{"id":7773,"date":"2014-12-25T00:06:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T04:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/beer\/?p=2540"},"modified":"2014-12-25T00:06:14","modified_gmt":"2014-12-25T04:06:14","slug":"mini-review-hill-farmstead-flora-blend-6-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2014\/12\/25\/mini-review-hill-farmstead-flora-blend-6-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Mini-Review, Hill Farmstead Flora (Blend 6, 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike my typical style, I didn\u2019t take any photos of this year\u2019s Flora when reviewing it but here is a photo of Flora resting safely @ home in my locked cabinet. \u00a0I usually like to take photos of beers and review them after they\u2019ve sat upright for a few weeks allowing the beer to have complete clarity from all yeast (i.e This HF Ann Photo<\/a>). I chill the beer for a few days then pour it all at once into 2 glasses. These make the best photos but my friend wanted to open her Flora up this weekend so I gladly enjoyed a glass of hers. Not a pretty pour but the beer was phenomenal.<\/p>\n

\"Hill<\/a><\/p>\n

How Flora blend 4, 5 and 6 differ? Well there are subtle differences but not big ones. Blend 5 continues to be my favorite and I\u2019ll for sure enjoy another one soon (my last one). It had this ultra-clean sourdough yeast with a lot of citrus, tons of wine notes and a great mix of a wheat saison and wild yeast. It was absolutely perfect. Flora Blend 6 is terrific out of the gate but it\u2019s not very \u2018sour\u2019 yet and I use that term very carefully because ultra-sour beers aren\u2019t my thing. I\u2019ve hated almost every beer from Rare Barrel and I\u2019m afraid to trade for beers from breweries that have a wild ale and I haven\u2019t had one of their other sours yet. It could be so sour that I pour it out (like what I did with Sante Appreciation B1 and countless other \u2018rare\u2019 beers).<\/p>\n

Flora Blend 6 is more close to Florence than it is to the Flora that we know right now. And that to me is a great thing because Florence is an incredible wheat saison. Flora in 6 months to a year is going to be amazing I am certain of it.<\/p>\n

What about the other BA Hill Farmstead beers? First of all, I really need to open an E. very soon and maybe a Sue in 2-3 months but I imagine they\u2019re both doing well and will continue to evolve for the next 12 months. Sarrasin is as great as it was at release and continues to improve. Best beer of 2014, I guarantee it. CD#10 was very good at release and I\u2019m hoping for great things as time goes. Art B3 incredible. My favorite Hill Farmstead beer by a mile. Norma 2012 and 2013 vintages are both doing great right now. I could imagine keeping Norma for 3 years after release with no ill effects to the quality of that beer. Obviously, if you have any of these let them sit upright for 6 weeks in the fridge and enjoy them carefully poured in crystal stemware split with 2 other friends MAX for optimum enjoyment. I only horde these beers because I go to HF a lot to buy growlers and grab bottles also available I buy more than I can drink ASAP which is good for you, dear reader because I take the risk of keeping these too long.<\/p>\n

There are some variations in each of the standard saison Foudre batches this year but I\u2019d say consistently that Hill Farmstead\u2019s 2014 Case-Limit Saison-fest\u2122 has been fantastic for locals and to those who mule HF beers for people. Something I didn\u2019t think could happen certainly did in which all summer I maxed out the case-limit Hill Farmstead saisons and then last month I realized that I had over 90 bottles of just saisons (Arthur, Clara, Florence, Nordic, Convivial, Anna, Soign\u00e9) all sitting on 2 shelves and now when a new batch of these is released, I\u2019m only buying 4-6 bottles because honestly I have a 9 month backlog of HF saisons sitting in my basement. Obviously, these all do well over the next year and get better but I can\u2019t buy as many as they offer now. I never thought I\u2019d see the day where Hill Farmstead was brewing more beer than I could drink but they are. I\u2019m drinking 3-5 Hill Farmstead saisons a week and my life is much simpler although I\u2019m sure some friends are thinking I\u2019m a fanboy but I protest :)<\/p>\n

Maybe this one got off on a tangent but I have 2 more things to mention.<\/p>\n

First, I\u2019m really bummed about the lack of dark bottled beer releases from Shaun lately. I\u2019m sure there are good reasons but I sorely miss Twilight of the Idols, Everett, Damon, Birth of Tragedy, Madness & Civilization, etc throughout the winter months. I look forward to those eventually making a return and it looks like Spring will be it. Of course Spring means the potential for even more beer coming out of HF so I might just have to stop buying beer from any place else to make room for the amazing list of beers coming out next year. What is certain though, when their dark beers start hitting in the Spring, there are going to be a lot of them hitting fast so without any insider knowledge, I\u2019d recommend keeping March – June pretty wide-open if you\u2019re into Shaun\u2019s dark beers. Case limit Everett? I can hope!<\/p>\n

Also I thought it was worth mentioning again that Flora isn\u2019t a batch, it\u2019s a blend so if you\u2019re talking about Flora online (not advised because we don\u2019t want too many people buying it) it\u2019s Blend 5 & Blend 6, not batches.<\/p>\n

Oh and one more thing, I\u2019m going to be doing a tasting this Summer. I\u2019ll be announcing it here on the blog first and people who read this blog that can make it to Northern New Hampshire for a big beer tasting, you won\u2019t be disappointed so keep an eye out for that. Two months ago, I set out to do a Hill Farmstead tasting around their Magnum (1.5L) releases and I wanted to put together 12 Magnums and have 12 people come so that\u2019s only 2, 750s a person of pretty middle-of the road ABV beers. People could camp out in my back yard and we\u2019d have a fire and BBQ some meat and it would be a good time. Well, after that goal was set in motion I now have 13 magnums<\/strong>\u00a0from HFS and given how many beers are being released between now and June, it\u2019s possible I\u2019ll have 20 of these by then. I\u2019m not sure yet how this will be organized but I\u2019d really like 1 person per magnum and people bring their own food and an extra special bottle to share (can be 750ML). Either way, I\u2019ll announce it here first so people who read this blog can RSVP then to my local beer meetup group then to some trading partners. Keep an eye out for that post.<\/p>\n

This blog post turned out a bit longer than I expected but thanks for dropping in and checking things out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike my typical style, I didn\u2019t take any photos of this year\u2019s Flora when reviewing it but here…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2016-03-17T02:27:54Z","apple_news_api_id":"5e48f5f2-b910-45c0-acc6-a124cc046812","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2016-03-17T02:27:54Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AXkj18rkQRcCsxqEkzARoEg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-reviews","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-21n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2843,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/06\/22\/review-hill-farmstead-flora-cherry\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Review: Hill Farmstead Flora – Cherry","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"3.8 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0AROMA\u00a08\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0APPEARANCE\u00a04\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TASTE\u00a07\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0PALATE\u00a03\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0OVERALL\u00a016\/20 Batch 2 of Cherry Flora, 375ML Bottle although this is technically batch 1 as a commercial release. It\u2019s not fair to compare both batches but I might do it anyway because batch 1 was truly a flawless beer, very kriek-like in many ways. 2015 Flora Cherry was limit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hill Farmstead Flora - Cherry","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/508\/18807207708_9bd9a4dea7_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1929,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2013\/12\/13\/review-hill-farmstead-flora-satsuma-mandarin\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 Review: Hill Farmstead Flora (Satsuma Mandarin)","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 3.9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0AROMA\u00a07\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0APPEARANCE\u00a05\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TASTE\u00a07\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0PALATE\u00a05\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0OVERALL15\/20 adamjackson\u00a0(1750)\u00a0- Lyme, New Hampshire, USA - DEC 7, 2013 \u00a0[delete]\u00a0[move] Bottled late summer, enjoyed the 375ML by myself, full pour for the haters. 55F temp leaving an ounce behind for dregs.A - Looks like a rich Chardonnay, slight tint of yellow with champagne like bubbles. The little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hill Farmstead Flora (Satsuma Mandarin)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5477\/11324972395_b5b848caf4_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3159,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/12\/22\/review-hill-farmstead-flora-blueberryblack-currantraspberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 Review: Hill Farmstead Flora – Blueberry\/Black Currant\/Raspberry","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Overall 4\/5 AROMA 8\/10 APPEARANCE 5\/5 TASTE 8\/10 PALATE 3\/5 OVERALL 16\/20 AdamChandler (3967) - Enfield, New Hampshire, USA - DEC 20, 2015 375ML Bottle acquired @ Hill Farmstead 2 weeks ago. Stored @ fridge temp and poured carefully into a single stemmed glass. A - Very faint CO2 sound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hill Farmstead Flora - Blueberry\/Black Currant\/Raspberry","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/574\/23781968642_2c2208b9e2_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3021,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/10\/27\/review-hill-farmstead-flora-cuvee\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Review: Hill Farmstead Flora Cuv\u00e9e","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"4.1\/5 Overall AROMA 8\/10 APPEARANCE 5\/5 TASTE 8\/10 PALATE 4\/5 OVERALL 16\/20 AdamChandler (3809) - Enfield, New Hampshire, USA - OCT 17, 2015 750ML Bottle. Thanks Heather for sharing. This was $42.50 I think? She won in a lottery and I struck out. Thanks so much for sharing! Split 3\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hill Farmstead Flora Cuv\u00e9e","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5672\/22296891852_e5697a1da4_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5672\/22296891852_e5697a1da4_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5672\/22296891852_e5697a1da4_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7848,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/03\/25\/beer-tasting-some-beers-from-the-last-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":4},"title":"\u2605 Beer Tasting: Some beers from the last week","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Celebrated moving into the new house with a Blend #6 Flora: and a Coolship Resurgam from 2014: Went to Hill Farmstead to drink 2016 E.: and Shirley Mae: Then, 2 nights ago we opened a 2014 Vera Mae, tasting really great: \u2014- It\u2019s not an unpacking party thought w\/o some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beer Tastings"","block_context":{"text":"Beer Tastings","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/beer\/beer-tastings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hill Farmstead Flora Blend 5","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1509\/25788163725_0b41bf5fec_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1509\/25788163725_0b41bf5fec_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1509\/25788163725_0b41bf5fec_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2694,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/03\/20\/review-hill-farmstead-flora-blueblack\/","url_meta":{"origin":7773,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 Review: Hill Farmstead Flora Blue\/Black","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"3.9 AROMA\u00a09\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0APPEARANCE\u00a05\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TASTE\u00a07\/10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0PALATE\u00a04\/5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0OVERALL\u00a014\/20 375ML Bought 1 day ago at the brewery. Sat upright overnight in the fridge. Split 2 ways at 50F in HF stemware. A - Small hiss on the cap open, barely 1 finger head formed on the recently cleaned glassware. Head faded pretty fast. 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