And this is a day later after we got some precipitation today, too.

Another Thursday, another trip up to Greensboro, VT. This time with Pig Destroyer Jon and Mike from Fourteen Stone in tow.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Biere de Norma was released this week.  It’s Hill Farmstead’s Biere de Mars, and something I got to try unfinished back in January when I picked beers for the Gang Bang Beer It Forward #3 packing party. It was tasty as hell back then and I knew I had to come back up to grab it when it went on sale, even if it was only a one bottle limit per person.

A trip to Hill Farmstead isn’t complete without doing a tasting. It was pretty much a given due to the wait anyway. I’m sure the lines were even worse today with the inevitable running out of Norma. Even still, it’s a good opportunity to sip on something you haven’t had yet to see if you want a growler or not, such as Society and Solitude #6.

I’m pretty much floored every time I try one of Hill Farmstead’s DIPAs and S&S6 was no different. The mosaic hops hit you with a ton of citrus and tropical fruits, all while hiding the ABV and like all of their DIPAs, drinkable as hell. I followed that up with some Fear and Trembling, which I’m sure is amazing if you liked smoke beers but is are definitely not my thing, although the barrel aged versions of this are insanely good.

Shaun came over and poured me a taste of their unnamed Flanders Red, a beer that surely still has a bit of time to mature and is already one best tasting Flanders I’ve ever had; can’t wait for that one. I rounded the rest of the tasters up with Harlan and another shot at S&S6 because it was so damn tasty I just needed another sip, while running into and chatting with some great beer geeks I knew from MA, VT, CT, NH, and even NJ.

Naturally our next stop was to The Alchemist (with a slight detour to go find some Vermont Smoke and Cure pepperoni and real sticks).

Nothing wrong with seeing this sign…

We did a few tasters and grabbed a couple of cases of beer.

And I picked up this ridiculously amazing Heady Topper work shirt. Look for the fat Asian wearing this at a beer festival nearest you.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the Farmhouse Tap and Grill. Full post on that to come. On our way home, since we were passing it anyway, we stopped at Fiddleheads.

Love this sign. What more does one man need?


We tried the beers that were on tap, including the lager, biere de mars, and IPA. Pretty stiff competition compared to The Alchemist and Hill Farmstead. The beers were very approachable to someone just getting into craft beer, but definitely needed to be a little over the top for us.


I did check out the new Vermont Brewery Tour cards and as you can see, there are quite a few more breweries since I started mine. Craft beer in Vermont is getting big!

We headed home to split up our spoils. Until next time…