Hill Farmstead thread

[Frank1]

A quick update for those who have been following (and contributing to!) the fundraising for the local preschool--I just returned from counting the cash, and the final tally is $12,080. In a town where, as Shaun said, the median income is $16,000, this is a remarkable feat of generosity. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

One more point regarding "what Shaun said." I heard him at the end saying it would be great to have a beer festival where it was less about being in line getting the next tick and more about enjoying great beer with great friends while listening to great music. I think there's a good number of FOFA-goers who already do this. Sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon to me.

HFS fest where they just pour the shelf saisons, lagers and pale ales. Have great music. Don't invite other breweries or invite some QC breweries most folks don't know about.

You can't invite all the hyped breweries, have them bring all their hyped offerings and then lament the fact that all the beer geeks didn't show up for the music and vibes.

Btw if they ever throw that style festival I'll be ISO a couple tickets

 

[JulianB1]

One more point regarding "what Shaun said." I heard him at the end saying it would be great to have a beer festival where it was less about being in line getting the next tick and more about enjoying great beer with great friends while listening to great music. I think there's a good number of FOFA-goers who already do this. Sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon to me.

I think the combination of rain and tent setup (with one big tent as opposed to two or more, and having them spread out) the past two years contributed at least in part to many people (myself included) spending more time huddling under the beer tent and grabbing beers/waiting in line. I recall that 2 years ago I spent more time wandering around outside the beer areas. Obviously dry conditions aren't something that can be counted on, but I definitely would have lounged out on the grass near the music if the result of doing so wouldn't be a wet ass.

 

[PrinceCaspian]

Th

Damn. Congrats! That's amazing!

Thanks man. But the real congrats go to Shaun, Bob, and the rest of the team who do all the real work. And to Michelle and her staff at the school. I'm just the idiot who struggled to do the math when someone asked for 9 tickets and handed me $60.

 

[gregkoko]

HFS fest where they just pour the shelf saisons, lagers and pale ales. Have great music. Don't invite other breweries or invite some QC breweries most folks don't know about.

You can't invite all the hyped breweries, have them bring all their hyped offerings and then lament the fact that all the beer geeks didn't show up for the music and vibes.

Btw if they ever throw that style festival I'll be ISO a couple tickets

Hell ******* yes. I would be all in on that fest

 

[Frank1]

Hell ******* yes. I would be all in on that fest

Kegs of Mary and Marie, pour into those 10oz willibechers and sign me the **** up.

 

[JulianB1]

Hell ******* yes. I would be all in on that fest

Same, it would probably be the best beer event of the year. At FoFA I was more excited for the kegs of 2013 Arthur and 2014 Anna (holy balls was that good) than most of the non-Flora b5 HF offerings.

 

[Os]

Kegs of Mary and Marie, pour into those 10oz willibechers and sign me the **** up.

Arthur, Mary, Conduct.... music... meat pies, oysters, and tacos... chairs/tables... some lawn games... cool crowds... maybe even some camping... sounds like a dream day to me!

you can even do scheduled pours of special beers that require no line... 1 pour per person type thing.

 

[gregkoko]

Arthur, Mary, Conduct.... music... meat pies, oysters, and tacos... chairs/tables... some lawn games... cool crowds... maybe even some camping... sounds like a dream day to me!

you can even do scheduled pours of special beers that require no line... 1 pour per person type thing.

 

[oldp0rt]

One more point regarding "what Shaun said." I heard him at the end saying it would be great to have a beer festival where it was less about being in line getting the next tick and more about enjoying great beer with great friends while listening to great music.

The only way to achieve that is to privately invite people to your event.

 

[BravoDawg]

just in case you guys wanted to know where i was at HF on Thur. thanks to raginasian238 lmao!!

Who's the guy labeled you ? Pretty sure that's a guy I know

 

[Thevicster]

Next year

 

[BadJustin]

Not sure if any of you care but I still am dreaming about that pork Gyro with fries in it so I reached out to the guy who runs the food truck to find out more about how he cooked it and what he seasoned it with. We spoke at length, great guy. I am stoked that he shared his recipe for not only the pork but his tzatziki as well. I know what I am making on my new grill for one of the first meals in our new place.

TL;DR Justin is fat and loved the gyro, fite me.

 

[chefduff2]

Not sure if any of you care but I still am dreaming about that pork Gyro with fries in it so I reached out to the guy who runs the food truck to find out more about how he cooked it and what he seasoned it with. We spoke at length, great guy. I am stoked that he shared his recipe for not only the pork but his tzatziki as well. I know what I am making on my new grill for one of the first meals in our new place.

TL;DR Justin is fat and loved the gyro, fite me.

Give me that tzatziki recipe. That can get me out of jail with the wife. She would eat containers of it if she could.

Also, chugged a dharma bum and it was quite nice last night. It may not be the best HF offering, but one of the better beers in cans.

 

[BadJustin]

Give me that tzatziki recipe. That can get me out of jail with the wife. She would eat containers of it if she could.

Also, chugged a dharma bum and it was quite nice last night. It may not be the best HF offering, but one of the better beers in cans.

I'll PM it to you on FB when I get a sec, working today then finishing the move hopefully, things should calm down this weekend.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

If walking right up for full pours of Marie was wrong I apologize, but I don't think I drank anything else after 3 PM and have zero regrets. To Os point, having Marie/Mary on was a request voiced by many, or at least by me...I do regret missing that Tired Hands lager.

Enjoyed getting outside of the tent, listening to the music and talking to people. Excellent day as always.

The amount of pizza I ate at Parker Pie I ate after the fest is irresponsible but man was it needed.

I walked up for Marie as well and people were like "you cutting line" I said "you getting Marie?" didn't think so....

 

[BadJustin]

I walked up for Marie as well and people were like "you cutting line" I said "you getting Marie?" didn't think so....

Same thing. Crushed it all day and the woman pouring seemed more than happy to accommodate those of us seeking only Marie. Go wait in your line for BBR or whatever goofballs, Marie is the ****.

 

[pushkinwow]

Just post the recipe here - it was freakin delicious.

Not sure if any of you care but I still am dreaming about that pork Gyro with fries in it so I reached out to the guy who runs the food truck to find out more about how he cooked it and what he seasoned it with. We spoke at length, great guy. I am stoked that he shared his recipe for not only the pork but his tzatziki as well. I know what I am making on my new grill for one of the first meals in our new place.

TL;DR Justin is fat and loved the gyro, fite me.

 

[nhindian1]

Same thing. Crushed it all day and the woman pouring seemed more than happy to accommodate those of us seeking only Marie. Go wait in your line for BBR or whatever goofballs, Marie is the ****.

I wasn't expecting a Boss Pour when I walked up at the end of the fest when it was the only thing on, but I certainly wasn't disappointed.

 

[JulianB1]

I'd feel bad for jumping the line to get a pour of Marie if:

1. It was occupying the time of someone who could have been pouring a different beer for someone in line.

2. People in line were waiting for it.

#1 is certainly not true, as there were always 3-4 people back there and the taps that people were waiting for were basically continuously pouring beer. I can't say for sure if #2 is true or not, but I'd be surprised. Also, at the time I did this, the HF line was still in "just poking out of the tent" mode, not the snake it turned into later in the day.

 

[mvl339]

It's crazy how much the crowd can affect how you enjoy a fest, maybe best to limit these things to friends/family/industry or keep the rare sought after beers out to filter out the people that are only after those.

 

[user 306926]

Or not release a list of beers at all. "Hey guys, we got HF and SP and a bunch of other folks pouring beers. Come join us!"

 

[JulianB1]

Or not release a list of beers at all. "Hey guys, we got HF and SP and a bunch of other folks pouring beers. Come join us!"

To be fair, that's basically what they've done the past two years. 3 years ago there were a few teasers dropped on the HF Twitter, but otherwise it's definitely not a fest where they drop the whole draft list ahead of time for people to get hyped over (which is a good thing IMO).

 

[Os]

It's crazy how much the crowd can affect how you enjoy a fest, maybe best to limit these things to friends/family/industry or keep the rare sought after beers out to filter out the people that are only after those.

that's the catch though... I had plenty of fun... I just stayed away from the chaos apparently...
you would think that people who don't like standing in lines would avoid them...
and if you went to a beer festival and chose to stand in a line, you'd be okay with it

I think it always comes back to the same thing... some people are just never happy... you can't fix them... and you can't worry yourself trying to appease them

sadly, some of those folks ruin it for others... but if people like that can ruin your good time, then maybe you should know to stay away from "events" with a lot of people...

I don't even know what I'm saying anymore... I just don't think there is a correct answer.

 

[RuckIt]

I just don't think there is a correct answer.

Disneyland fast passes for everyone. Problem solved.

 

[JulianB1]

I do think it's worth pointing out that, for all the nitpicking and back-and-forth that we're doing over things like waiting in some (relatively short) lines, the "issues" (if we can even call them that) at FoFA are incredibly mild in comparison to what occurs at a lot of other festivals. In the 3 years I've been going, the only 2 really negative events I can recall are the domestic abuse deal this year (which is horrible and I'm glad I wasn't there for it) and the dog fight last year. Compare that to fests where people are getting black out drunk, getting into fights, puking, shitting themselves, breaking bottles in the parking lot, stealing bottles and bags, etc. and it's evident that even in the crazy 2017 beer scene, FoFA still attracts a better and better-behaved crowd than most (all?) big events. That says something pretty positive to me about the host, the atmosphere, and the attendees.

 

[Os]

I do think it's worth pointing out that, for all the nitpicking and back-and-forth that we're doing over things like waiting in some (relatively short) lines, the "issues" (if we can even call them that) at FoFA are incredibly mild in comparison to what occurs at a lot of other festivals. In the 3 years I've been going, the only 2 really negative events I can recall are the domestic abuse deal this year (which is horrible and I'm glad I wasn't there for it) and the dog fight last year. Compare that to fests where people are getting black out drunk, getting into fights, puking, shitting themselves, breaking bottles in the parking lot, stealing bottles and bags, etc. and it's evident that even in the crazy 2017 beer scene, FoFA still attracts a better and better-behaved crowd than most (all?) big events. That says something pretty positive to me about the host, the atmosphere, and the attendees.

yeah, I didn't even really notice whatever was happening on the line as I had stopped drinking early and was just hanging out and catching up with people

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I don't know how many times I head that Huna Day was so much better..... all I can say to that is Enjoy Florida....

 

[DigDug1810]

i wasn't there so i can't say for certain but it seems each year the increase of attendance has been steady.. maybe next year should see a reduction in available tickets?

I'm sure it is hard when demand is high to say.. hey that is it, no more people can come...

I for one don't like a lot of people in one spot.. just not my thing and when i saw pictures of past fests it always looked like it had the right amount of people and would be a fest i could handle but maybe with weather and more tickets sold this year (if that happened, i don't have any clue) that it got too large

anybody have an official count of people? seemed like more then 300 less then 600 ?

 

[trio2shine1]

that's the catch though... I had plenty of fun... I just stayed away from the chaos apparently...
you would think that people who don't like standing in lines would avoid them...
and if you went to a beer festival and chose to stand in a line, you'd be okay with it

I think it always comes back to the same thing... some people are just never happy... you can't fix them... and you can't worry yourself trying to appease them

sadly, some of those folks ruin it for others... but if people like that can ruin your good time, then maybe you should know to stay away from "events" with a lot of people...

I don't even know what I'm saying anymore... I just don't think there is a correct answer.

I somehow managed to avoid all the nonsense (guilty as charged of left lining for Marie pours). Managed to grab early pours of Tete and Flora, a couple pours of Dutch door and some of Dan's beers. Grabbed tacos before the rain hit and was grabbing a shipper from a buddy as Shaun gave his perspective on the lines. Ignorance is Bliss (new beer name?).

Shout-out to AutumnBeerLove and MSardina1 and the rest of the HF staff for providing world class service on the busiest week I've seen up there in the time I've been visiting Vermont.

Best part of the whole week was ticking so many TB folks (skrip, BravoDawg , raginasian238, burntfoot, Don, theLostWizard, Mikecap, SecretSquirrel) among others. Looking forward to next year!

 

[mvl339]

Yeah it's tough to find a balance between the happy with mary crowd and the rare beer crowd but if anyone can do it, it's definitely HF and if you're part of both crowds you get the best of both worlds.