The Darling of The Craft Brewing World: NYT: Craft Beer, the (Very) Limited Edition

[cali]

Two weeks ago, a beer drinker in Fresno, Calif., called Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont to ask where he could buy its craft beers. “You have to drive to the airport, get a ticket, fly to Burlington, rent a car and drive an hour and a half to the brewery,” the owner, Shaun Hill, replied with a laugh. But he wasn’t joking.

Hill Farmstead, in the hamlet of Greensboro, produces just 60,000 gallons of beer annually. The beer is available for purchase only at the brewery and in roughly 20 Vermont bars. In addition, Mr. Hill sends 12 kegs to distributors in New York City and Philadelphia a few times a year.

<snip>

Several months before these accolades, Mr. Hill returned to Vermont to begin construction on Hill Farmstead Brewery on a former dairy farm that he and his brother, Darren, a woodworker, inherited from their grandfather. “I wanted to make beer, I wanted to live in this place and I wanted to help my family and make sure I had the finances available to take care of this land in perpetuity,” Mr. Hill says.

<snip>

Demand surged last February when users of the beer-review site Ratebeer.com deemed Hill Farmstead the best brewery in the world — after having anointed Mr. Hill as the best new brewer in 2010.

<snip>

Now Mr. Hill says he fields questions like the one from the Fresno caller every day. He estimates that thousands of people have made long-distance beer runs to Hill Farmstead Brewery, some traveling from as far as New Zealand, Norway and Japan.

Customers wait in line for one to four hours to buy bottles and two-liter growlers of the beers, many of which are named for Mr. Hill’s ancestors (Edward, Abner, Florence). The brewery once sold an entire batch of beer — 500 gallons — in one day.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/business/craft-beer-the-very-limited-edition.html?_r=0


http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/04/shaun-hill-brewmaster-hill-farmstead

http://narrative.ly/drinking-buddies/the-wonderbrewer-of-nowheresville/

[Bennyboy]

1. awesome story

On my bucket list of beers to drink...

[cali]

2. It's about 3 miles down the road from me.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Love local success stories.

I started a thread in the California forum a few weeks back about a local family-owned dairy (Rosa Brothers) that sells hormone-free milk in glass bottles. A couple years ago they were able to obtain financing to update their facilities. Concurrently, our city started a "Food Expo" in 2010 and Rosa Brothers Dairy was one of the exhibitors in 2013. As a result, they got contracts from two grocery chains, several restaurants and several small, independent grocery stores. You can only get it in Central California (inland and coast). Long story short, they're doing VERY well.

Here's their website:

http://rosabrothers.com/

If I'm ever in Vermont, we'll have to stop by and try it. Well, husband will as I'm not a beer drinker.

Okay, end of thread hijack.

[cali]

4. not a thread hijack at all

if you're ever here, you can always go here, while your husband is there, and have some of the best cheese in the, yes, world:

http://www.cellarsatjasperhill.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-kitchens/cellars-at-jasper-hill_b_3704896.html

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20140131/LIVING06/301310019/Big-ideas-and-big-awards-at-Jasper-Hill-Farm-cheesery

or you could just order it:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/3086097/?catalogId=8&sku=3086097&bnrid=3120901&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Food&cm_pla=Cheese&cm_ite=Cellars_at_Jasper_Hill_Cheese_Collection_|_Williams-Sonoma&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=34-136922675-2

and you could have dinner here:

http://clairesvt.com/menu/dinner/

or here:

http://www.positivepie.com/hardwick/home.php

and you can read about the revival that food has had on this little area here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Town-That-Food-Saved/dp/1609611373

You could always go here and x-country ski in the winter and scull in the summer:

http://www.craftsbury.com/

or spend a summer day here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=caspian+lake+vermont&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kKLzUtbAGcn0qAGGoYCYDQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1173&bih=507


(I really am shameless)

[Historic NY]

5. Heading to our local craft brewery tonight...

for their new Amis D'hiver .

[frylock]

6. would love to check it out..

best brewery in the world is a pretty bold statement, considering that I live 25 min from the best brewery in the world, Alpine Beer Company. The Nelson and the Duet IPAs are quite simply the best beers on the planet!

[cali]

7. well I didn't make the claim. It came from Ratebeer.com

and honestly I'm happy with any number of beers, but there's no doubt that Shaun Hill has become the darling of the Craft Brewing scene, and in many ways, it's face. I think a lot of it is the romance of his story- making beer on the farm where his ancestors settled 250 years ago, naming beer after his ancestors, making beer in The Northeast Kingdom, his intellectual bent and his thing about not expanding much. I don't think he structured the mystique to be such a big draw, but I'm sure he takes advantage of it.

[frylock]

8. the whole setup sounds really cool and i would really like to check it out..

and i don't know if i mentioned it, but i LOOOOOVE craft beer! San Diego is known as Suds City, and I have an endless supply of nanos and micros within 5-15 minutes of my place. i definitely consider myself to be a beer snob!

[cali]

9. I'm actually kind of new to beer drinking, but I'm surprised at how much

I enjoy some of the beers I've been trying.

The thing in here in the Kingdom, is terroir- the impact of water and the land on the product and using locally grown products. this is an agriculturally based place. Well, that and tourism of the more eco sort and logging; lots of cheese makers, etc.

In fact, craft breweries are everywhere throughout the state- more per capita than any other state. The Kingdom is special though- it's kind of brigadoonish and really beautiful

From wiki:

The Northeast Kingdom has been listed in the North American and international editions of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die", the New York Times best-selling book by Patricia Schultz. In 2006, the National Geographic Society named the Northeast Kingdom as the most desirable place to visit in the country and the ninth most desirable place to visit in the world.[5]