Ale To The Chief- A Visit With Shaun E. Hill & Hill Farmstead Brewery

You’ll know you are close to Hill Farmstead Brewery when the asphalt ends, your wheels rattle on the stones, and the dragon flies dodge and dive next to you in the musky summer air, as you navigate the dirt roads, cut through flowing green fields, past herds of cows, gently climbing up and out of Greensboro center.

I had made it. The mission to procure some of the country’s finest ales- made in small batches, by hand, just for me (jealous yet?) by one of the most promising young brewers of this generation- had come to an end. On the top of a hill, on an August afternoon, I had found Hill Farmstead Brewery.

Four months ago, I was thrilled when my good friend, Shaun Hill told me his brewery should be up and running in time to make beer for our James Beard House dinner, this summer. I first met Shaun in 2002, when visiting our mutual friends at Jasper Hill Farm- on what at that time in my life, was a regular trip up to ‘Jasper’ to make cheese, hang out and drink beer in the Green Mountains.

Fast forward to today and Shaun’s beer- as well as the exploits of Jasper Hill Farm-have all gone through a metamorphosis, their finest achievements reflected in some of the best hand-crafted, highly sought after, artisan products in the country. This open, rolling, green shoulder of northern Vermont obviously carries wise ideas, a sense of Yankee ingenuity and passions that run as deep as Lake Caspian.

To know Shaun well, is to take a lesson in Vermont history. His family- The Hills- are one of Vermont’s oldest founding families, and for over 9 generations, Shaun’s ancestors have been turning the soil on this northern stretch of the state. However, once his grandfather’s barn burned down in 1978- a year before Shaun was born, the family no longer had the ability to operate their beloved dairy farm, and the Hill Farmstead turned to a swath of unused (although pristine & beautiful) land.

Now, thirty some odd years later, The Hill Farmstead is alive again. The small but comfortable farmhouse where Shaun and his colleagues live, has gotten somewhat of a makeover, complete with a built in (and tightly secured) cellar level room for Shaun’s barrels of beer. But just next to the house is where the magic happens. In a 1,200 square foot structure, resembling a garage on a slab foundation, is where Shaun pours his soul and energy into his craft. Just next to the new structure, lies the remnants of his grandfather’s burned out barn- a site he hopes to turn into a larger scale brewery someday.

Although Shaun got his start at Vermont breweries like The Shed in Stowe and Trout River in Lyndonville, he is recently back from a wild European adventure for the past two years, where he worked at award winning breweries and honed his craft. Shaun spent time at Nørrebro Bryghus in Denmark from March 2008 until November 2009. It was here in Denmark where he brewed three beers that would earn top honors at the World Beer Cup this year, two golds (in the American Style Imperial Stout and American Style Barleywine categories) and a silver (in the American Sour Ale category).This, as it turns out, was a very big deal- despite his modesty, as expressed when he told me recently:  “I just do what I do, man”.

Now that Shaun is back on his native soil, he is taking the time to get his beers just right. “I’m kind of a beer fascist” he told me. “I freak out if my beers aren’t poured just right, with the perfect amount of head”. As it should be, as all of Hill’s beers are named after past members of his family. If you are going to put the names of your relatives on the label, you better be damn sure it will live up to family expectations. His hopped up version of an IPA, called ‘Edward’ is his staple beer, and the only one he will brew year round. Other than that, he will be experimenting and finding new ways to reinvent traditional technique and beer style.

“I’m hoping to restore this farmstead to greatness once again”, Shaun told me. “Beers with tradition, yet innovation. Passion, elegance”. I quaffed a short pour of his Golden Saison, which is brewed with wheat from nearby Butterworks Farm, as we sidestepped sanitation equipment and barrel racks and the Wilco thumped through the speakers of his laptop computer. “Here, come taste this”….

Shaun brought me to the back of the brewery, with two new tasting glasses in hand and asked if I wanted to taste some barrel projects. Uhh, of course. First up was an Oatmeal Coffee Stout, aged in Sam Adams Utopias barrels. It was rich, malty, heady, balanced, perfect. Then there was a Brandy Porter- yet unnamed. It too, was luscious and velvety, with hints of brandy at the finish. “Yum” was all I could say. “Yum, Shaun”. Lastly, Shaun busted out the big gun. His Smoked Baltic Porter was a mind-blower. Think deep, brown elixir with a milky, full head and reeking of campfire. His eyes lit up and a smile broke out across his boyish face. “Yeah, that’s good” he said. And damn. It was. Real good. Like “I want more of that” good.

The beer I had come for though, was waiting in two cases of neatly stacked boxes by the front door of his retail shop. “This is for the Beard dinner” Shaun said. A special Saison style, Shaun had created it just for us and our upcoming dinner this coming Monday, August 16th at the James Beard House in Manhattan. We popped one to make sure it was up to snuff. “You can choose if you want to serve it cloudy or not” he said. The pale golden ale streamed from the bottle, into my glass, leaving behind the lees upon which it sat. “If you want to arouse the beer, you can”. Arouse. I love it. As if Hill’s beer needs to be any more arousing than it already is. After tasting the beer both ways- slightly aroused (swirling the lees into the beer before pouring), and non-aroused, we both decided it would be best to leave some of the yeast in the bottom of the bottle, as to not complicate the clean flavors of honey, hay, toast and almond.

Suddenly, Shaun’s ‘lady friend’, Zoe, from Jasper Hill Farm, arrived with a small brown paper package. “Today we’re running a special- buy some beer and get a free cheese”. She handed me a piece of “Eligo”, a mold ripened goat’s milk cheese from Ploughgate Creamery- still in the works and not officially on the market. “We are still figuring out the aging” Zoe said, speaking of the craft of affinage that goes on at Jasper Hill, down the road. I told her I couldn’t promise that the cheese would make it back to Providence. She said “That’s fine- just don’t get into the beer on the road!”

From here, I thanked Shaun and Zoe, packed up the VW with our special honey saison and got ready to ramble back down route 16 to head back to Providence. The August light was fading. We swatted at insects in the Northeast Kingdom air and said goodbye. On my way home I thought about how a new food revolution is taking place in this corner of Vermont. It is funny how sometimes those products that are so revered and special, come from such a simple source- passion. Love. When you give yourself to your product, manipulating it just enough to fit within the parameters of your desires, but allow that product to also take on a life of its own, and to develop naturally and become its own entity, the results can be astonishing.

We strive to work in a similar way at Farmstead & La Laiterie. Start with great ingredients, do relatively little to them, and let the food speak for itself. We bring this ethos and hopefully similar passions to our evening at the James Beard House this coming Monday night. Don’t have tickets? Don’t worry. We’ll make sure we drink enough of Shaun’s beer for you.

Right now, Shaun has no distribution outside of Vermont, with exception to some in New York City. But you never know when his beer will flow from our taps. Stay tuned.

Farmstead & La Laiterie James Beard House Evening, Course Three: “Tasting Of Saunderstown Pork: Slow Roasted, Hay and Whey-Brined Belly, Porcini Sausage, Crispy Crackle, Cured Loin, Golden Plums & Brebis Blanche, paired with Hill Farmstead Honey Saison.”

Hill Farmstead Brewery

Farmstead & La Laiterie’s ‘American Artisan Evening’ At The James Beard House