Hill Farmstead (2021)

In terms of diagnosing the cause of this problem (outside of the obvious sexism and exploitation of labor already present across society elsewhere) as it relates to brewing specifically is the fact that the craft beer scene/industry blew up so quickly and so dramatically.

It's the same reason that places like 450N, Burley, etc. (I could name 50x more extreme examples, these are just good placeholders), I think, have had such shitty, common-sense gaffes with customers service and public relations. The people running these operations, many times, aren't professionals and aren't used to having to act professionally. When a 30 year-old's business blows up overnight because the craft beer hype machine is awfully powerful, his operation probably doesn't have the infrastructure or experience in place to handle responsibly serious issues relating to (1) how to handle social media, community issues, etc or in this case (2) exploitation in the workplace.

It would take some serious forethought and careful examination to avoid these gaffes when a nano-business becomes a nationwide business overnight. I'm not saying that we shouldn't expect better (we certainly should!), only chiming in about one possible cause I haven't seen mentioned.

 

One problem is that these breweries started out tiny, a group of friends brewing beer and figuring out how to run a business. The breweries have matured into larger operations, but the circle of friends is still in charge, running it like their own personal domain instead of a professional business. That's how you end up with Shaun Hill talking to someone who he employs about a female brewer as if she's a sex object.

One of the things that really needs to come out of this is for brewery owners to professionalize their operations. Clean house of having their friends working for them. It creates a terrible work environment to have friends of the owner in positions of authority, and that is a big contributing factor for why these workplaces are toxic and hostile toward women. That is something concrete that brewers can commit to doing to significantly improve the atmosphere, for women, for people of color, and for anyone else who works at one of these places and is outside the inner circle looking in.

 

lol, beat you to the same point by just a few seconds. glad to hear I'm not alone in thinking along these lines.

 

Is there anyplace that sells HF cans other than the brewery itself? I am talking about the area near the brewery. I heard rumors about a store near HF that sold HF cans

 

Outside of VT? Highly unlikely unless they were being bought at Hill and then resold.

Otherwise, always worth a shot checking out Willey’s in Greensboro. I’ve seen Hill bottles (mostly “shelf” variety) there, but not sure on cans.

 

Cans were available in a few stores/bars during the initial closure in March/April 2020. Once HF reopened for to-go sales, I think that dried up. The only place for to-go sales would be Willeys and I’ve never seen cans there.

 

Well, I would probably say that the things that are being said about Shaun more shine a light on him as a person, and I doubt owning a brewery changes any of that. You are really only describing the environment that has enabled him but this sounds like he really has some personal problems. The ‘didn’t want this attention’ is just a really lousy excuse for not wanting to deal with your personal character.

 

Hard for some to do that when they really want to keep buying the beer (HF, TH, etc) and need to get through the mental gymnastics to do so.

 

Hill was always a weirdo. Also coincidental he had this whole epiphany of changing the business model and some philosophy yada, then this breaks. I think the fanatics don’t want to admit it or that he could do wrong

 

I wonder what the chances are of Shaun turtling and shutting the whole thing down under the guise of never intending the brewery to reach this level in the first place. That interview earlier in the year made it sound like he had considered it already.

 

That would be a pretty major decision that would impact a lot of people currently employed there. I would say the chances are minuscule.

 

i agree it’s low, but I don’t think it’s zero.

 

It is interesting to follow the zeitgeist of this developing thread- the schadenfreude is palpable.

 

Never underestimate the power of denial.

 

ain't just a river in Egypt.

 

Oregon don’t give an F about nothin!

 

Was the decision to ship to Oregon related to anything specifically? Wondering if HF will be coming to a state nearby soon.

 

It had to with Oregon being one of the few states that allows the licensing of direct to consumer shipping of beer from out of state. They mention this in the Instagram post.

 

Yes, Oregon allows DTC (Direct-To-Consumer) shipping. Many states do not, or have restrictive laws about it. Here's what they said on their Instagram when they announced it:

"If your state regulations do not currently allow for direct-to-consumer shipments of beer from out of state, please consider writing to your local representatives and demanding change. Unfortunately, there are only a few states that allow this licensing. In 2013, we led the change to Vermont’s statutes, allowing shipping of beer, hoping that it might lead to a reciprocal and level playing field in which our beer could benefit from the same direct access to consumers as wine. In a better future, we hope for an expansion of legal methods that will allow us to provide a different means of equitable access to a distributed audience.⁣"