Hill Farmstead Trip....

So sometimes you just need to travel to a sure spot to go foraging for bottles.  Sometimes these places are not just in your backyard... what that means is a road trip !  What does a road trip consist of? First thing is find a co-pilot, pick a day and watch the weather. I spent the month of October doing this as well as alerting other bottle searchers in my local circle about the upcoming journey. That way not only would I be helping them snag some beer but with a little order fee I could alleviate the cost of gas and focus my hard earned dollars on BEER.  This particular journey was a small bounce through western Maine, over through the white mountains, across the green hills of Vermont and northbound to a little spot that is very quickly becoming the epitome of New England farmhouse brewing. Hill Farmstead.

Here is a glimpse of the trip.... through the eyes of my co-pilot.

and our final destination... 164 miles 3.25 hours.

Once there we stretched a bit and used the portapotty... there wasn't one last time!

Inside we found a packed house of about 10-20 people steadily marking down orders, sipping beer samples and watching Shaun Hill check his Iphone, mark down notes and help wash glasses. We ordered through our samplers and finalized the large haul that we prepared. Growlers and 750ml pours for myself and a large array of bottles for the Portland crew.

All in all it took 2.5 hours to grab some samples, work out a side order for another brewer friend and get everything loaded up and ready for the journey back into Portland.

We did make a quick stop in downtown Hardwick to pick up a few snacks a coffee and some Jasper Hill cheese. We also had to double check that we couldn't snag some Heady Topper from a spot that worked out last time I was in town.

Night fell as we weaved through the ominous white mountains... a quick stop at Moat Mountain for a little dinner and a Iron Mike Pale Ale. Then back to Portland to unload.

Total Haul:

Draft Fills

Growlers : 2x Abner

750ml Fills: 3xAbner, 1xSusan, 1xGeorge, 1xS&S #5, 1xEdward

26 Twilight of Idols

18 Arthur

17  Anna

6  Clara

4  Juicy

2Anchorage Bitter Monk

1 Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

1 Grassroots/Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hops

*not including a hefty lil order by my co-pilot

As I type this Im cleaning up a 750ml of Society and Solitude #5.... looking at my calendar and figuring out the next road trip to the Hill !