Hill Farmstead Birth of Tragedy

Brewed by Hill Farmstead Brewery
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Greensboro, Vermont USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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2012 bottle...pours pitch black with a medium mocha head...looks thick. Aroma has nice bourbon atop notes of toasted coconut, vanilla, and dsrk chocolate. Flavor has sweet brown sugar, coffee, rich caramel, roasty dark chocolate, and wonderful bourbon. Mouthfeel is full and creamy with a sweet coffee/warming bourbon finish. Awesome dessert beer!

Bottle @ Stouts Tasting Pt II. The pour’s deep brown with a tiny head. The nose is Swiss Miss hot cocoa. Ash. Roast malts. Hint of honeycomb and woody vanilla. The taste is quite sweet. Mashed banana and chocolate syrup. Slightly yeasty. Some toffee and coffee cake. Full body. Slightly oily. Overall, quite good. A step down after the dizzying heights of Jimmy.

Bottle consumed at THE stouts tasting part 2, thanks to Leighton. It pours very dark brown with pretty much no head. The nose is roasty, vanilla, toasted coconut, caramel and chocolate gateaux. The taste is pretty sweet, honey, rich-roasted coffee, toast, earth, light bitterness, burnt notes and chocolate gateaux. Full body, low carbonation and viscous, slightly cloying mouth-feel. Tasty, but a bit too sweet and chewy for me.

Bottle from the 1st (and I hope not the last) Rate Beer Awards dinner. Aroma is some smooth bourbon, chocolate, sweet licorice, and lightly roasted malts. Flavor was a much better, hit-you-in-the-face awesome, and the mouthfeel was reminiscent of RareR DOS (of course, bourbon rather than Rum). Knocks for being low on carbonation, but otherwise fantastic. Great beer! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

UPDATED: MAR 31, 2013 Great barrel aged flavor from this winter porter. Coffee and honey, not a lot of carbonation, great beer! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle. Pours black with tan head. Nose and taste of rich chocolate malt, bourbon, oak, vanilla bean ice cream, cinnamon sticks, rich decadent coffee and sweet milk chocolate. Medium body. Finishes with slight alcohol burn. Very smooth.

16.9 oz bottle, 2012. Dark brown with a few oily tan bubbles. Nose is oak, bourbon, espresso, prune and hay. Thick and creamy with a soothing buzz. After my first sip i thought this was way overdone. Certainly a huge beer but not overwhelming. Chocolate syrup, rich coffee, vanilla oak and honey. Just when you almost forget about it, the bourbon comes out with some coffee bean in the finish. The honey really sings here. I can’t think of a better porter.

From Bottle at RBWG. Pours dark brown, some mahogany hues, small yellow tan head. Nose shows lots of spice, cocoa, light coffeee upfront, nice roast and light barrel. Flavor is similar, lots of complexity and well balanced for such a big beer with a lot going on. Very nice, I wish I could have spent more than 5 mins with it.

UPDATED: MAR 20, 2013 Bottle shared at Bruce’s, London during The Stouts Tasting, Pt. II - you’re welcome, bros! And thanks to Momma Laura for swinging by Greenboro to grab this. Pours clearish, oily black with a small, tan foam head. Sweet dark malts in the nose, sugary chocolate, burnt wood, robust coffee. Big sweet flavor, ripe dark fruits, rich chocolate cake, brown sugar, mellow earthy bitterness. Full bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly warming finish, lots of sugary dark malts, some coffee, more cake, syrupy chocolate, light earthy bitterness. One of the sweeter beers of the night, but I think it’s delicious and has enough depth to warrant the sweetness. Excellent.

Bottled split with a buddy and poured into a Heretic snifter early January. Pours pitch black, silky and luscious. No head what-so-ever, looks like dark coffee, or still coffee after left out for a few days. Sad sight to see. Smell is intense with mocha, vanilla, fudge, sweet bourbon, honey, coffee. Pretty unreal. The taste is smooth. Smooth smooth smooth. With a beautiful amount of sweet bourbon to tie into the honey, and vanilla like latte. Lingering bits of milk chocolate, brownies or fudge. A very impressive taste, but overall the mouth feel is completely shattered by the lack of carbonation. This could have been the best beer I ever had, but instead its a simply stunning beer that goes down way too easy. Lacks the challenging mouth feel that makes a great beer the best beer. Nevertheless still a great one to try!