Hill Farmstead (2022)

HF seems to agree as they have recently said they want to shift the ratio back in the direction of growlers. I’m skeptical a bit for a few reasons (decreasing growler popularity makes reuse less likely imo, no way they can do as much volume in growlers, and on a personal preference level how much more accessible 16 oz of decent abv beer is than 750ml.) I do think their growler beer tends to be phenomenal, but the best cans I’ve had even recently have been too.

 

Can issues aside, I take it the draft is as good as ever? Very solid selection of Hill available at Monk's presently. Going to have a hard time choosing between Arthur / Anna / Edward / Mary / SS5 / Susan.

 

The Edward I’ve had on draft this year has been absolutely ridiculous.

 

The draft system at hill farmstead is amazing. The head in those beers is like foam. The experience is unmatched. Even the hill beers I’ve had at Brooklyn bars with drafts systems I trust didn’t taste this good. Wow! Blown away by the experience.

 

I will give an honorable mention to hotel Vermont ant their bar - juniper. Their draft system is top top notch. The head on their Edward pour was as nice as from the source. I spoke to the lady running their bar program. They take great pride in their draft system and service and it shows. Hotel Vermont and hill farmstead are the 1-2 punch in Vermont that will be hard to match anywhere else. The service at juniper is 11 out-of 10. Can’t say enough good things about their staff.

 

Having had the available offerings for some time now.
The canned offerings have some variability.
The core offerings are on point, every time I have had them.
Recent canned offerings are as good as ever.
Cheers

 

The hoppy beers taste better on draft for sure, but I don’t know a brewery where that experience is different. This is why HF has expanded its growler offering in recent months; cans were just a necessary (and very welcome) side effect of Covid. Edward on draft at the brewery is an experience in itself, as many have said.

I’ve had cans that haven’t been up to HF standards, but overall, I’m satisfied. The convenience factor is huge too, as it’s much easier to send a few cans to friends than a few growlers. I do feel that at least the lagers and pale ales could be a dollar or two cheaper a 4-pack though, but I still buy them.

 

Lagers- Notch is my go to
Hoppy- treehouse mostly

 

I will say that the on-site experience I had a few days ago at hill farmstead has been unmatched. Their beers are so damn good on draft from the source. Their draft system is phenomenal and the small bubble foam head on those pours is beautiful. Combine that with the venue and the views and it’s just heavenly. Edward, Susan, Harlan, riwaka pale ale were all great on draft. The slow pour of poetica as well. Shirley Mae was probably the best nitro dark beer I’ve ever had. Bottle pours of BA Earl and Arthur puncheon were awesome as well. Oh and almost forgot the draft pout of CD and another bottle pour of some other CD. I got the saisons when I ordered their cheese and olive board and that was a fine pairing indeed. I went 2 days back to back if your wondering how I tried basically everything on the menu. The only thing that didn’t meet or exceed my expectation was a can of double galaxy I had at a nearby restaurant. I have a 4 pack of those so we’ll do how it fairs when I revisit, but i feel like this is a weird batch. All the other cans I took home have been good so far - Edward, Susan, Harlan. Still yet to open Everett and Mary. Edward and double motueka growlers were A+.

 

first time having double galaxy in 6 years and of course I get the weird batch. so y'all would consider this not what's typical here? it's been so long I don't even remember why I loved it so much back then, but I do remember loving it. this is ok.

 

Can your palate really confidently recall your experience with a hop forward haze bomb from six years ago, particularly after having consumed gallons if not full on barrels of more and more potently over the top hop slurry since then?

Having never been a huge fan of galaxy myself, I couldn't say, though I have found several breweries galaxy features to be unable to maintain a consistent profile brew to brew.

 

As discussed above, Galaxy hops over the past few years has been quite variable.

Cheers!

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned that they had t-shirts for sale this week. Really nice quality too.

 

Sorry that this is a little off topic for this thread, but does anyone know how to correlate Flora bottle dates with batch numbers? I have a bottle dated November 2016.

 

That’s Batch 7.

 

B5 - 7/2013
B6 - 8/2014
B7 - 11/2016
B8 - 3/2018
B9 - 4/2019

I think there are a couple other dates out there for on-site only bottles, in case you see different dates on Untappd or something.

 

Not sure if this has been brought up in earlier threads, but I imagine the answer to all of the folks complaining about can carbonation issues is that unlike most breweries, all(?) HF beer is naturally carbonated and therefore has a much lower CO2 volume. Just a thought and saying this with no direct knowledge.

 

I do not believe their hoppy beers are naturally carbonated. It takes some time for beer to naturally carbonate (which is why its a great method for farmhouse ales, for instance). They want to get the hoppy beers out at peak “greenness/hoppiness”. I imagine they force carb any pale/IPA/etc.

 

Had my first one recently and was a bit disappointed. Nose was less than pungent, palate was more oniony than I've ever had in a Galaxy. Mouthfeel was more on the crisp rather than creamy side. Maybe I'm biased after having so many Congress St. over the years.

 

As I posted above: "...Galaxy hops over the past few years has been quite variable."

As a homebrewer I have stopped buying Galaxy hops since it seems to be like playing Russian Roulette.

Cheers!