[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2294-2295]
[From the U.S. 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.

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     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.
       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.''

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