Hill Farmstead and Grassroots at The Boilermaker? YES!! This was indeed my most anticipated event of Beer Week and it panned out to be everything I was hoping for. What a perfect combination of excellent brews with an inviting atmosphere to enjoy them. Great beer, great bar!
At this point, I consider Hill Farmstead to be one of the absolute best breweries around. Compared with other Eastern states, their IPAs are basically unparalleled. I've pretty much loved every beer I've had from them in the past and I was excited to try many more of their offerings during this event.
Grassroots Brewing is a subsidiary of Hill Farmstead that has previously collaborated with many other notable breweries (Mikkeller, Tired Hands, Cigar City, and more). It appears that Grassroots is a gypsy project as I read they operate "as a client brewer at Fanø Bryghus" in Nordby, Denmark.
My friend, Troy, and I arrived before the place got packed and we grabbed two seats in the center of the upstairs bar. My goal was to try everything on tap and that's exactly what we did (minus Citra which oddly was the first beer to kick). One of the many things I like about The Boilermaker is that in addition to normal-sized servings, they also offer small glasses of everything that is pouring on draft. This made it possible to try everything we wanted and not be a collective sloppy mess by the end of the night. Thoughtful move by management that I wish more bars would pick up on.
Sooooo, here's what we got into:
Hill Farmstead
- Abner (Double IPA)
- Everett (caramel and chocolate malt Porter)
- Myth of Saison (Tired Hands collab, Saison brewed with 240 lbs. of VT and PA honey)
- Society and Solitude #2 (Imperial Black IPA)
- Society and Solitude #3 (experimental Double IPA)
- Florence (Belgian inspired Wheat)
- Edward (unfiltered American Pale Ale)
- What is Enlightenment? (Simcoe, Amarillo- hopped American Pale Ale)
Grassroots
- Tired Hands Wachu Saison (brewed w/ Thai red rice, peppercorns, and yuzu)
- Keep on Cruisin' Buddy (Berliner Weisse)
- Tired Hands Do Saisons Dream of Electric Yeast? (Dark Saison)
- Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hops (Wheat, Brett IPA)
- Kolding Bryglaug KolVal (Belgian Pale Ale w/ Orval Yeast)
WOW!!! As expected everything was incredible, with the minor exception of KolVal which I thought was a bit muted especially with the addition of the Orval yeast. Still a good beer, just not on par with the rest of night. Abner is one the best DIPAs around but Society and Solitude #3 was right on its tail. Two fantastic beers I'd love to see around here more often! They were also the only brews that we ordered a second round of during our mammoth session. Edward is an amazing Pale Ale that always tastes as fresh as can be. What is Enlightenment? blew me away with its balance of hops and intense citrus fruit juiciness. Wachu's complex array of flavors combined to make a deliciously balanced citrus, spicy saison. I'm not a huge fan of black IPAs but Society and Solitude #2 was one of the best examples of this style that I've yet to try. Just an awesome mix of flavors highlighted by roasted malt, coffee, grapefruit and piney hops. Wheat is the New Hops had a nice blend of funk, citrus and hoppiness that provided a solid balance without getting carried away. The tart, fruity refreshing taste of Keep on Cruisin' Buddy was a great palate cleanser after downing a few of the stronger-bodied beers. Some of these brews were clearly better than others but the overall margin ranged from great to excellent.
Here's a huge thanks to Shaun Hill for bringing all of these superb beers down to Philly (please make these available on a regular basis). Another thanks to The Boilermaker for making this event possible. Last but certainly not least, thanks to Stefany and Alyssa for keeping things flowing and running smooth amongst a very crowded upstairs bar. Cheers!
http://www.hillfarmstead.com/
http://www.theboilermakerbar.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment