Two of my close friends were celebrating their one year anniversary last week in Vertmont where they had gotten married. Speaking of, their pre and post wedding festivities included a fridge that was stocked with seven cases of Heady Topper, four cases of Second Fiddle and several other Vermont only offerings which made the already fun weekend even more incredible. During their recent anniversary trip I received several text messages and posts on social media rubbing it in that they had the chance to drink Focal Banger on multiple occations during their visit. Some of the those communications involved some slightly innapropriate language but it was all in good fun. At the end of the day they hooked me up big time. On Monday night I hopped on Metro North up to Cold Spring to have dinner and split a growler of Hill Farmstead with them. I went home with a much heavier cooler bag than I started with as you can see.
My 2-cents on these beers:
Lawson's Sip of Sunshine: I actually hadn't tried my for SoS until a few months ago. It is one of the original great double IPAs from VT and it is an incredible beer. They're actually brewing this particular beer out of Two Road's facility these days but that just means it is easier to find especially outside of Vermont.
Alchemist Heady Topper: I got to try my first Topper after seeing a tweet from a bar in Long Island City on a Sunday morning while I was nursing a hangover that they have a few cases in stock. I put on my running shoes, ran over the 59th Street Bridge and got my first taste of this amazing beer. In my opinion it is what helped to make canned be sexy again and overrated or not (I don't think it is) it is and always will be one of the best beers out there.
Foley Brother's Pieces of 8 and Fair Maiden: I've only tried the Fair Maiden a few months back and I was very impressed. I'm looking forward to drinking this most recent bottling and trying the pieces of 8.
Crop Bistro Idletyme: If you're skiing near Mt. Stowe make sure you stop by Crop Bistro, I have had a chance to try a few of their beers and they're all very good.
Hill Farmstead Earl and Everett: This is a brand new brewery that no one has ever heard of and I'm going to be one of the first people to try their beer. Enough with the bad jokes. A fair amount of sixtels from HF are making their way to NYC these days so I've have a chance to drink a number of their beers BUT this will be my first time having any of the dark beers so excited to try both.