Brewery Focus – Hill Farmstead
When asked to name craft breweries from the USA, many people will initially name those brewers who started the craft revolution, such as Sierra Nevada or Goose Island. Alternatively they may name breweries like Other Half, Trillium and Monkish who are renowned for their big hazy IPA as well as their big adjunct filled stouts and sours.
Few however are likely to mention a relatively small brewery from North East Vermont, known for producing amazing; IPAs, Porters and Saisons. Beers, which have resulted in them been named RateBeer.com ‘Best Brewery in the World’ in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 .
Brief History
Hill Farmstead Brewery from Greensboro, in Rural Vermont was founded in 2010 by brewer Shaun Hill after he returned to his home town from Denmark where he had been brewing with Fano Bryghus and more recently Norrebro Bryghus.
Shaun comes from a long line of the Hill family who have lived in Greensboro ever since the town was founded by Peleg Hill Sr and Peleg Hill Jr in 1788 .
The brewery was founded with the simple aim of brewing ‘succinct and elegant beers of distinction’ This was an ethos developed by Shaun, as he believed that this was what was lacking in most of beers being brewed at that time. He wanted Hill Farmstead focus more on the quality of the beer than the dollar signs! By hand selecting hops and working closely with local fruits producers Hill Farmstead are able to keep the quality high whilst also being able to trace their beers from it’s beginning to bottle. Initially Shaun had to save and scrounge the first $100000 investment for the business, he even had a 10-barrel Mash Tun donated by nearby brewery ‘The Alchemist’
Over the first 2 years of operations Shaun and his team expanded organically, starting with the construction of new brewery, packaging facility and barrel room on the families land at Greensboro. It was important that Hill Farmstead did not let the development effect the quality of end product, because of cause that’s what it was all about.
Once the fabric of the brewery was complete Shaun turned his attentions to developing his staff, the best people, using the best equipment and the best ingredients. By getting this right and the beer will speak for itself. They began to explore new and differing beer styles and evolving the breweries expectations one step at a time. Shaun is once quoted as saying ‘A lot of brewers now go straight from home brewing into making a chili-chocolate-chipotle porter or whatever, and it’s like . . . well, just fucking make a good porter first, and understand what a porter is instead of trying to re-invent it’ .
Start with the basics, make them great and then develop them….simple.
As the brewery grew so did the range of beer; Hill Farmsteads beers generally fall into one of 2 categories, the Ancestral series and the Philosophical series.
The Ancestral series take their names from various members of the Hill family throughout the generations. It includes beers like ‘Arthur’, an IPA and arguably Hill Farmsteads most well-known beer, ‘Anna’, a Vermont Honey Ale (see below); ‘Mary’, a German Style Pilsner and ‘George’, an American Brown Ale, however that is just the tip of the iceberg! The Ancestral series has a beer to cover most styles and tastes, beers like Flora; their Barrel Aged Wheat Ale has several iterations. This depends on the fruit that particular each version has been aged on.
The Philosophical series is born from Shaun’s longstanding interest in philosophy which he developed whilst at college. It features beers such as ‘Genealogy of Morals’, ‘Karma Emulsion’, ‘What is Enlightenment’, and the ‘Society and Solitude’ series. Again it covers a range of styles and demonstrates that Shaun’s passions run deeper than the liquid in the bottle. In addition to this Hill Farmstead have dabbled with small batch canning and a number of standalone single hop beers. Despite this fairly extensive range Hill Farmstead remains a small brewery, producing around 3000 barrels per year.
When talking about the idea of becoming a ‘big’ brewery and moving to a large industrial park he said’ “I didn’t start this brewery so I could keep growing and move it away from here; that wasn’t the point,” he says. “It wouldn’t be fun anymore. It wouldn’t have purpose or meaning.”
Clearly Hill Farmstead values quality over quantity
A Beer in Focus – ‘Anna’
As Hill Farmstead are such a renown brewery, producing relatively small amounts of high quality beer it is fairly uncommon to find them available for sale in the UK. I was fortunate enough to buy a bottle on my birthday trip to the Brew Dog bar in Bristol in 2019. The beer in question was a 750ml bottle of Hill Farmstead’s 'Anna' a Vermont Honey Ale brewed using Vermont flower honey. Anna Hill (1902-1993) was Shaun’s great auntie, one of 13 children who grew up on the land now occupied by the brewery.
I stashed it away for a rainy day, however it was actually a beautifully sunny day during the COVID-19 lockdown when I decided to open it.
I was hoping for a light, refreshing yet complex beer....that's exactly what I got.
The aroma was crisp, floral and funky, with notes of apples, lemon and honey. The taste was amazingly complex without being overpowering or overwhelming.
Each sip started with a crisp honey and citrus taste followed by a malt driven crackery and peppery edge, rounded off by a floral, funky subtle bitterness. It was medium bodied and amazingly drinkable.
I was hoping that I was going to be disappointed, I certainly wasn't, it was well crafted, brewed with quality ingredients, by skilled brewers using a lots of care.
Hopefully you now have a brief insight into one of the world’s most interesting breweries. By sticking to his values and initial vision Shaun Hill has managed to create a brewery than not only produces exceptional beer but also a brewery that puts care into every drop.
References
1https://www.ratebeer.com/ratebeerbest/2019/best-brewers-top-100
2https://hillfarmstead.com/our-story/
3https://www.robhopkins.net/2017/05/24/shaun-hill-of-hill-farmstead-on-brewing-beer-to-capture-the-imagination/
4https://www.robhopkins.net/2017/05/24/shaun-hill-of-hill-farmstead-on-brewing-beer-to-capture-the-imagination/
5 https://narratively.com/the-wonderbrewer-of-nowheresville/
6https://www.vanityfair.com/style/food/2013/04/shaun-hill-brewmaster-hill-farmstead
7https://www.robhopkins.net/2017/05/24/shaun-hill-of-hill-farmstead-on-brewing-beer-to-capture-the-imagination/
8https://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2015/03/24/shaun-hill-farmstead-brewery/
9https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/business/craft-beer-the-very-limited-edition.html
