The Beer and The People!

Recently my favourite craft beer bar, ‘The Pursuit of Hoppiness’ in Exeter closed permanently following the turbulence of COVID-19 and lockdown. The Facebook post announcing the closure was flooded with comments of tributes and support. One comment stood out, it summed up my love for craft beer and the beer and brewing community. That comment was posted by Stannary Brewery.

‘Craft Beer is about more than just the beer, it’s about the people too’

Stannary Brewery from Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor in West Devon are a small brewery who put a big emphasis on community.

Founded in 2016 by business partners Mark, Chris and Garry, Stannary are based in a small industrial unit on the edge of the town centre. They operate a 6 barrel brewery with an on-site taproom.

The start of their journey wasn’t an easy one as problems with the initial installation of the brew kit meant that their dreams were almost shattered before they could blossom. Thankfully with some extra investment and shed loads of perseverance they were back up and running.

My first experience of Stannary came when I helped organise the first Exeter Craft Beer Festival in 2019, alongside Topsham Brewery. We were seeking to promote the amazing craft beer available within Devon, in addition to Topsham’s own beers, we invited Utopian, Roam, Powderkeg and Stannary to name just a few.

I remember being really impressed with the quality across the board, that included Stannary!

The next time our paths crossed was thanks to my friend Neal who is a self proclaimed Stannary fan boy. He invited Chris and Garry to the Pursuit of Hoppiness during one of our many bottle shares. We chatted over a few beers including ‘Fat Head’ Stannarys’ 7.4% Brown Ale, which at the time I thought looked like dish water but tasted like heaven! Never judge a book by it’s cover.

Stannary have a small but perfectly formed core range. Stannary Pale at 4.5 % ABV, the first beer they ever brewed which they describe as a great gateway from real ale to ‘craft’ beer. Next @ 4.2% ABV is ‘All that Jazz’ a sessionable pale ale and rounding off the range are two IPAs. ‘Reverse Camber’ a nod to the west coast and ‘Hare Trigger’ a fruity east coast juice bomb! In addition to the core range they also brew a number of specials and have just developed two fruited pales; ‘OPP’ an orange peel pale and ‘Slight of Hand’ a mango pale, both fermented on the respective fruits to give a fruit tang.

Community is clearly important to Stannary, this is shown by their recent collaboration with local coffee shop Black Sheep Brew. The result is ‘Black Sheep’ (not to be confused with the Yorkshire brewery), a 4.8% ABV Breakfast Stout with vanilla and lactose. I shared my bottle with my wife, she’s not a massive beer fan but she does love a coffee stout. I’m pleased to say she approved.

Stannary, like most microbreweries, initially focused primarily on the on trade, supplying Kegs and Cask to local pubs and bars. Before COVID 19 and the closure of pubs they were bottling a very small amount of their brews, much of which went to places like Hops and Craft in Exeter, Vessel in Plymouth and a couple select venues across Cornwall. However since the pandemic they started bottling regularly to the point that in has recently represented 60% of their sales, with growler fills from the taproom accounting for the other 40%. Zero cask and keg!

Thankfully the increase in bottling has helped Stannary stay afloat during what has been an extremely challenging time for the brewing industry. In addition to the increased small pack, Stannary have also been overwhelmed by the support from the local community, shorty after the lockdown they announced that they would continue growler fills from their taproom. Initially they weren’t sure how much trade they would get, after a few weeks it was clear that the community had embraced the brewery, with new faces returning regularly to get their local beer. Hopefully now with pubs reopening their sales of cask and keg will slowly begin to pick up again and these new found Stannary fans will continue to seek out the beer, whether at the Taproom or in another local venues.

I managed to visit the boys at the taproom at the beginning of July, just as pubs and bars were being allowed to reopen. Unfortunately due to the limited space it is not clear when they will be able to open, but one thing is clear, the passion and drive to deliver top quality beer is still strong. Both Chris and Garry were positive, especially as they had just released a collaboration with Cornish brewery, Firebrand. ‘Vertical Isolation’, an 8.5% DIPA, although brewed and canned in Cornwall the Stannary influence was clear. It was dank and resinous with masses of grapefruit and pine.

After meeting the guys in the Pursuit of Hoppiness all those months ago and then popping in to the taproom recently one thing that struck me is that the guys are passionate about their community, good beer and are focused on combing the two.

Like they said; Craft Beer, it’s about the people too.   

Hill Farmstead - More Than Just Beer.

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