issues, regardless of where or how he decides to scale.

 

He’s not going to scale, this is it.

 

Seems to me like a lot are assuming they’ll scale down a bit....

Wasn’t suggesting they’ll expand.

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if their model turned to mostly curbside pickup with scheduled tasting events to make use of the tap room area. That seems to be the compromise he's looking for, where the place isn't a fucking shit show all the time, but it's still using the space they built. They'll still sell plenty of beer to stay solvent doing curbside pickup (there was so long that you simply couldn't stay there and drink a beer on site anyway, and the place was still swamped), and he can construct tasting events that will provide people some of the Hill Farmstead experience while still being entirely predictable and manageable, traffic wise

 

Obviously things can change, but their current capacity is 6K BBL, and SH was said that there are no plans to increase capacity. It does sound like they are reevaluating taproom traffic to allow for a more nuanced experience that welcomes back consumers who were put off by long lines, etc. I would def welcome that.

 

Seriously though, I’m 100% in on 1/6 kegs of Abner, Susan, Edward, S+s series, double citra or galaxy, etc

 

They’ve always sold sixtels of their draft beer as long as it wasn’t a crazy time of year. You just had to send an email. I was fortunate enough to have Edward and Susan pouring at my wedding a few years ago.

 

Never knew this. Thank you.