Shaun Hill asks DC bar to not serve his beer

The increasing the mouthfeel was not the stupid part to me. Saying thickening grains and sugars was. And as I said I did not try the beer so I can’t comment on what could be done.

Originally posted by phaleslu
Taken sucks. Just saying.

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by hopscotch

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
Knowing some brewers and homebrewers does not make you well versed in how to make beer. I know a lot of musicians, that doesn’t mean I know how to make music.

That whole part of the talk came from some quoting you as saying Shaun needed to use more thickening grains or sugars to help his mouthfeel. As a brewer that is a pretty stupid sentence to read.

Then what should he use? Please fill him in. He doesn’t listen to me.

I do understand your point though about it being a stupid sentence to read from a professional brewer’s perspective, but I don’t know why it’s stupid. Why is it stupid? I thought there were only so many ways to increase the viscocity of a beer. Another way, I suppose, would be the process used in brewing ice bocks. Freezing and skimming the ice? Sorry, I don’t know the correct terminology. Hopefully you know to what I’m referring.

As a brewer that’s decidedly NOT a stupid sentence to read. If someone told me that my beers would benefit from an increased mouthfeel, I would immediately think to do one or more of the following:

1) Increase the unfermentable dextrins in my wort
2) Use a less attenuative yeast strain to ferment my wort
3) Increase the protein content of my wort
4) Decrease the carbonation of my finished beer
5) Use a yeast strain that produces more glycerol

Stop pretending that brewing beer is SUCH a mystery and answer the guy’s question.

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
The increasing the mouthfeel was not the stupid part to me. Saying thickening grains and sugars was. And as I said I did not try the beer so I can’t comment on what could be done.

I would expect him to not offer his uneducated opinion but hey it is the internet offering your uneducated opinion on subjects you don’t understand is the norm.

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
I would expect him to not offer his uneducated opinion but hey it is the internet offering your uneducated opinion on subjects you don’t understand is the norm.

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
I would expect him to not offer his uneducated opinion but hey it is the internet offering your uneducated opinion on subjects you don’t understand is the norm.

There. Now you’ve managed to make yourself look like a big enough prick. Mission accomplished.

Originally posted by CLevar

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
I would expect him to not offer his uneducated opinion but hey it is the internet offering your uneducated opinion on subjects you don’t understand is the norm.

There. Now you’ve managed to make yourself look like a big enough prick. Mission accomplished.

The irony. It burns.

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by CLevar

Originally posted by HornyDevil

Originally posted by FrumptyDumpty
I would expect him to not offer his uneducated opinion but hey it is the internet offering your uneducated opinion on subjects you don’t understand is the norm.

There. Now you’ve managed to make yourself look like a big enough prick. Mission accomplished.

The irony. It burns.

The difference? At least Ryan is right.

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.

As you likey do, I know more about beer than 99% of bartenders and management that I come across. They may have just been naive and trying to do a service for their customers (and it sounds like the customers appreciated it, by the way). The onus doesn’t fall exclusively on the bar owners - especially if they’re obeying the law.