Shaun Hill asks DC bar to not serve his beer

Hill Farmstead, Bourbon, and the Ethics of DC’s Gray Laws

With just a short trip into the city, DC’s gray importing laws have allowed me to both buy and try literally hundreds of beers that would never see the light of day anywhere close the United States Eastern seaboard via the traditional 3-tier model. Internationally known institutions such as the Brickskeller were built on such laws.


That’s not to say that I don’t comprehend SH’s position, though I’d like to state that I’ve had my fair share of *bad* beer that was acquired through distributors, sold to stores or bars, presumably conforming to some kind of standard that might not exist in some guy’s trunk full of growlers. I’d like to think that HF beers can hold up in growlers considering the number of people I know who drink from their HF growlers year-round but still happen to live a full day’s drive (one way) away from the brewery and travel there every few weeks to replenish their stockpile.

You could draw any number of conclusions from the low Untappd check-ins that were at Bourbon.

1) There were still a number of 4.5 and 5 star ratings of the same beers that evening from other people and found nothing wrong with the beer.
2) The low raters might just be jerks. I know some people on Untapped that give out 2’s like there’s no tomorrow.
3) The people giving low ratings might not have been exposed to the HF hype before that evening and therefore might not have been biased either direction. I’ve had a few blind pours of HF beers at tastings that I didn’t know where HF until after hearing a number of people praise the (what I thought was average) beer.


SH seems surprised that the bar didn’t ask him beforehand. Is that really normal practice for bars to do, regardless of how the beer was acquired/purchased?

This isn’t the first time this has happened and I don’t mind Shaun’s position. But I have to ask.....who the hell cares about Untappd scores?

Someone going to this extent to acquire Hill Farmstead beers would obviously know how their beers are packaged and distributed. Shame on the bar owner.

Mr. Hill looks to be protecting his brands name, his supply chain and his customers by asking that his beers be withdrawn.

Originally posted by GT2....who the hell cares about Untappd scores?

I’ve brought up grey market a million times before on this site. I would say 90% of people on RB don’t care if a beer was sold grey market and half filled with horse urine and keep in a desert in the sun for three weeks before being sold, they just want the beer to be available.

SH might ask, but I wonder if a bar will oblige? Rather it is best to do what I’ve heard Greg Koch does. Follow the trail back to whomever is supplying it grey market and then cut them off.

Tim

Originally posted by Sean9689

Originally posted by GT2....who the hell cares about Untappd scores?

Who the hell cares about RB ratings?

Gotta stand with Shaun on this one. If some ass hat was re-selling my beer at retail without my permission I would be pretty pissed off…. Shaun sold the beer at RETAIL, not at wholesale, therefore it is sold to it’s presumed final user… the retail buyer (there is lots of language in federal and most state/local liquor laws explaining the difference here, and they absolutely take this very seriously). If someone who purchased the beer from Shaun then resells it to another private buyer this is probably not as egregious in the eyes of the law as someone who actual holds a local liquor license buying product at retail with the intentions of reselling it. There is ZERO consumer protection there because the retailer circumvented everything in the law that is purposely written to protect consumers (think bath-tub gin…seriously that’s why it was written that way… because it’s on the producer to guarantee that what is in the bottle is what is presented) Essentially there is no trackable chain of custody. And you might say well what is the difference between this guy and a private buyer… and the answer is intentions. Even if this guy who holds local liquor licenses has every intention of filing his sate/municipal paper/taxes correctly, the TTB doesn’t know that and I guarantee they would be interested. Holding liquor licenses is a privilege not a right. If Shaun wanted his beer served in that bar that way then he would have distributed it to them in the proper way….

Again with i echo the above, its Shaun’s right to get pissed off when jerk off’s are selling his beer without his permission!

i posted the above without reading the article… i have since done so and wow that is infuriating…

"“Did these growlers stand fresh after 7-10 days in our controlled conditions, also known as the trunk of a Volvo, for the trip down in the dead of a northeast winter and then straight to a walk-in fridge? Yes. So, we quality checked it all [before serving].” what an erroneous statement by someone who thinks they know something about beer… unreal.

"‘well if I were to ask your permission ahead of time what would you have said,’ and he said ‘no.’“ so that means do it anyway?

the self-importation law means the bar/retailer can act as an importer… well that doesn’t mean do whatever you want… you still have to abide by the normal rules than an importer would and that means there is a b2b transaction on record and documented by the seller (with the TTB and state) as well as on the buyer’s end (TTB and state)… what these retailers are doing is a business to consumer transaction… bootlegging beer across state lines, calling it imported, then reselling it to consumers like it’s all cool…

The only thing I’m surprised about in this thread is that joet didn’t start it. ;)

Originally posted by GT2

Originally posted by Sean9689

Originally posted by GT2....who the hell cares about Untappd scores?

Who the hell cares about RB ratings?

RB and BA are at least mentioned in news articles, academic papers, and on shelf tags at stores.