Hill Farmstead

Hill Farmstead x Leaning Maples Tote

Hill Farmstead x Leaning Maples Tote

I was pretty excited to snag one of these Hill Farmstead totes when they put them up for sale. Having missed out on the wooden crate included with the first round of Collected Works, this was my way of getting my hands on one of Darren Hill of Leaning Maples‘ handcrafted creations. Madness and Civ #1 & 2, both of which I missed out on this year, were an added bonus. This thing is beefy for sure.

I also got to check out the new, still-in-progress retail shop while I was up there as well. Looking pretty good…

Hill Farmstead New Retail Shop

James’ 30th Birthday Beers


Totally forgot to post these bad boys. Pretty epic lineup of bottles for James’ 30th birthday. Check it:

Continue reading →

Barrel Aged Night at The Doom Saloon

Barrel Aged Night at The Doom Saloon

Now, if any of you know me you know I do not go crazy trying to obtain all of the (extremely overhyped, in my opinion) barrel aged variations of many of the most highly sought after beers on the market. Most times I’m just as satisfied with the base version of the beer and it’s not worth the driving around and giving up some of my favorite New England beer to trade for these, so I generally don’t seek them. That said, barrel aging usually does not detract from the original experience, and there are plenty of beers that are aged in barrels because the style dictates it and they’re presented best when aged in a barrel, like sour/tart farmhouse saisons, lambics, etc. So please, count me in as a fan of barrel aged beer, but understand that comes with its caveats.

Continue reading →

Albany Beeradvocate Tasting: October Edition

It was nice to finally get together with some of the Albany-Area BAs this weekend. It’s good to know there are some like-minded (and likely sick, twisted) individuals in the area who are into beer traveling and trading like myself. Nothing too crazy last night, just a great lineup of beers and some killer chicken from Ross. And now, on to the beer porn!

Continue reading →

Epic New England Beer Trip

Epic New England Beer Trip
So yesterday was one of those trips that started as a small, innocent beer run over to to Night Shift to pick up Elise’s Barrel Society bottles and the newly released Mainer Weisse (one of our absolute favorite beers of 2012). And then I said to myself “Well… Blue lobster still has bottles of their Berliner and and their Prairie collab on shelves, couldn’t hurt to swing up there while I’m at it”. It still didn’t seem too bad of a day at that point. But then the hits kept coming. Allagash decided to release a new Coolship beer. Jack’s Abby unleashes Baby Maker. And the the big one: Hill Farmstead was finally putting CD7 on the shelves. That was the one that threw me for the biggest loop since while the others were almost on the route back home from Allagash, Hill Farmstead was 3.5 hours out of the way. Still, I had to try to work it into my day.

Continue reading →

Hill Farmstead Festival of Farmhouse Ales

Hill Farmstead Festival of Farmhouse Ales

OK, time to get off my butt and start posting some of the pictures from all of the great beer events in August. August is a busy month when it comes to beer, and given that my birthday falls in the later part it gives me excuse to try to hit up as many of the events as I can (which is why I have deemed the entire month of August my “birth month”). The month starts out with a bang at Brewery Ommegang with Belgium Comes to Cooperstown and then immediately steps up its game with the Festival or Farmhouse Ales at Hill Farmstead (followed by the largest bottle share I have ever seen in my life) and rounds out the end of the month with the Night of the Great Thirst at Ebenezer’s and the Tree House Anniversary dinner at Armsby Abbey. Let’s just say it was a busy month.

Continue reading →

Vermont Beer and Food Day Trip

My buddy Richard (of Fourteen Stone fame) has never really done Vermont before so with Elaborative One and Prolegomena still on shelves and the lottery for the Festival of Farmhouse Ales live at Hill Farmstead I figured it was a great opportunity to give him the grand tour (or as much as we could cover in the day) of the Green Mountain State. Follow us along, won’t you?

Continue reading →

Lunch at Worthy Burger

Worthy Burger

The Worthy Burger topped with egg, caramelized onions, bacon and bleu cheese.

Worthy Burger, located in a old freight house alongside the railroad tracks in South Royalton, VT has been on my radar for awhile now. The premise behind owners Dave Brodrick of Blind Tiger fame (which has a cult-like following in the craft beer community) Jason Merrill and Kurt Lessard’s business is simple: pair wood fire grilled grass fed burgers with locally source Vermont ingredients and homemade condiments, with a side of beef tallow fries all for a reasonable price. Top that off with a great selection of craft beer from Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Hill Farmstead and other Vermont and New England breweries and you have a sure winner on your hands.
Continue reading →

Untappd #1000

This is a totally normal tasting to have on a Tuesday night, right?

Knowing full well that my 1000th unique checkin on Untappd was coming up and unfortunately it was going to hit just days before our trip to Tampa, I enlisted Merc, Pig Destroyer Jon and Mike to drum up a seriously nice string of beers to celebrate the night. Continue reading →