Hill Farmstead thread

[bearsonacid1]

You all beat the living **** out of this dead horse. Congrats. Let's move on from that release and talk about other things

 

[Don2]

You all beat the living **** out of this dead horse. Congrats. Let's move on from that release and talk about other things

Good call. Has anyone tried the satsuma flora?

 

[bearsonacid1]

Good call. Has anyone tried the satsuma flora?

Yeah me and my buddy popped a couple bottles last Saturday and it was awesome. Lots of tartness and mandarin. Definitely drink now since who knows what will happen to all that citrus over time.

 

[bearsonacid1]

Speaking of citrus that Life w/o principle #3 is so damn refreshing. I should've got a 2L of that instead of edward

 

[Osyrus]

Very impressed with #3. Far, far better than the previous ones.

 

[Don2]

Very impressed with #3. Far, far better than the previous ones.

Yeah 3 is much better than previous iterations. Probably the best of that style I've ever had

 

[bearsonacid1]

Very impressed with #3. Far, far better than the previous ones.

I didn't like #1 much at all. It reminded me of lemon scented all purpose cleaner or something. #2 was better.

Also this new batch of Susan seems more aggressively hoppy than past batches. I always thought it was a little underwhelming given the acclaim but this batch is pretty dank.

 

[Jnorton00]

You gotta get up there once a week if you want it back. For the longest time, it was a guy in Chicago that was mayor. I have no idea how to explain that one and he kept stealing it back from me. FourSquare hackerz.

As I see it, there's a core issue with my personality online. Beer geeks I meet in person say the online persona doesn't match the in person one...I come off entitled, know it all and I entered beer in January 2012 and reviewed 1,000 beers in a year, racked up 100 trades, bought thousands of dollars in beer and with my blog "showed it off" in order to gain acceptance and then complained that selling beer on eBay was necessary since I spent too much on the hobby too soon and had personal **** that came up. I'd say these were valid. i got in too deep too soon and there are people that haven't met me that continue to believe I'm a *********. I come off as one and I recognize it.

It's just the disparity in opinions of me are wildly different between people who stay at my house, drink my beer, eat my food and trade with me versus the people who just read my blog and hate me.

there was a thread on BA last week a guy sleeping in his car with his GF going to the damon release. I messaged him and he slept on my floor on an air mattress instead. We had BA speedway, SiTR Kumquat, home-brew and Melange 8 and an awesome cheese plate. he'd probably say "adam is ******* awesome" but opinions vary.

I just have too thin of skin and too low self esteem to deal with this **** sometimes. that's my fault. anyway, thanks for the nice words. You have a great point.

Edit: lurking on BT since April almost every day I have to add that you all are the best of beer. everyone I wanted to reply to and 'like' on BA is here and although I'm not really welcome in yoru community by most of you, you are best of breed and I've enjoyed reading all of your opinions and laughing at your memes. You're good people and I'm glad you all have a place to express yourselves. Rock on.

Adam was hanging out with some people my buddies know up at Ebeneezer's back in August and he seemed like a pretty good guy despite his "infamous" BA rep.

 

[Adam Jackson]

Adam was hanging out with some people my buddies know up at Ebeneezer's back in August and he seemed like a pretty good guy despite his "infamous" BA rep.

That was a fun festival! Lots of great beers on tap and bottles shared. I brought my last Pannepot Grand Reserva 2005 750 and it was tasting amazing.

Fuj finally posted photos from that event and hanging at my place the night before. Looking forward to next year.

http://thefuj.com/2013/10/02/night-of-great-thirst-at-ebenezers-pub/

Let's chat a bit next time you see me. I'm bad with names but always looking to talk beer!!!

 

[Iliketurtles]

Went up recently with a friend for the first time. It was great to be able to hang out and try some of the beers with no crowd at all. There was a minimal 15 minute line with damon just sitting on the shelf. We planned the trip just to go to Zwanze and hit up HF a couple days before they announced the damon release. It was about as good as it gets for a first visit. S&S 4, Everett, and Citra are world class.

 

[vonnegut21]

This "what's on the shelf" thread switched gears pretty fast.

I have been reading BA for a while, but didn't join so I saw all of the HFS threads pop up time to time. For the record to those of you that went to the release, I was volunteer performing the line count at the release in the crooked stave shirt. I got some anonymous **** via BA from people saying I couldn't count or I was misleading people when really, people holding places, skipping places or cutting in line messed my count up. Every time, I got a new number and I was honest with people that if they're in the 320+ range, they probably should get in the growler line.

but I digress on that one....at least no one came in to make fun of my dog being sick on that thread..in fact, I don't think anyone but Fuj and Dino recognized me which...thank god.

I was there today, bought some Flora Satsuma Since I didn't get any bottles on release day as a volunteer, it was really nice to be able to buy that satsuma since I missed out on it. I'm also a local to the brewery so there were some other patrons that were stoked to see something on the shelf that they opted out of getting due to the long lines. On release day, tons of locals came up while I was parking cars, saw the line and said "I just came to get some growlers I'll come back tomorrow"

As someone who directly benefits from shelf-releases, my opinion is insanely skewed but there are people within 30 minutes of the brewery (I'm 1 hour away) that go once a week for growlers and like trying the special stuff. I go every 2 weeks. They get shut out of festivals, bottle releases and special tap takeovers. Like most Vermonters, they don't have angst against the out of town beer geeks It's tourists that keep Vermont profitable and beautiful. We love the tourists and Shaun does a great job accommodating locals like selling some festival tickets on-site and putting bottles on the shelf early before a release. None of it is expected by us but, when I go into get a 2 Litre of Edward, it's always cool to see something I missed out on there on the shelf.

So, as a local, it's awesome.

The 2-3 comments about "onsite versus offsite" are valid. There is not easy way to get bottles onsite and, with a full-time staff of 4 people (maybe 5 now with Matt), there are rarely free hands to go and get another 10 cases of beer from a remote storage area many miles away. I'll add Shaun's Mom, Dad and Brother have a huge part in day to day operations of this brewery. I'd say at this point, it's "family owned" everyone pulls their weight and I doubt anyone on shaun's family is on the payroll. Off-site storage issues may be resolved with the current expansion but whatever, the online posted bottle counts via Shaun were 300 of Flora and Damon being set aside for the release and many assumed 300 each of DB Damon and Flora Satsuma. While the later 2 bottle counts were highly debated, the key thing is, if you were 301st in line, you missed out. I was never told bottle counts so honestly until today, I thought Flora satsuma was totally gone.

I can assure you that no one expected this turn out. You can hypothesize all you want but the 3 of us that actually took the day off work to volunteer for Shaun were told to arrive at 8:30. I pull up to a 2 mile long streak of cars and quickly started helping Shaun's dad park cars and then once that settled around 10AM, I began counting the line and helping Phil and Kerrie with retail stuff like moving boxes around and organizing kegs. It was a madhouse until about 3PM when I left to go home and take a nap. I got invited to a bottle share in stowe around 7PM but that's another hour of driving back north. no thanks but they did have DDG + DB damon and other awesome beers

So I guess I'm just posting here to say off-site is a valid reason why more beers weren't brought out for additional people and that release format is certainly going to be changing but I wouldn't hedge your bets on any single solution...I think HFS is still experimenting with various ideas and implementations and there is no conspiracy to sell out and for shaun to raise trade value of these beers In fact, every time trade value is brought up on any of these threads, it's funny because that's what this comes down to. People that didn't get bottles are mad and people that did get bottles are only looking to maximize their trades. The reason a lot of the ISOs aren't getting done isn't locals holding out for whalez, it's that most of us (myself included) aren't sending HFS beers anymore. The bottle limits are only going down, the work following HFS on Twitter and Facebook, taking off work, leaving work early and fighting crowds just to get 2 growlers makes HFS beer special to us. even if you're only 5 miles away, going to HFS is a solid afternoon of work each time. No one is doubting the beer is amazing but they're certainly not trading it anymore. It's too hard to get regardless of how far you journey. I still see locals in line on a Wednesday with their one growler and lamenting to me, "I just wanted some beer with my dinner. i live down the road. is it really a 2 hour wait?"

I'm not a fanboi. it's just that for me, Hill Farmstead and Alchemist are the closest breweries to me making good beer. I have Harpoon, Seven Barrel Brewery and Flying Goose OR I can drive an extra 25 minutes and get HIll Farmstead Growlers. Which would you do?

I may regret posting in this thread but I am happy to finally share some opinions and I'm really sorry but I am long-winded.

Thanks man. Well, as pretty much a shut-in anti-social person who has very low self esteem, I'd rather not know people talk **** about me. I've tried to have an open door policy with people crashing at my house, big bottle shares, etc but people still hate me so **** it.

I counted as best I could and told everyone that a +/- 10 margin of error in the count was there due to people going to the bathroom and getting out of line to go to their cars. But it's true the line count grew by 10 each time I counted so people 250th in place were 260 and then 270 by the time the final count was made. Line holders and skippers caused that. I'm not security, just a fat ass that shaun told to count the line. not my fault.


Edit: regarding the long post, after reading over 1,000 posts made about HIll Farmstead on BA in 2013, I had a lot of pent up frustration.

Interesting take on release day. I didn't recognize you until Fuji pointed you out to me. I don't envy your job that day. To back up your count, at one point you came by us and said were something like number 130 +/- 10 people. Fuji and I both counted just after that and got 140 and 141 respectively. You were pretty close. We ended up being 170 and 171 respectively. It's pretty clear that all three of us didn't miscount by 30+ people. Yes there were a lot of people moving around chatting and trading. But there were definitely cutters as well. Not your fault. Not Shaun and crew's fault either other than that if they ever do that again, I'd love a wristband or ticket system.

Honestly, I think you're overestimating the amount people dislike you. Yeah there was the whole selling beers thing that became a big infamous thing on BA for a while, but that was quite a while ago. There have been literally hundreds of people acting like shitheads in beer forums since then. We're too busy **** talking them to still have lingering issue with you. It could be worse, you could be Joel. You seem pretty self aware and like a decent guy in everything you've posted thus far on BT. Just keep that up and you'll be fine.

 

[Corbot_3000]

Did anybody notice that they had updated the Bottle Release page before completely taking it down? Something about a "Clover Series"....

 

[cfrances33]

Good call. Has anyone tried the satsuma flora?

Yes, and it's unreal. I'm not sure if I could choose between it or regular Flora... which has long been my favorite HF beer, if not my favorite beer period. My only complaint is that the Satsuma wasn't a 3L bottle

 

[cfrances33]

Did anybody notice that they had updated the Bottle Release page before completely taking it down? Something about a "Clover Series"....

Interesting...

 

[franch]

What the **** is a foursquare mayor?

lol yr old

 

[Corbot_3000]

Might as well share my first Vermont/Hill Farmstead experience:

A few of my friends were planning on going out to Hill Farmstead, one was planning on staying out there for a month afterward in Maine and another was flying out there but driving back. At the last minute, I was able to make plans to drive with my one friend there and drive with my other group of friends after the release.

We left at 8 pm on wednesday, drove through the night with a pitstop in Montreal, and arrived at Hill Farmstead at 8:30. Got our bottles, waited way too long in line for growlers, went to Parker Pies for a couple hours, went to Alchemist, went to Pro Pig for a couple hours then.... drove back home through the night and got back in Ann Arbor by 11 pm on Friday.

24 hours in the car over a 36 hour period when it was all said and done. Needless to say I'm eager to go back and actually spend some time checking out the other towns in the area.

 

[tehzachatak]

Did anybody notice that they had updated the Bottle Release page before completely taking it down? Something about a "Clover Series"....

Yeah. Another blaugies saison collab too, I think I saw...

 

[InfinityonTrial]

This "what's on the shelf" thread switched gears pretty fast.

I have been reading BA for a while, but didn't join so I saw all of the HFS threads pop up time to time. For the record to those of you that went to the release, I was volunteer performing the line count at the release in the crooked stave shirt. I got some anonymous **** via BA from people saying I couldn't count or I was misleading people when really, people holding places, skipping places or cutting in line messed my count up. Every time, I got a new number and I was honest with people that if they're in the 320+ range, they probably should get in the growler line.

but I digress on that one....at least no one came in to make fun of my dog being sick on that thread..in fact, I don't think anyone but Fuj and Dino recognized me which...thank god.

I was there today, bought some Flora Satsuma Since I didn't get any bottles on release day as a volunteer, it was really nice to be able to buy that satsuma since I missed out on it. I'm also a local to the brewery so there were some other patrons that were stoked to see something on the shelf that they opted out of getting due to the long lines. On release day, tons of locals came up while I was parking cars, saw the line and said "I just came to get some growlers I'll come back tomorrow"

As someone who directly benefits from shelf-releases, my opinion is insanely skewed but there are people within 30 minutes of the brewery (I'm 1 hour away) that go once a week for growlers and like trying the special stuff. I go every 2 weeks. They get shut out of festivals, bottle releases and special tap takeovers. Like most Vermonters, they don't have angst against the out of town beer geeks It's tourists that keep Vermont profitable and beautiful. We love the tourists and Shaun does a great job accommodating locals like selling some festival tickets on-site and putting bottles on the shelf early before a release. None of it is expected by us but, when I go into get a 2 Litre of Edward, it's always cool to see something I missed out on there on the shelf.

So, as a local, it's awesome.

The 2-3 comments about "onsite versus offsite" are valid. There is not easy way to get bottles onsite and, with a full-time staff of 4 people (maybe 5 now with Matt), there are rarely free hands to go and get another 10 cases of beer from a remote storage area many miles away. I'll add Shaun's Mom, Dad and Brother have a huge part in day to day operations of this brewery. I'd say at this point, it's "family owned" everyone pulls their weight and I doubt anyone on shaun's family is on the payroll. Off-site storage issues may be resolved with the current expansion but whatever, the online posted bottle counts via Shaun were 300 of Flora and Damon being set aside for the release and many assumed 300 each of DB Damon and Flora Satsuma. While the later 2 bottle counts were highly debated, the key thing is, if you were 301st in line, you missed out. I was never told bottle counts so honestly until today, I thought Flora satsuma was totally gone.

I can assure you that no one expected this turn out. You can hypothesize all you want but the 3 of us that actually took the day off work to volunteer for Shaun were told to arrive at 8:30. I pull up to a 2 mile long streak of cars and quickly started helping Shaun's dad park cars and then once that settled around 10AM, I began counting the line and helping Phil and Kerrie with retail stuff like moving boxes around and organizing kegs. It was a madhouse until about 3PM when I left to go home and take a nap. I got invited to a bottle share in stowe around 7PM but that's another hour of driving back north. no thanks but they did have DDG + DB damon and other awesome beers

So I guess I'm just posting here to say off-site is a valid reason why more beers weren't brought out for additional people and that release format is certainly going to be changing but I wouldn't hedge your bets on any single solution...I think HFS is still experimenting with various ideas and implementations and there is no conspiracy to sell out and for shaun to raise trade value of these beers In fact, every time trade value is brought up on any of these threads, it's funny because that's what this comes down to. People that didn't get bottles are mad and people that did get bottles are only looking to maximize their trades. The reason a lot of the ISOs aren't getting done isn't locals holding out for whalez, it's that most of us (myself included) aren't sending HFS beers anymore. The bottle limits are only going down, the work following HFS on Twitter and Facebook, taking off work, leaving work early and fighting crowds just to get 2 growlers makes HFS beer special to us. even if you're only 5 miles away, going to HFS is a solid afternoon of work each time. No one is doubting the beer is amazing but they're certainly not trading it anymore. It's too hard to get regardless of how far you journey. I still see locals in line on a Wednesday with their one growler and lamenting to me, "I just wanted some beer with my dinner. i live down the road. is it really a 2 hour wait?"

I'm not a fanboi. it's just that for me, Hill Farmstead and Alchemist are the closest breweries to me making good beer. I have Harpoon, Seven Barrel Brewery and Flying Goose OR I can drive an extra 25 minutes and get HIll Farmstead Growlers. Which would you do?

I may regret posting in this thread but I am happy to finally share some opinions and I'm really sorry but I am long-winded.

I can't be the only one who thinks it's completely ridiculous that you didn't get any bottles for volunteering.

 

[Don2]

I can't be the only one who thinks it's completely ridiculous that you didn't get any bottles for volunteering.

Yeah when I saw Adam Jackson directing traffic, I figured he was volunteering so that he didn't have to stand in line for bottles.

 

[Der Fuchs]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Shaun said he would set aside 300 BB Damon and 300 Flora for the release day that included DBD and Satsuma Flora, which had not been previously released unless you were in CW.

There was no mention of setting aside 300 Satsuma Flora.

Just to be clear (I feel like this is turning into my self-righteous posts on the old HF thread, so please report me if I'm sounding like a dick), I don't CARE, nor think it was the right or wrong thing to only sell some. It's just what HAPPENED.

Sir, i am amazed. havent you learned by now that there is a gap in the space-time continuum that surrounds hillsfarm? Logic ceases to exist- what "happened" is nogotiable- time travels backwards. if you want any of the miracles that mr. hill ray-runs from his anous you will just have to believe.... believe..... believe....

 

[ilovestouts]

Bottle release kicked ass. I didn't get DBD and could give so little *****. It was a great time surrounded by better people, which is exactly how it should be.

*to the woman in front of us, I am so sorry you had to hear of our group's previous escapades in Gentlemen Clubs at 9am.

 

[Auror]

I know I'm re-beating a dead horse that has been left for dead twice now.

I know it's incredibly hard to anticipate demand and plan a release. I know Hill Farmstead is a tiny brewery. I understand the logistics of the bottles being stored off site. I, personally, got all the bottle except DBD.

How do you let people wait in line for ~3 hours (not counting time spent in line before release start, if any) and let them go home empty-handed when you still have bottles of the beer that was released?!?!? When you've counted the line several times and it was over 300 (before any line bloat settled), you need to send someone to get more Flora Satsuma. The release went incredibly slow once it actually started (over 2 hours to get just to my point in line). You have awareness of not having enough bottles, time to get said bottles, and inventory of said bottles.

You have customers that love your brewery in line for hours and an opportunity to at least not have their day utterly wasted. It's just a terrible slap in the face to your customers. If the problem is not having the bottles on site, give them vouchers to grab the bottles when they go on the shelf in the upcoming week, since that apparently was a plan, otherwise they would have brought ALL the bottles to the release. It's just frankly unacceptable.

/Just really needed to get that off my chest.

 

[JulianB1]

I'm possibly going to make a road trip to HF on a long weekend where I'll be in the NYC area in November, and I think I'm just going to avoid checking the website at all leading up to it. It seems like it might be fun to get up there and have everything be a total surprise.

 

[Adam Jackson]

I paid for my bottles like everyone else but if they ran out that day, I wasn't going to bitch about it. I did get 3 of the beers in Collected Works so getting extra would have been well...extra.

Like I told Shaun yesterday, I volunteer because I believe in the vision of the brewery. I pay for the beer because I think it's worth a monetary exchange. I'll never take free beer from them if they were to ever offer it. Volunteering isn't some way to get extras or save money. I just really enjoy doing it. Everyone that volunteers is there at every event so we have a small group of us that know each other and each have our own roles. It's pretty easy.

 

[Don2]

I paid for my bottles like everyone else but if they ran out that day, I wasn't going to bitch about it. I did get 3 of the beers in Collected Works so getting extra would have been well...extra.

Like I told Shaun yesterday, I volunteer because I believe in the vision of the brewery. I pay for the beer because I think it's worth a monetary exchange. I'll never take free beer from them if they were to ever offer it. Volunteering isn't some way to get extras or save money. I just really enjoy doing it. Everyone that volunteers is there at every event so we have a small group of us that know each other and each have our own roles. It's pretty easy.

I didn't think you volunteered for free beer, I just figured they would set aside
an allotment for you to purchase. Sorry if that came off like I was trying to say you were just in it for free beer.

 

[Adam Jackson]

No it's fine, I get a little sensitive around you BA guys.

I do get asked a lot of I get free stuff from HFS or people asking me to get kegs for them and assuming I get extra beer beyond limits. Unless I drive up there 3 times in a week, I get the same as everyone else but honestly, because of Collected Works, I really wasn't expecting to get any of the release bottles that day. kind of like I used to do ride-alongs with my dad and the swat team or do bouncer work at clubs. I like doing the behind the scenes stuff so volunteering is fun.

 

[HevvyMetalHippie]

So release woes aside, the site says no bottles, is that true, or is that their new way of running the website? I've heard they are going to stop announcing what's on the shelf, is this how or are they actually out of bottles?

 

[Ataraxia1]

So release woes aside, the site says no bottles, is that true, or is that their new way of running the website? I've heard they are going to stop announcing what's on the shelf, is this how or are they actually out of bottles?

There are probably bottles but there's only one way to find out fer sure

 

[tehzachatak]

So release woes aside, the site says no bottles, is that true, or is that their new way of running the website? I've heard they are going to stop announcing what's on the shelf, is this how or are they actually out of bottles?

this is how it is now, i think. there was Satsuma Flora Wednesday (someone on the other site said there wasn't any today), but it never went on the site.

 

[franch]

No it's fine, I get a little sensitive around you BT guys.

I do get asked a lot of I get free stuff from HFS or people asking me to get kegs for them and assuming I get extra beer beyond limits. Unless I drive up there 3 times in a week, I get the same as everyone else but honestly, because of Collected Works, I really wasn't expecting to get any of the release bottles that day. kind of like I used to do ride-alongs with my dad and the swat team or do bouncer work at clubs. I like doing the behind the scenes stuff so volunteering is fun.

FTFY