Shaun Hill asks DC bar to not serve his beer

Im curious to know if anyone taking the anti-Hill Farmstead side in this rabble-fest would change their mind if the conditions were a bit more extreme?

What if someone ordered a bunch of samples of a Hill Farmstead IPA at the brewery in Vermont and poured em into a gallon milk jug (maybe rinsed the milk out first) and drove the jug to DC in the bed of his el camino to sell them at a large markup to a customer base that may or may not use a beer rating website to critique the beer.

Would Shaun then have the right to ask them to stop doing this? Or is it still "The Customer Is Always Right!" argument that i see B3shine among others always have. Where is the line drawn? When the IPA tastes like sour milk should Shaun then politely ask the bar owner not to do this and then reward him with some fresh growlers shipped out immediately to make up for it? I know thats being ridiculous but is there ever a point where no the customer is not always right?

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by miketd

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by puzzl
Strange list of people. You’ve got a pure businessman (Greg Koch), a guy who ran what was once one of the top 3 darling breweries on Ratebeer (Alesmith) that has done damn-near nothing in 5 years, and then you’ve got Vinnie, who, yeah, made some good steps at the height of his popularity, but now has become fairly ho-hum and has failed to keep beer geeks’ attention outside of a once-a-year release.

Is this SERIOUSLY what beergeekdom has become? A thing that vilifies two of the best breweries in the world in Alesmith and Russian River and minimizes the influence of the most influential brewer in the world, by far, in Vinnie Cilurzo? If that’s what it has become, I want no part of it.

If it’s not what you are looking for, don’t buy into any of the bullshit. I used to be a guy that wanted all the new stuff, but i started drinking almost exclusively local and have no plan to return to the insanity. I am not picking a fight, just letting you know that once you stop caring, this stuff rolls of your back easily.

Does it seem like I care? Sorry if my post came off like that. I didn’t mean it to.

Originally posted by Reynolds314
Im curious to know if anyone taking the anti-Hill Farmstead side in this rabble-fest would change their mind if the conditions were a bit more extreme?

What if someone ordered a bunch of samples of a Hill Farmstead IPA at the brewery in Vermont and poured em into a gallon milk jug (maybe rinsed the milk out first) and drove the jug to DC in the bed of his el camino to sell them at a large markup to a customer base that may or may not use a beer rating website to critique the beer.

Would Shaun then have the right to ask them to stop doing this? Or is it still "The Customer Is Always Right!" argument that i see B3shine among others always have. Where is the line drawn? When the IPA tastes like sour milk should Shaun then politely ask the bar owner not to do this and then reward him with some fresh growlers shipped out immediately to make up for it? I know thats being ridiculous but is there ever a point where no the customer is not always right?

with all the crappy craft brews out there, refreshing when brewers care about quality

Originally posted by joeneugs
Yeah, for future reference, anytime you take the time to post on an internet forum, the conclusion people will draw is that you care at least a little about the subject.

Originally posted by b3shine

Originally posted by Reynolds314
Im curious to know if anyone taking the anti-Hill Farmstead side in this rabble-fest would change their mind if the conditions were a bit more extreme?

What if someone ordered a bunch of samples of a Hill Farmstead IPA at the brewery in Vermont and poured em into a gallon milk jug (maybe rinsed the milk out first) and drove the jug to DC in the bed of his el camino to sell them at a large markup to a customer base that may or may not use a beer rating website to critique the beer.

Would Shaun then have the right to ask them to stop doing this? Or is it still "The Customer Is Always Right!" argument that i see B3shine among others always have. Where is the line drawn? When the IPA tastes like sour milk should Shaun then politely ask the bar owner not to do this and then reward him with some fresh growlers shipped out immediately to make up for it? I know thats being ridiculous but is there ever a point where no the customer is not always right?

What a worthless analogy. In your case, the person presumably doesn’t have a license to sell beer. In addition, HF’s growlers are swing tops that aren’t hand-bottled and keep their freshness for awhile. Does Shaun fill milk jugs? Or anywhere, for that matter? I’m pretty sure the D.C. alcohol department (whatever its formal name is) would intervene with evidence of hand-bottling (and I KNOW Shaun would report them or anyone if he thought that was the case).

Fanboys gotta fan, Reynolds. Keep presenting unrealistic hypotheticals and clinging to them as the downward spiral that we’ll end up in if Shaun’s liquid art isn’t enjoyed on the day it’s intended to be.

I have had flip tops from hill in trades and i have been to the brewery itself and i personally found no difference, and yes i had the same beer. With that being said even if D.C. has this grey law i can get behind using it to self import bottles but the growler thing is just plain weird. I for one would not buy tickets to a beer tasting at a bar that was pouring from out of state growlers.

I have had more than one brewer write me to complain about a beer I’ve rated, SH being one of those brewers.

Originally posted by HonkeyBra

Originally posted by TheAlum
This is the guy who used to BM RB raters directly when he didn’t like the scores they were inputting.. not sure if he still does.

I can think of several other people affiliated with a brewery who do the same . . .

Originally posted by Reynolds314

Originally posted by b3shine

Originally posted by Reynolds314
Im curious to know if anyone taking the anti-Hill Farmstead side in this rabble-fest would change their mind if the conditions were a bit more extreme?

What if someone ordered a bunch of samples of a Hill Farmstead IPA at the brewery in Vermont and poured em into a gallon milk jug (maybe rinsed the milk out first) and drove the jug to DC in the bed of his el camino to sell them at a large markup to a customer base that may or may not use a beer rating website to critique the beer.

Would Shaun then have the right to ask them to stop doing this? Or is it still "The Customer Is Always Right!" argument that i see B3shine among others always have. Where is the line drawn? When the IPA tastes like sour milk should Shaun then politely ask the bar owner not to do this and then reward him with some fresh growlers shipped out immediately to make up for it? I know thats being ridiculous but is there ever a point where no the customer is not always right?

What a worthless analogy. In your case, the person presumably doesn’t have a license to sell beer. In addition, HF’s growlers are swing tops that aren’t hand-bottled and keep their freshness for awhile. Does Shaun fill milk jugs? Or anywhere, for that matter? I’m pretty sure the D.C. alcohol department (whatever its formal name is) would intervene with evidence of hand-bottling (and I KNOW Shaun would report them or anyone if he thought that was the case).

Fanboys gotta fan, Reynolds. Keep presenting unrealistic hypotheticals and clinging to them as the downward spiral that we’ll end up in if Shaun’s liquid art isn’t enjoyed on the day it’s intended to be.

I said it was ridiculous as I was going for an extreme. I was more looking for a response of something in between what actually happened and this ridiculous comparison. Where is the line drawn? Is it arbitrary by "you" the consumer that you think it was fresh, healthy to consume, tasting good or anything in between. Do you just say "Oh well the bar owner said it tasted like it was supposed to so thats good enough for me?

I see so much complaint from folks about freshness of beer, lack of bottling dates, poorly stored beer, etc but when a brewer tries harder then most if not all to ensure freshness he gets flack for it.

Originally posted by b3shine

Originally posted by Reynolds314

Originally posted by b3shine

Originally posted by Reynolds314
Im curious to know if anyone taking the anti-Hill Farmstead side in this rabble-fest would change their mind if the conditions were a bit more extreme?

What if someone ordered a bunch of samples of a Hill Farmstead IPA at the brewery in Vermont and poured em into a gallon milk jug (maybe rinsed the milk out first) and drove the jug to DC in the bed of his el camino to sell them at a large markup to a customer base that may or may not use a beer rating website to critique the beer.

Would Shaun then have the right to ask them to stop doing this? Or is it still "The Customer Is Always Right!" argument that i see B3shine among others always have. Where is the line drawn? When the IPA tastes like sour milk should Shaun then politely ask the bar owner not to do this and then reward him with some fresh growlers shipped out immediately to make up for it? I know thats being ridiculous but is there ever a point where no the customer is not always right?

What a worthless analogy. In your case, the person presumably doesn’t have a license to sell beer. In addition, HF’s growlers are swing tops that aren’t hand-bottled and keep their freshness for awhile. Does Shaun fill milk jugs? Or anywhere, for that matter? I’m pretty sure the D.C. alcohol department (whatever its formal name is) would intervene with evidence of hand-bottling (and I KNOW Shaun would report them or anyone if he thought that was the case).

Fanboys gotta fan, Reynolds. Keep presenting unrealistic hypotheticals and clinging to them as the downward spiral that we’ll end up in if Shaun’s liquid art isn’t enjoyed on the day it’s intended to be.

I said it was ridiculous as I was going for an extreme. I was more looking for a response of something in between what actually happened and this ridiculous comparison. Where is the line drawn? Is it arbitrary by "you" the consumer that you think it was fresh, healthy to consume, tasting good or anything in between. Do you just say "Oh well the bar owner said it tasted like it was supposed to so thats good enough for me?

I see so much complaint from folks about freshness of beer, lack of bottling dates, poorly stored beer, etc but when a brewer tries harder then most if not all to ensure freshness he gets flack for it.

Nice response, dude. I wasn’t pleased that you chose to focus on me by name in your response when I’m far from the only person who feels the way I do, but your tactful, thoughtful response deserves recognition.

So we’re back to the point made by beersage: that we need to find some common ground between brewers and sellers. It’s remarkable to me that everyone who is pro-Shaun made the assumption that the bar was somehow intentionally misrepresenting his beer. They may well have just gotten tons of requests for the stuff and responded to them the only way they knew how: go get it and bring it home.

The onus doesn’t fall exclusively on the bar owners - especially if they’re obeying the law.