Happy Accidents

First time I went to Cantillon, my buddy and I came in on the heels of a formal tour for the local Lions Club. We did the typical self-guided wandering, and made it back to the tasting/tap room just as the Lions were leaving. What they left included trays of uneaten filled baguettes, as well as a half-consumed 5-l wooden keg of Faro and one of unblended Lambic. We hung out drinking and eating what was left (all free, of course) and chatted with one of the brewers, who confided in us that the only German beer he liked was Schlenkerla Rauchbier. He also talked about those days when he would consume 10, 12, or even 14 Duvel in a sitting.... Very cool.

 

I would not classify seeing Shaun Hill at a crowded Hill Farmstead beer event as being an accident but having the ability to talk to him for an extended period of time is a happy accident. Below are some details:

Permit me to tell a Shaun Hill story. I have never been to the brewery but I got a chance to meet Shaun Hill at Teresa’s Next Door (Wayne, PA) as part of Philly Beer Week. My wife and I had a chance to talk to Shaun for 10-15 minutes. He is a very pleasant guy and very open in communicating. I am a homebrewer so I asked a number of technical brewing questions which Shaun patiently and cordially answered. I then made an honest statement to Shaun: “I have had a large number of your beers and every one of your beers has been very, very good.” Shaun replied: “That’s because we never let a ‘bad’ batch out of our brewery.” I replied: “You never had to dump a batch, did you? He responded” “Yes, and that is tough to do when you only have $5,000.00 in the bank.” So, apparently Shaun did experience a few ‘hiccups’ during his startup but he had the integrity to not sell what he considered to be subpar beer. Yup, Shaun Hill is an excellent brewer on many levels.

Cheers!

 

Got a random text from my sister that was a picture of a 4-pack of Heady. Next text: Do you want this beer? I got you two 4-packs.

Had no idea she was even in Vermont, and I had never talked to her about HT before.

 

Bourbon County Brand Morale Building Stout

 

I like it! If i could only get it made a corporate policy...

 

Similar story! Last 4th of July I was meeting my wife's co-worker down the street from a fireworks spot. Apparently her brother was down from Vermont, and had brought down some Heady for his cousin who was a no show. And her brother hated hoppy beers himself (his standby beer was Paulaner). So needless to say I carried a Heady down to the fireworks viewing and got a free 4-pack from some dude I hadn't met before.

 

Their Helles was one of my fave beers in a long while, too. There was a post on the Germany board where it seemed like those beers would be getting a wider distribution. It's top notch stuff, so hopefully that happens soon.

 

Last spring I stopped at a small bar in Indianapolis and they had Bourbon County Stout on nitro. Incredible, and I've never seen it since.

 

Our first trip to Hill Farmstead, we were waiting in line to get our growlers filled and the guest beer was Hommage. Guy in front of me grabbed the last one. Woman working behind the counter saw the look on my face, went back to find me one, and brought it out a few minutes later.

 

I haven't seen a happy accident like this since i watched bob ross paint on tv. It would seem that serendipity is for others.

 

Haha, I was at Three Penny in Montpelier the other day and three people in a row walked in and said "eh, I'll just have an Edward." Great conversation about spoiled beer lovers in the Northeast Kingdom ensued.

But... I was in London at Belgo a few weeks ago and saw Boon Mariage Parfait on the menu for GBP 6 (~$9). So, I order it, and when the bottle comes out... it's a 2009 vintage. Spectacular surprise, and a stellar drink.

 

Captain Lawrence Brewing Co is one of the classiest establishments I've ever had the opportunity to drink at.

For me, with Captain Lawrence, I had an infected St. Vincent's Dubbel (that I didn't think was infected, just thought that it was a subpar beer). I began talking with the guy behind the bar and he was telling me that he thought I had an infected bottle. He looked in the cooler, couldn't find a bottle of it. So he went in the back and grabbed me a 2012 Vintage (I guess they have some they've been aging in the back - this one was really really good). Me and my buddies ended up tipping 20 bucks at the end of the experience and they gave my buddy's girl a free growler fill because they were so grateful. (Again, we didn't expect or ask for any of this).

Proof that good breweries make the extra effort for customer satisfaction. What first seemed like an unfortunate situation (an accident of them selling me an infected bottle) turned into an awesome situation for me and my buddies.

 

Cool story Bro

 

When I was 15 years old I got really into dumpster diving and drinking... So I combined the two and checked out a dumpster behind a bottle shop and found about 52 bottles of beer and 6 bottles of wine. The beer was Turbodog and all kinds of other craft beers I had no clue about at 15... At that age I just wanted to get drunk and so I did.

I think the reason for filling a dumpster full of beer was when they received a shipment and if there were any bottles broken in a six pack they would just throw away the rest of the beer and it wasn't until later that they realized that they can also sell singles of beer.

 

Here is my happy accident. We were visiting VT with my son. Happened to be driving on VT 100 and saw a sign for BREWERY. It looked like a wooden sign with paint on it. We figured why not. As you may have guessed we walked into the Alchemist a few weeks after it was open. I am not sure what they were doing at that moment, but the hop aroma let us know we were in heaven.

 

The other night a friend and I went to a local restaurant and were talking with the owner. he said his friend was coming back the next night with a bunch of rare beers and we were invited to join. I wasn't feeling well so I had to stay home but another friend went and he ended up having Dark Lords from 2009-2014, Bourbon barrel Dark Lord with Vanilla beans and Duck Duck Gueuze 2013. F my life.

 

I do a lot of work in NE Iowa and always try to end my day at Toppling Goliath tap room when I have a chance. It's nice to sit down, drink some delicious beer and wrap up the days work. A few month back they released Assassin to the public on a secret distribution drop. I missed out on it at my local shop by 15 minutes; pretty bummed. A few weeks later I have a work trip to Decorah, I finish my day, grab some food, and head to the tap room. Once I walk in I see " Kentucky Brand Brunch Stout" written on the board. I immediately get my 1 bottle allotment even though I planned on being there awhile and see a couple cases in the cooler. You never know when a tour bus of beer nerds could show up. Any-who I waited a few days, split the pour with my girlfriend and enjoyed the most delicious beer I've had the pleasure of tasting.