Coming to this one as a relative newbie, although I've done several successful (and good, I think) trades in my first few months on BA. Next month I'll be close to Alpine and plan on making several trips. Are their bottles desirable for HF trades? I'm interested in trying some of HF's hoppy beers like Abner and What is Enlightenment? I understand that most of HF is growler only, so would I be expected to do growlers in return? Any advice on how I might propose/structure an Alpine/HF trade would be much appreciated. Thanks, and please be gentle
As I remember HF 750 ml growlers went for $15, so a couple Nelsons /Duets/Pures should cover it. If you get a growler of more limited growler-only Alpine you could ask for any available Vermont beer you want.
You can check out the HF website. It will tell you what beers they have on tap and in bottles, and what the prices are. It is updated daily to reflect what is currently available on draft for growler fills.
Thanks for the help so far. Another newbie question--about shipping growlers (which intimidates me), aside from breakage issues, will I lose significant freshness/flavor on a cross-country shipment?
At most your shipment is only going to take 5 days, just make sure that you crank down on the cap well and tape it up and you shouldn't notice any real difference in quality of the beer.
Whew, I don't think the actual principal trade will be tough if someone local is dying for Alpine, but the shipping will be a hindrance both in cost and potential problems, especially if Growlers are swapped. HF has Double Citra on tap right now, Abner is coming, and What is Enlightenment? is available. They can also be had in 750 ml bottles as well as Growlers, and would be a bottle for bottle swap I suppose and still be $4$. I'm going up to VT next week so I've been checking out their web sight too, hoping like hell Abner is around then.
I think if you can get Hoppy Birthday or Bad Boy growlers you can get pretty much most of the stuff that is regularly available, and perhaps even a few of the harder to get HF. As far as doing it, in all honesty I think Alpine hop masterpieces are better than Hill Farmstead's. Just had a growler of fresh Double Citra and it was very good, but much prefer Bad Boy or Hoppy Birthday. HF Saisons are exceptional, if you like that style I would try to use Alpine's trade value to get some. Should be $4$ except for the limited release stuff.
HF may not have abner next week but they will prob still have Ephriam which is 750ml only, no 2L. Ill be up there next thursday sometime around 1-2 ish my guess depending on traffic around boston in the morning, plan on stopping by Alchemist first.
HF doesn't bottle ANY hoppy beers. They DO have 750 growlers (along with the 2L), but no bottled hoppy beers.
