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HI LL F AR M STEAD
T HE EV O L UT I O N A ND DI S S O L UT I O N O F S HA UN E. HI L L
F RI DA Y, A P RI L 1 6 , 2 0 1 0
THE FUTURE?
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SU G G E STE D RE A DI N G
Piecing it all together, it grows ever more clear that Hill Farmstead
FOL L OW ERS
BL OG A RCHIV E
2010 (6)
April (2)
Reflections on the
"beginning"...
Gold and Silver...
March (1)
February (2)
January (1)
2009 (9)
2008 (3)
A BOUT ME
SH A U N E . H I L L
2010!
V I EW M Y C O M P LET E P R O FI LE
And the visits, and friendships and support, haven't stopped. Mitch
Steele is coming through, while researching for he and Steve
Wagner's "IPA book" and we're discussing an unofficial Black IPA
collaboration. In Denmark, Ryan is hammering out the details of a
Cigar City collaboration while we also finalize the details of a special
Grassroots/Mikkeller collab for the Italian beer market. Our
Grassroots Citra IPA and Double IPA will hit Copenhagen and Italy
within the coming weeks. I'm also working on the details of the sour
barrel project with Chad Yakobson
(http://brettanomyces.wordpress.com/) and should begin brewing
the first of that release series by next weekend. Glass companies
(Thanks to Lorri of Saxco and Richard from United) are pooling
incredible efforts. Sren Varming (Punktum Designs in Copenhagen:
http://www.punktumdesign.dk/) has finished up the label and logo
design - which we will unveil in the coming days - and Alex has
manipulated it all into keg collars, t-shirts, and glassware designs.
HoldFast Designs (http://www.facebook.com/pages/HardwickVT/Hold-Fast-Designs/122147006763) should have our shirts
available within the coming weeks. Sigh. Endless, isn't it?
The Bird's Eye Maple Smoked Baltic Porter (smoked with our very own
maple - courtesy of Darren) is fermenting away - happy lager yeast
loving the sugary wort. Anders has just left me, returning to Boston,
probably wreaking of maple smoke, where he will find a flight home
to DK on Sunday. No doubt he is still flying high from our gold and
silver medal wins in the World Beer Cup.
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Hey Folks - yet again a very late night here in northern Vermont...
but just wanted to write a quick note before retiring for the eve.
Tomorrow I'm off to the airport to pick up Anders Kissmeyer in
Burlington - returning here to the Farmstead to plot out and brew our
Maple Smoked Baltic Porter... However, having just received a dozen
or more text messages (and a phone call from Anders) from Chicago I had to take a few seconds to update all 37 of you followers that 3 of
my Nrrebro Bryghus beers have taken medals at the World Beer Cup.
Both our SEVEN Russian Imperial Stout aged in a Port Barrel as well as
our Port Barrel Barleywine have taken GOLD medals at the World Beer
Cup! Our Viking Oud Bruin took Silver in the American Style Sour
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Brewing...!
My friends and fellow readers - Today - Monday, March 29th, is our
first brew day. I sit here, at 3:30am, drinking a draft Sixpoint
Bengali Tiger with Dan Suarez, following a very long day of brewery
preparation (including an excursion to the Alchemist to introduce Dan
to Vermont's Finest...) Tomorrow we will brew an India Pale Ale... our
inaugural ale, so to speak. Thank you, everyone, that has supported
me on this journey - emotionally, spiritually, financially.... It is
difficult to believe that "the Day" is finally here... Let's hope for a
great fermentation and to many, many more flawless brew days.
Pictures soon to follow!
P O S T ED B Y S HA UN E. HI LL A T 9: 27 A M
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The first of March (my long envisioned "first brew day" date) is
quickly approaching and the brewery is but moments from
operational. By the middle of next week... the kettle burner will be
fully functional and the cooling system will be virtually complete. All
hoses, pumps, and fittings will be in house. We'll place our first malt
and hop order. The bottle conditioning room will be insulated. Our
barrels will be en route from the Russian River Valley. Our logo and
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WIthin two weeks, we shall finally claim direct fire beneath our kettle
and glycol cooling connected to our fermenters. And then, my friends,
we shall attempt to make beer.
Hoppy beers. Barrel aged beers. And Saisons. We shall make beer
and, laboriously, bottle and package our beer - corking and caging
and bottle conditioning each individual bottle of our Saison family...
giving life to each bottle before sending it around Vermont, Maine,
Boston, Rhode Island, New York City, and Philadelphia.
As written by Rainer Maria Rilke in one of my favorite collections of
words (Letters to a Young Poet): "A work of art is good if it has
sprung from necessity. In this nature of its origin lies the judgment
of it: there is no other." I have written W.W. Norton, holder of the
SA TU RDA Y, JA N U A RY 3 0 , 2 0 1 0
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and should be ready for the draft market in 3 weeks. Some of this
should hit Copenhagen around Valentine's Day and the rest will be
shipped to Manuele at Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa' in Rome. Speaking
of which, Maneule's pub (see: http://www.football-pub.com) has
been named the #1 beer bar in the world by Ratebeer.Com. In
celebration, he has informed me that he will be serving liters and
liters of Free Grassroots Winter IPA. Wish I could be there!
Also on the Ratebeer.com Radar - Nrrebro Bryghus was ranked as
#38 on the list of Best Brewers in the World - up from #68 the year
prior (visit
http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/bestbrewers_012010.asp).
My close friends and collaborators Dieu Du Ciel, Mikkeller, and DuckRabbit (Ryan's origin!) all making the top 50 and close friends (and
fellow collaborators) Amager Bryghus, BeerHere, and lfabrikken all
making the top 100. Thus, it is no surprise that our Nrrebro Bryghus
SEVEN Niepoort Barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout made the Top 100
beers of the year - as 5 out of the 7 collaborators made the list of the
top 100 brewers in the world.
Also, in the last week, Jasper Hill Farm's Winnimere, which is
perhaps one of the most unique cheeses on American soil (no,
really!), was featured in All About Beer magazine. This project began
nearly 6 years ago, before my tenure at The Shed. The idea being
that Mateo and Andy would fashion a cheese that would, in turn, be
washed with my beer that had been spontaneously fermented with
the micro flora from their cheese caves. Check out the magazine and
the article to learn more. There are plenty of beer washed cheeses on
the market, but how many of them incorporate the local wild flora of
their environment in order to heighten their relationship with the
local terrior? (Note: run to the best cheese shops near you and ask for
Jasper Hill Farm's Winnimere...)
In fact, as I sit here writing this, my own batch of spontaneously
fermenting wort is bubbling away. Half of it will be used for next
year's Winnimere wash and, ultimately, this experiment is the
predecessor of what shall become Hill Farmstead Brewery's
Spontaneously Fermenting Barrel Room. No yeast added to the
process - the wort cooled naturally to the Greensboro Air, beneath
some maple trees in proximity to the cement ruins of my great
grandfather's barn foundation - 5 days later - these saccharomyces
cells have begun the adventure of their lifetime... settling into the
most concentrated sugar solution that an airborne yeast cell could
ever wish for... imagine their surprise? In exchange, I suspect that
they will reward me with fantastic 1, 2, and 3+ year old sour beers...
I mean, it couldn't really happen any other way, could it?
serving pints and selling beer to go. Some special guest beers on
draft, gifts from friends around the globe. Music: Rob Morse and PJ
Davidian (two of Vermont's greatest jazz musicians and long time
friends and Hill Farmstead supporters - from the early homebrewing
days!) will piece together a trio to entertain the throng of gatherers.
It also happens to be open studio weekend in Vermont - and my
brother (a truly gifted carpenter and woodworker of some of the
finest furniture in the world) will open his shop and his business,
Leaning Maples Woodcraft (a true work of art in its entirety), to the
public. Jasper Hill Farm cheese, music, food catered by Laura of
Parker Pie.
Also - it's my birthday. Expect a bonfire. And camping. And pray for
no rain.
World Beer Cup/Craft Brewer's Conference, Chicago - April 7th 10th: I'll be in Chicago for two nights, along with Mikkel (Mikkeller),
Jacob and Morten (Amager Bryghus), and Anders Kissmeyer
(Nrrebro) - Anders has entered 7 beers that display some semblance
of my fingerprint into the World Beer Cup competition and I'll be
joining him for the awards dinner. Also, thanks to the Shelton
Brothers, Hill Farmstead beers should be make an early debut
alongside the beers of my Danish brethren in the Chicago beer scene.
Following the conference, Anders is intending to join me for
Collaboration #1.. I suspect a beer that involves smoked malt...
Publick House, Ebenezers/Lion's Pride, La Laiteria/Farmstead,
and Blind Tiger:
Vermont's impending market saturation likely indicates the necessity
that we abandon our idealized vision of being a "Vermont only
brewery." Thus, by late April or Early May, anyone that may still be
reading this blog update (have I bored you, indifferent?) can
anticipate debut events at the above mentioned locations. Boston,
Maine, Providence, and NYC. I'm still sitting on more than a hundred
bottles of the Limited Release beers from my barrel aging project at
Nrrebro Bryghus - and those beers will again greet the light of day
(poor phrasing, perhaps, given UV impact upon beer!) yet again, at
the above locations.
Brew Schedule, as intended as of today...
Brew #1 (March 1 target): Spontaneous Coolship project with guests
(Aaron)
#2: Russian Imperial Stout destined for spent Utopias, Brandy, and
Wine barrels (Damon)
#3: IPA (tentatively named Samuel)
#4: Farmstead Saison, Spring Variation (tentatively named Edward)
#5: Double IPA (tentatively named Abner)
P O S T ED B Y S HA UN E. HI LL A T 7: 08 P M
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And so an idea for our collaboration was born from humble Vermont
roots... Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, and Columbus. Roasted and
biscuit malts. A mash tun that would be virtually overflowing... the
brew day began a bit later than I am used to - mashing in around 10
in the morning (Luc had managed to secure 4 hours of sleep before
arriving at the brewery in the early morning in order to transfer a
beer, harvest yeast, and clean the fermenter for us) - no doubt,
partially due to a late night in the pub. Peche Mortel on Cask,
Aphrodisiaque on draft... Does Montreal ever sleep?
We knocked out 550+ liters of 20.2 Plato wort - hopped in the range
of 100 ibus - supposedly the hoppiest beer ever created at Dieu Du
Ciel! A most noble effort, methinks, in crafting a tribute to a kindred
soul and innovator. Thus, I suspect that the gentlemen of DDC will
release a beer titled "Pioneer" Imperial Black IPA within the next 3
weeks...
On the home front and abroad, things continue to come together.
Rather, are being placed together - equipment and layout at Hill
Farmstead slowly falling into place. In Denmark, Grassroots has a
VAT/CVR number (why can't US approval be as easy as it is in
Denmark!?) is releasing its first IPA next week - with the first pallets
going to Rome (Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa) and Copenhagen. IPA
Version 1.0 is also tentatively titled Winter IPA/HumleJul (more
creative names to follow, I promise...). The next beer released will
be in early to mid January - and will be....surprise... a Black Hoppy
Ale - tentatively titled... Broken Spoke.
Today I am off to Three Penny Tap Room. There will be a series of
beer tastings around New England over the course of the next few
months. I've shipped home 20+ cases of my barrel aged Limited
Release Beers from Nrrebro Bryghus and will do a promotional
tour... a sort of "reflections upon Copenhagen" that will also feature
a few of Mikkel and Christian's beers. If the timing is right (and,
sometimes it can be...), this tour will also coincide with the arrival of
draft versions of Mikkel's Beer Geek Brunch and Breakfast. Thus far,
only two dates have been confirmed:
January 7th: Three Penny Taproom, Montpelier, VT (was held on
January 10th)
February 14th: La Laiterie/Farmstead, Providence, RI (postponed
until April)
(Tentative): January 17th: Blind Tiger, NYC (not going to happen!)
A location for a Boston (Deep Ellum?) or Philadelphia (Tria? Monks?)
event are still up in the air. Since I have such a limited amount of
beer (in 375ml bottles), attendance has to remain cozy and intimate
(under 25 people)... in true Danish fashion...
P O S T ED B Y S HA UN E. HI LL A T 6: 04 P M
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