What's the scene at Hill Farmstead

The only on-site consumption is the sampling. As I understand it, they get a special limited license to serve during festivals only. So whatever you buy, you'll have to leave with it. There's a small retail area in the back part of the small barn/brewery. Plan to bring dark growlers (or better yet, buy some of their swing-top growlers) and a cooler with ice to keep them cold for the drive home. They also sell some of their own bottled beers, as well as a few bottles from others. Check their website for what's on tap and what bottles are in stock.

Yes, bring cash... both for the sampling/growler fills/bottles, but also for any SWAG you might want. Their glasses are beautiful, and they have a few shirts, too.

 

On non festival days I wouldn't expect any outdoor seating. Its very rustic. Just the tasting room in the barn, a stone driveway and the surrounding fields. When I asked for the bathroom they directed me towards the woods. Have they fixed the Taylor road sign yet? That was torn down a couple months ago so keep that in mind if it hasn't been replaced yet.

 

depending on your GPS, it can send you in the wrong direction. If you need any help getting there, the fellahs at Willy's general store in town know the way.

Scene is very mellow. Little tasting room, wire rack behind a small bar holding bottles. There's a few tanks in the room as well. No outdoor seating, generally speaking, but there is plenty of nature around to be enjoyed with a growler in your hand .

Its a nice spot, very small and straight forward. Bring more cash than you think you will need or want to spend

 

When I read the title of your thread, i thought to myself, cue the banjo (deliverance)

 

It's pretty simple once you're in town, but there's a lake camp community, and some "roads" the GPS might want you to take that you will quickly find out are NOT roads like it says, but paths of varying degrees. Basically, Center Rd will take you right into the town of Greensboro. You'll see a big white general / department (old style) store on your right and a red art gallery on your left. Go leftish-straightish ( ) onto Wilson Rd / East Craftsbury Rd (i'm not sure what the street sign actually says, tbh) . There will be a library on your left, along with a town hall and some other buildings. Stay right at the fork in the road by the school. That's Lauredon Ave. Go up a ways until a fork in the road, stay right onto Baker Hill and start getting very, VERY excited. Stay on this road until you see a right hand turn and a very small Hill Farmstead sign (no words, just their logo painted on a piece of wood that's probably 1'x1'). This is Hill Rd and the brewery is maybe 1.5-2mi up on the left

This is the way I know how to get there, it's pretty easy as long as you're prepared for the country and back road driving. The roads themselves are fine right now and you shouldn't have any problems in any vehicle getting up. In the winter and spring, that would be a different story.

 

Unless it is a festival, you are in and out of there surprisingly quickly. There's no tour or much to see. You can taste a few samples, but otherwise you get in, get your growlers/bottles, and get out. They have no license for on-site drinking, except for fests.

You drink HF beers at the various restaurants/bars in upstate VT.

 

Instead of a picnic you should go to Parker Pie Company in West Glover. They make fantastic pizza! It's maybe 10-15 minutes from the brewery and usually have some Hill beers on tap. Best of all, it's on a paved road!

 

oooh, parker pie is a good call. Awesome pizza and beers.

Only thing that would make parker pie better is if they transplanted it up on top of a hill, 5 miles into the back roads

 

Buy what you're going to buy then bring your beers down to here:
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/summer-vermont-ba-meet-up-update.22921/

 

there's no such place as "upstate vermont". northern vt is acceptable.

 

This is spoken as an outsider--but one with ancestral roots in northeastern Vermont--but Vermont is unique among states in New England (plus New York) in that the population center is in the northern part of the state. "Upstate" could almost be southern Vermont in that case. Or the Northeast Kingdom, which from my experience, feels quite different and more rustic than northwestern Vermont/Greater Burlington. In either place, there's great beer to be found, but Hill Farmstead seems easiest to find in northeastern Vermont, plus Waterbury.

 

I always hit Parker Pie when it opens at 11 a.m. for an early pint and a pie and I end up at HF around 12:15 (they open at noon) and it's never too busy. Try the Bangkok Disco Pizza if you're adventurous and pair it with Abner if it's still on - a match made in heaven!! Parker Pie has the best pizza I've ever eaten.

 

I always do the opposite - HF at noon and Parker Pie right after. Can't go wrong either way though...

Green Mountain Special is the joint. Seriously about the most interesting pizza I've ever had in my life.

 

glad i stumbled on this thread - i'll be there on 7/5, 6, or 7 as part of a little road trip while i'm doing some work in NH - what are peoples' thoughts on driving over to Warren after a stop at HF to track down some Lawson's before I go back to NH? worth the added miles, or is there someplace closer?

 

Well, if you think you'll be in VT on July 7th than you could hit up the Waitsfield Farmer's Market to get some directly from Lawson's. He'll have a larger selection and a higher bottle limit (4 per variety -- if they even enforce it) than you can find in any stores, so it would definitely be worth your time. Go here for details

 

@BeerCosmonaut... you, sir, are a saint. thanks for the heads-up, i'll definitely be hitting up the farmer's market + HF on the 7th (in that order) if anyone wants to join in!

 

as of june 9th, the taylor road sign is still not fixed, but there is a small HFS logo