[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 18 (Thursday, January 30, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S647-S648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HILL FARMSTEAD BREWERY
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Vermont is home to hundreds of world-class
small businesses, each of which dots our economic landscape with their
unique and often award-winning offerings. Our reputation for quality
has made the ``Vermont brand'' one that is valued and sought after by
consumers across the Nation--and increasingly also across the globe.
One burgeoning industry in Vermont is that of craft beer. In fact, the
State is becoming almost as well known for its craft beers as it is for
its maple syrup.
One such successful small brewery, the Hill Farmstead Brewery, was
featured in the January 18, 2014, edition of the New York Times. After
a planned expansion next year, the brewery's owner, Shaun Hill, plans
to cap production at 150,000 gallons per year. His successful business
model, and highly sought after brew, as the article states, ``offers
lessons in how limiting production can bring success.''
Vermont's small-State appeal attracts business owners large and
small. The Hill Farmstead Brewery is just one example of the successes
Vermont's economy boast. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of ``Craft
Beer, the (Very) Limited Edition,'' from the January 18 New York Times
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to appear in the
Record, as follows:
[From the New York Times, Jan. 18, 2014]
Craft Beer, the (Very) Limited Edition
(By Claire Martin)
Two weeks ago, a beer drinker in Fresno, Calif., called
Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont to ask where he could buy
its craft beers. ``You have to drive to the airport, get a
ticket, fly to Burlington, rent a car and drive an hour and a
half to the brewery,'' the owner, Shaun Hill, replied with a
laugh. But he wasn't joking.
Hill Farmstead, in the hamlet of Greensboro, produces just
60,000 gallons of beer annually. The beer is available for
purchase only at the brewery and in roughly 20 Vermont bars.
In addition, Mr. Hill sends 12 kegs to distributors in New
York City and Philadelphia a few times a year.
Next year, after several buildings are expanded and new
equipment is installed, Mr. Hill plans to cap production at
150,000 gallons a year--forever. (For context, the Russian
River Brewing Company, a craft brewery in California, made
437,100 gallons last year, and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in
Delaware produced 6.3 million gallons.)
Hill Farmstead is one of at least three Vermont craft
breweries that are churning out small batches of highly
sought-after beers and have owners with firm plans to keep
the operations small. Mr. Hill's story offers lessons in how
limiting production can bring success.
Mr. Hill, 34, has been honing his brewing technique for
nearly 20 years. He first learned to make beer for a high
school science-fair project, then started a home-brew club in
college and later worked as the head brewer at two other
Vermont breweries, the Shed and the Trout River Brewing
Company, as well as one in Copenhagen, Norrebro Bryghus.
Two beers created during Mr. Hill's tenure at Norrebro
Bryghus won gold medals in 2010 at the World Beer Cup, an
international beer competition, and a third earned a silver
medal.
Several months before these accolades, Mr. Hill returned to
Vermont to begin construction on Hill Farmstead Brewery on a
former dairy farm that he and his brother, Darren, a
woodworker, inherited from their grandfather. ``I wanted to
make beer, I wanted to live in this place and I wanted to
help my family and make sure I had the finances available to
take care of this land in perpetuity,'' Mr. Hill says.
[[Page S648]]
This wasn't his first attempt at starting a brewery, but it
was the first time he was able to obtain financial backing.
``Ten years ago or even still five years ago,'' he says, ``it
was very difficult to find private investment or to convince
banks to loan money to a start-up.''
In the past decade, craft beer production has thrived,
attracting investors with deep pockets. In 2012, national
retail sales for craft beer were $11.9 billion, according to
the most recent figures from the Brewers Association.
While Mr. Hill was in Denmark, where American craft beer
was starting to become popular, he was able to borrow $80,000
from a small group of European and American lenders who he
felt respected his vision and abilities.
From the start, his philosophy has been to make the best
beer possible without pursuing what he calls ``infinite,
boundless growth.'' He operates under the belief that beer is
a perishable item, ``just like lettuce or broccoli,'' he
says, and should be consumed locally, not shipped long
distances.
Mr. Hill has a staff of six, including two assistant
brewers who harvest yeast and transfer beer into kegs, but he
personally makes all of the brewery's offerings--pale ales,
stouts and porters--using modern stainless steel tanks and
traditional wooden barrels, like those used in winemaking.
The beers are known for having ``a sense of balance that
isn't common in a lot of new breweries,'' says Jeff Baker,
the bar manager of the Farmhouse Tap and Grill in Burlington,
which serves the beers. ``They're hoppy, but they're not
super-bitter and they don't exhaust your palate.''
For entrepreneurs who measure success in more than just
financial terms, it's still crucial to have a viable
business, says Bo Burlingham, author of ``Small Giants:
Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big.'' ``The
challenge for a lot of small companies who have nonfinancial
goals is that you can't let that get in the way of having a
very financially solid business,'' Mr. Burlingham says.
``You'd better have a sound business model, steady gross
margins, a healthy balance sheet and margins you protect.''
For Mr. Hill, financial stability came quickly. He says the
brewery began turning a profit after just one year.
Demand surged last February when users of the beer-review
site Ratebeer.com deemed Hill Farmstead the best brewery in
the world--after having anointed Mr. Hill as the best new
brewer in 2010.
Now Mr. Hill says he fields questions like the one from the
Fresno caller every day. He estimates that thousands of
people have made long-distance beer runs to Hill Farmstead
Brewery, some traveling from as far as New Zealand, Norway
and Japan.
Customers wait in line for one to four hours to buy bottles
and two-liter growlers of the beers, many of which are named
for Mr. Hill's ancestors (Edward, Abner, Florence). The
brewery once sold an entire batch of beer--500 gallons--in
one day.
As his beer's popularity has risen, he has sometimes worked
18-hour days. Some small-business owners who have achieved
financial stability choose to delegate a significant portion
of their work to employees, but Mr. Hill says he won't be
doing that.
And the notion of moving production to an industrial park,
where craft breweries are commonly found, holds no appeal for
him. He has decided to invest in infrastructure and better
equipment that will make his current operation more
efficient.
``I didn't start this brewery so I could keep growing and
move it away from here; that wasn't the point,'' he says.
``It wouldn't be fun anymore. It wouldn't have purpose or
meaning.''
____________________