Beer Review: Hill Farmstead's Everett

With my half-marathon coming up Sunday I'm officially in "detox" mode, but just because I'm going to have a dry weekend doesn't mean the rest of you should! For today's beer review we travel north to Greensboro Bend, Vermont. (Actually, I traveled south since I sampled this beer last Sunday while visiting the forgotten borough).

Hill Farmstead Brewery was started by Shaun Hill in April of 2010. It's definitely a micro operation (possibly even a nano) so his beer only makes it to NYC occasionally and so far as know, only ever on draft (though he does bottle some of his brews). I've been wanting to try one of Hill's beers for a while know but it was until this past Sunday I found myself at the right bar at the right time.

I had some time to kill before the next bust to the ferry so popped into Adobe Blues, a bar/restaurant with a wild west look, a TexMex menu, and an excellent beer menu. Once I saw that had a Hill Farmstead beer on tap, though, I knew what I would be ordering.

The beer is called Everett, it's a strong porter (7.5%) named after Hill's great-uncle. The bar served it to me in a 12 oz snifter glass. This was a dark beer, black like oil, with a mocha head. The beer had a great cocoa smell to it with some caramel notes too.

This was a "thick" porter--nothing watery here--with lighter carbonation (think smooth, not bubbly--if it were a wine I might say pétillant).

Now onto the taste: definitely lots of rich unsweetened chocolate here and some coffee overtones (like freshly roasted beans) too. There's some sweetness in the finish but afterwards there's a bit of char. Overall a really delicious beer.

Although I drank mine slowly and let it warm a bit, I think this beer would be out of this world if served from a cask. If you see any Hill Farmstead beers on your travels, I highly recommend giving them a try!