Ephraim
Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Triple New England / Hazy Rotating|
Score
8.12
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Ephraim (1823-1913) was our great-great grandfather; Hill Farmstead Brewery resides several hundred feet downhill from the land that he and his father settled. In his honor, this Imperial India Pale Ale is dutifully crafted from American malted barley, buckets of American hops, our ale yeast and water from our well. It is unfiltered and double dry hopped. Intensely aromatic and saturated with resinous hop flavor, this is the ale that I dream to have shared with Ephraim.
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8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
On tap at the Hill Farmstead Harvest Festival VIP Event, Vermont. Pours cloudy orange-gold with a lively, white froth head. The beer is marked by its intense, juicy citrus, which seems to just keep going and going. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and the high ABV doesn’t mar the beer at all; indeed, I suppose it allows for the depth and intensity of character in the beer. Full bodied with that creamy, luscious HF carbonation everyone loves. Lots of juicy grapefruit and orange linger, with pectin, some pale malts, mild piney bitterness. Glorious stuff.
Tried
from Draft
on 07 Oct 2012
at 02:48
8.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Growler @ Dan’s house, courtesy of Steve_0. Huge thanks! Pours a cloudy yellow appearance with a small white head. Richly piney, orange citrusy, grapefruity, a bit resiny, spicy hoppy aroma. A bit chewy, rich grapefruity, spicy, zingy orange citrusy, delicious flavor. Super easy to drink with no notice of this 10%. Nice stuff.
Tried
from Growler
on 03 Oct 2012
at 19:18
10/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 10
Flavor 10
Texture 10
Overall 10
750mL growler, pours a cloudy golden orange with a medium white head. Aroma is bursting of tropical fruits, full of mangos and pineapple, some of that signature funky Hill Farmstead smell, and loads of citrus hops. Flavour is absolutely orgasmic, bursting of pungent tropical fruits as mentioned, truckloads of pungent citrusy hops, a bit of floral presence (as with most Hill Farmstead), and just enough malt presence to back without influencing the taste. Ridiculous amount of depth and flavour to this, characterized by the pungent tropical fruits and citrus hops, with no astringency at all. ABV is no where to be detected - drinks like a 5% IPA rather than 10%. Fuck it, a perfect 5 - my first one awarded. Absolutely amazing - I don't know how Hill Farmstead do it.
Tried
from Growler
on 01 Oct 2012
at 20:07
7.6/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Growler fill of the 2012 Edition of Ephraim 24 hours ago while I was volunteering at the HFS Harvest Festival. This was in the fridge at 45 and enjoyed in a tall snifter.
A - What little head that is here took until after my pour to appear. Solid white and then fades fast. This is a very complex and gorgeous beer. Bright orange on the edges and darker more golden orange at the center. Extremely cloudy and clearly zero-filtering happened on this one.
S - The Centennial and Simcoe are easy to pick out. The others, not so much. The piney resinous scent I expected from a (theoretically) 280IBU beer is not there. Pine and Grapefruit juice are present followed by lemon juice and orange with a hint of pepper.
T - Okay, now there is that bitterness I expected. Wow. Well, a lot or citrus (tang from grapefruit and sweet from tangerine). This is followed by some pine cone taste and a very manly malt-backbone. The bitterness is on the border of domination but never reaches that point of being too intense.
M - medium carbonation, heavy body. Almost grape skin sort of dry finish.
O - It tastes like what a working farmer would enjoy after a long day. It’s not my favorite HFS beer by a long shot but still was a pleasure to drink.
A - What little head that is here took until after my pour to appear. Solid white and then fades fast. This is a very complex and gorgeous beer. Bright orange on the edges and darker more golden orange at the center. Extremely cloudy and clearly zero-filtering happened on this one.
S - The Centennial and Simcoe are easy to pick out. The others, not so much. The piney resinous scent I expected from a (theoretically) 280IBU beer is not there. Pine and Grapefruit juice are present followed by lemon juice and orange with a hint of pepper.
T - Okay, now there is that bitterness I expected. Wow. Well, a lot or citrus (tang from grapefruit and sweet from tangerine). This is followed by some pine cone taste and a very manly malt-backbone. The bitterness is on the border of domination but never reaches that point of being too intense.
M - medium carbonation, heavy body. Almost grape skin sort of dry finish.
O - It tastes like what a working farmer would enjoy after a long day. It’s not my favorite HFS beer by a long shot but still was a pleasure to drink.
Tried
from Growler
on 23 Sep 2012
at 15:44
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Courtesy of daknole. Growler at the Black Friday Tasting pours clear deep gold with big off white head. Certainly has held up very well. The aroma is big gulps of mango, malt sweetened tangelo and grapefruit and faint sweet maltiness around the edges. The taste is just as yummy as the nose with thick citrus hops running from tangelo to orange peel to malt sweetened grapefruit like hoppiness. The hops begin with chewy malt enhanced flavor hops and grow quickly into a pleasing level of bitterness. Darn nice IIPA.
Tried
from Growler
on 07 Jan 2012
at 07:59
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
I think this one was out of a growler. Poured a reddish-orange color pour. Aroma was relatively mild, with a malt-forward first and foremost. Caramel notes, orange, yeasty character. Flavor was earthy hops, malts. Alcohol is extremely well hidden. Perhaps the malt character was just not exactly what I wanted from this particular beer.
Tried
from Growler
on 08 Oct 2011
at 11:09
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Growler pours a transparent, bright orange with some spitty white head. Great color, OK head retention. Nose is dank hops, resinous, peachy, candied orange, oily American hops, grapefruit zest, vinous fruit, honey, flower pollen. Flavor is strong pine, sweet, honey, grapefruit, orange zest, lemons, some corn sugar, a touch peppery, nectarine. Full bodied, touch hot with some bracing bitterness. Very nice. Could probably use a touch less bitterness and a little more sweetness to round things out.
Tried
from Growler
on 06 Mar 2011
at 08:20
8.4/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
From tap at the brewery. Pours almost clear golden orange with a small white head. Aroma is grapefruity and slight peachy smooth hoppy. Dry. Smooth and lingering fruity hoppy with a touch of alcohol. Ultra clean and bitter fruity finish.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 Feb 2011
at 06:20