(Greensboro, VT) – This afternoon’s post regarding Hill Farmstead Brewery and eBay drew quite a bit of attention and over 100 comments between BeerPulse, Facebook and other social media sites.
As of Monday night, there is actually no Hill Farmstead beer currently for sale on eBay though resellers have earned around $2,250 revenue over the past three months in completed auctions.
As a result of those auctions, Hill Farmstead will make Ephraim a draft-only release. See the brewery’s Facebook post, in full, below regarding eBay and the beer community.
In addition to the comments in the Facebook post, check out the busy thread on RateBeer as well.
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Our Statement Regarding eBay and the illegal reselling of our beer… as well as the Ephraim Release:
At Hill Farmstead, we honor eight generations of Greensboro ancestry by thoughtfully engaging with our heritage and with the spirit of our artisanal farmhouse ales. Decisions that we make are not the sole representation of Shaun Hill – they are the synthesis of Dan, Phil, and myself. We all agree that our decision to try a draft only release of Ephraim is the best thing that we can do for the beer.
Rather than criticizing our brewery for this decision, we encourage beer enthusiasts to look within their own community – the community of enthusiasts – stare at the folks that are hoarding beer until it is far beyond optimal, scowl at the people that are disrespectfully and illegally reselling beer on Ebay in order to gain a significant profit. The detractors from our decision seem to fail in recognizing the quintessential essence of our brewery. If a community (“craft beer”) is unable to police themselves, or an individual (or individuals) is incapable of introspection, we believe that it is in the best interest of our business’s mission statement to continually alter the rules governing our enterprise and commerce in order that our beer (which, in essence, is also quite literally our entire “life”) is representative of our vision. A community is only as strong as its weakest link.
Look whatcha’ did ya’ little jerks.
Bottle everything, Have labels made with batch # and hand number the bottles. Take people’s ID and put a batch/bottle # along with name of person buying the bottles. This way people can find out who’s selling them on eBay. Of course they’ll have friends buy them so their name get blacklisted from Brewery. Then they’ll run out of mules and hopefully stop. Maybe write name and License number on the tag that accompanies the growler stating what flavor it is.
I’m definitely not driving 4-4½ hours from Lynn, MA to Greensboro Bend, VT for a pint or 2 of Ephraim. I share all my Hill Farmstead growlers with my friends. Maybe Shaun should weigh out the bad with the good. Keep the growler fills, please Shaun. There’s far more people taking time out of their lives to drive up and enjoy your beer then selling on eBay. Do what’s right Shaun, don’t let a few bad apples piss you off.
GREAT… now we all have to drive in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere to visit his little brewery to get the beer. Oh, hope you don’t get stuck in the mud.
Shaun Hill sold a case of 3F 50th Anniversary out of his retail shop at $300 a piece.
Im still really interested on Shaun Hill’s take on beer trading. Since, ya know we’re not allowed to do what we want with the beer we purchase from him. I dunno, i agree with him, but the way it comes off is rather arrogant.
Overly pretentious and full of themselves. Fortunately they’re not the only brewers making great beer.
Good for him. He has a position on something that affects his business (just because it doesn’t have a direct effect on his bottom line, doesn’t mean his business isn’t affected) and he is taking action. It’s good to see a principled business owner. I, for one, whole-heartedly agree with him (and don’t live near VT, so I’m not getting any benefit).
For all those who say they can do whatever they want with the beer once they buy it – you’re right. However, it’s his business and he can run it anyway HE wants. If he wants to be a jerk (which I don’t think he is), he’s allowed. If he doesn’t care what happens to the beer after he sells it, he’s allowed to do that too.
Evan, im unsure how it affects his business? He has already sold the product thus making his profit from the beer. Anything that happens after that, whether the beer is resold, traded, consumed, shot out of a cannon shouldn’t have any effect on the business. If anything, i would say it would generate more positive effects. Seeing that someone would pay 200$ for a beer would tell me they’re making great beers. The stuff is pretty good, but no beer in my mind is worth 200$
I strongly believe that sales will drop and in a year or two when the locals get sick of drinking their favorite beer at the pub and in growlers. Plus, with the rest of the nation not drinking it, the demand will drop significantly.
To each their own, I have no problem with the brewery doing this, but it comes across as selfish and jealous.
Also, I think that their heritage, spirit and generations of virtue will cave in 2 or 3 years and they will go back to bottles, because that is where the money and popularity is at.
They should feel proud that their beer is so sought after! What a grand compliment!
I contribute to the beer trade and it’s really a beautiful thing. Glad to be living in 2012 where all the hype and variety is easily and generously traded and distributed.
So, because someone(s) thought they could do whatever they want, and we all know there will always be idiots around like that, you decide to treat everyone like a miscreant. Well how about this: KEEP IT! there’s plenty of good craft brewers out there that don’t act like spoiled brats.
Sell beer or don’t, Get over yourselves…
Are the HF disciples blind to the fact that Shaun has sold bottles out of his retail shop at eBay prices? I would love to hear from one of the Hf defenders as to why this is acceptable and the resale/trade of his bottles is not.
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greedy bastards. boycott
how about the fact that reselling beer is illegal. this country runs on a 3 tier system. brewer to distributor, distributor to retail, retail to the consumer. every one of the chain has a license to sell beer. whether it be a class 1, 2 or 3. if you have no license it is illegal to sell beer. do you have a license? when you sell beer on ebay is the seller paying the taxes? does the buyer pay the taxes? does the seller register the beer label with the state if you can’t get the beer there? brewers have to pay 200.00 per label to register a new beer in vermont.
no one thinks of the legalities. all everyone wants to do is profit from someone elses work. how many jerk offs went to the brewery just to make a profit and not even truly enjoy the beer they were buying? it pisses me off because i have been shut out from getting beer at releases just so some ass can buy his limit plus his mules.
and for everyone who think’s Shaun is being selfish, greedy, to caring and maybe should not worry about what happens to his beer after it leaves the brewery. to bad for you. i say get your beer else where. we don’t need your negative, shitty energy any where near the brewery. there are plenty of honest and true beer geeks that we would love to share Shaun’s beer with. so boycott all you want!! more for us.