Hill Farmstead Ephraim
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, naturally carbonated, and double dry hopped. Intensely aromatic and saturated with resinous hop flavor, this is the ale that I dream to have shared with Ephraim.
10.3%, 21ºP, 280 Theoretical ibus. Ingredients: Pale Malt; Dextrose; Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Simcoe, and Warrior hops, Ale Yeast, and our Well Water.
10.3%, 21ºP, 280 Theoretical ibus. Ingredients: Pale Malt; Dextrose; Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Simcoe, and Warrior hops, Ale Yeast, and our Well Water.
4.2
209 reviews
Greensboro, United States
Community reviews
75cl bottle courtesy of and shared with Kermis.
Very thin white head. Low carbonation (but it was very fresh). Slightly hazy golden pour. Tropical fruits bitterness. Some malt.
Pour from growler into 10 oz. pub glass. Appears dark-honey-golden with a small white head that quickly breaks into spotty lacing. Medium carbonation makes this beer look thick. Aromas are of fresh cut grass, light spruce, light cannabis, hint of onion, earth and some floral notes. Actually pretty light aroma for the profile. Taste is an earthy medley of the aforementioned aromas. Hints of citrus, light honey sweetness and notes of alcohol add to the depth. Fairly well masked warmth, but still present...I could sense the gravity of this one. Finishes with a moderate earthy bitterness coupled with some lingering alcohol warmth. Bit of a sticky/resinous mouthfeel. Certainly a fine offering but a bit too big for my palate. Fun to try, but give me Abner any day!
Growler from HF.
Tagged best consumed by March 01, 2016.
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a semi-hazy almost burnt orange color with a thin wisp of a white head that quickly dissipated. Light bubbles of broken head float around the top. Light wispy lacing.
The smell takes in sweet danky onion sliding on into through resinous pine and then a light grapefruit underneath.
The taste had a full bittersweet flavor revolving around the resinous piney part. Dry resinous aftertaste leads into a dry finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium in body. ABV, whoah, where did that go? Its not really there, well hidden.
Overall, wow, just wow, just an absolutely stellar job by HF. I’d love to have this again.
Growler, 4 days old, shared at Stoneface. Exceptional stuff. The dominant flavors and aromas are "classic" American piney hops and just enough malt sweetness to remind you that you’re dealing with a 10.3%ABV beer. It was so light and crisp, though, that it almost reminded me of a hoppy pale ale. The hops, the malt, the booze, everything is all so balanced in this beer. Fantastic.
750ml growler trade with Hop Resident and bought today @Hill Farmstead. Thanks man! Aroma: I bet there are some New Zealand hops in there. White wine, resinous, that typical Hill Farmstead water smell. Kinda woody. Weird I know, but still I find it woody. Not much fruits. Some biscuit malt as well. App: cloudy golden, small white head and big bubbles on the sides and as usual for HF great lacing. Taste and palate: medium body, oily and resinous, soft texture, medium long bitter finish. This is also dry. Overall: funny because lately I’ve been drinking lots of Trillium and Tree House. To me Trillium and Tree House are slightly better when comparing IPA’s and Pale Ales than HF. But, Saison... Omg, Trillium is so far behind! Anyway, for this Imperial Pale Ale, I thought it was good. Was it as good as what I tasted lately? No. But it’s still good.
Growler. Pours murky orange with a bubbly head that lingers around the edges. Smells of pine and orange over medium carbonation. It's hop forward with limited complexity. Good not great.
Poured from growler into a tulip: Pours clear gold / amber with a nice white head. Aroma of citrus, resin, and sugar. Taste is fairly boozy, sweet, slightly citrus and pine on the back end. Full body, pretty sticky, 10.4% is a lot of alcohol.
Growler avec Ju-Lo. Cheers mec! Un liquide voilé par un mystérieux haze. Je m’attendais à une tête plus dense et fournie. La mousse n’a tenu qu’une minute puis s’est dissipée sans faire d’histoire, libérant des arômes de pin, de résine et de fruits. Une habile fusion des styles East Coast et West Coast. Le fruit n’est pas plus présent que l’épinette et réciproquement. L’alcool occupe cependant une place importante. En bouche le même manège se poursuit avec cette salade de fruits pour adulte où le fruit a macéré dans du Triple Sec. Le conifère murmure en canon une douce mélopée aux notes botaniques. J’aime bien, surtout que je ne reconnais pas la Signature de la Maison dans cette bière qui aurait pu venir d’ailleurs. Très bien faite, cette bière ne réinvente toutefois pas le style.
Tap at Hill Farmstead Brewery. Colour is very cloudy golden with small white head. Aromas and flavours: Fruits, citrus, some alcohol, hops and malts.
Cloudy golden pour with no head from a growler - had it 4 times between 4.12.14 and 4.19.14. Love this stuff. Smell has some citrus and a pine. Flavor is really nice, easy drinking grapefruit. The simcoe hops really shine.
From my notes 4/18/11 Growler - Pours a golden yellow with white frothy head. Nose is very citrusy. Taste is oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, lemon zest with a bitter finish. Very smooth and clean overall.
750 mL growler. Originally reviewed 10/8/2011.
Hazy golden orange body with a slightly dark tint to it. Not a huge head, but what’s there is a sticky and lacey and all that is wondeful.
Smell - Gobs of citrus hops. The sweetness is there, but even at 10.5% it doesn’t dominate in the aroma.
The sweetness does come through in the taste, but it’s secondary to the hops and it even incorporates itself pretty well. Once the waves of citrus hops die down, the sweetness comes about in mango and pineapple flavors. It’s as if the malt is an appendage of the hops. It finishes ever-so-slightly bitter.
Low carbonation. I wonder if that’s a growler thing or if that’s just how it is. The body comes off a bit heavy from the lack of carbonation, but the flavors bring you back for more and more.
I have increased my rating of this beer every time I’ve had it.
aged fruit old ale is what i got from this one. full and smooth but not dense in the body perhaps a little oil which killed the head. nice hop quality trying to compete but winning in the aroma. a bit rummy.brandy look to it.
Growler shared by dreadnaught33. Thanks Jonathan! Pours a clear golden color with thick head and leaves solid lacing. Aroma is fresh hops and citrus, with a slight boozy note. Flavor is solid, with citrus notes and hops being the main monkey business. The growler is fresh, and my glass empties too quickly. Alcohol is certainly prominent in the finish, but well masked for 10.5% beer. From notes March 2, 2011.
Gowler shared during the London Bimble 26/04/2014. Big thanks to Leighton for the big HF tick. Translucent yellow / straw coloured pour with a lsting loose white head. Aroma is spicy, citrus hop, lemon rind and slight cut grass. Flavour is sticky resin, juicy citrus and warming alcohol in the finish. Palate is stciky resin. Very smooth and drinkable. Very tasty.
Pale cloudy yellow, light head. Intensely floral nose, some sweeter grassy notes. Some mild breadiness. Quite bitter a and hoppy upfront, little sweetness. Lighter body, fairly acidic and fairly carbonated. Ever so slightly oily. Alcohol is quite understated. Excellent.
Amazing tropical aroma but too sweet. Lacks the bitterness in the finish for balance.
From notes. Taster at the source. Pours pale yellow gold with a white clingy headl aroma of pine, citrus, tropical fruit. Taste lots of pale malt sweetness, orange, grapefruit. Grapefruit peel bitter finish.
29/IV/14 - 75cl growler bottle @ De Hopduvel - BB: IV/29/14 (2014-444) Thanks to AdamJackson and Bobochamp for sharing the bottle!
Little cloudy deep yellow golden beer, small irregular aery yellowish head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: fruity, sweet, bubble gum notes, lots of passion fruit, exotic fruits candy, sweet ripe peach and aprcot, little sourish, faint hint of bretta. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: very very fruity, peach candy, some exotic fruits, mango, citrus, little sourish. Aftertaste: citrus, tangerines, little bitter, sweet malts, caramel, some honey, mango, peach candy, exotic fruit, citric, little sour, nice balanced bitterness, almost sweet, very fruity. Very very nice! This is more my kind of an (i)ipa than the Society Solitude #5!
Growler: Thanks, Oliver! Beaming orange-amber hybrid, just a slight haze running throughout but appears clear from afar, topped with a foamy & frothy, gray-tinted head; moderate webbing left behind. Aroma is an American hop dream... Huge tropical & citric presence; juicy mango, sweet peach, pineapple, orange, guava, all with a lovely undercurrent of herbal pine, evergreen, & freshly cut grass. Pleasant sweetness on the nose, giving a gushing, juicy quality to the hops. Ephraim is even juicier on the palate... Bomb of sweet peach, orange peel, mango, just an explosion of tropical, fruity hops. Lightly bitter, gracefully sweet, like biting into a fruit & taking part of the rind with it. Pine needles & herbal hemp oil cut through & round things out, light resinous & dank quality near the finish. Notes of lightly toasted pale malt & honeycomb coat the palate in the aftertaste, lingering with a combo of candied grapefruit flesh & sugar cookies. Substantial, big body, but not overly viscous or cumbersome for the style. I am not normally a fan of "sweeter" DIPAs, I don’t like the overly sticky, caramel malts getting in the way. Ephraim is definitely sweet, but it’s the addition of dextrose while still keeping an all pale malt bill that makes the delicate sweetness work to accentuate the hops rather than crowd them with an abundance of toffee-like sweetness that comes with darker malt bills (Abrasive takes a similar approach, also a favorite of mine). Ephraim is a fantastic "big" DIPA, done properly.
Growler from kfarrell7, thanks Kristin. Unclear yellow body with a medium white head. Tropical fruit, pine needles, grass, pineapple, grapefruit, hops, light alcohol. Yet again Hill Farmstead blow me away. This must be the best brewery in the world.
Orangish pour with small white head. Tropical fruit, citrus and hoppy on the nose. Nice hop bitterish and citrus flavor with slight malt on the finish.
En fût à la brasserie. Blonde voilé. Nez: houblonné. Pamplemousse. Citronné. Végétale. Bouche: légèrement sucré. Malté. Fruité. Très citronné. Pêche. Fruit tropicaux. Forte amertume. Fine astringence. Bien équilibré. J'aime beaucoup.
Sampled at Dark Lord Day 2014. Pours a yellow color with a medium white head. Aroma is mostly pine with mild tropical fruit notes. Taste is too much sweetness, with forward bitterness and mild fruity and woodiness. Medium bodied, average carbonation. Somewhat boozy in the finish. Considering how highly regarded this beer is, somewhat of a disappointment.
On tap at the Harvest Festival [transfered from BA]. The most stinky and dank IPA I’ve had. Lots of onions, some earth, very farmhouse. Some citrus of course. The bitterness is higher than most Hill Farmstead. Unique and very tasty.
75cl growler, fresh batch (best consumed by 4/29/2014), no mention of ABV, new exclusive American brew Anno 2010, thx alot to Adam for sharing!, very complex bitter brew, fruity/bitter and slightly malty/woody, balanced, hazy, rocky head, very good brew
Growler, big thanks to Leighton buddy. London Bimble. It pours hazy gold with a small white head. The nose is fresh, orange, tangerine, sherbet, light funk, earth, candied peel and juicy mango. The taste is crisp, sherbet, grapefruit rind, mango, tangerine, alcohol kick, resin and minerals with a dry, earthy finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. Crisp, fresh and rather tasty. Very nice stuff.
Bottle at The Hickster London Bimble. Good hop. Smooth and utterly drinkable. Loved the hop.
Bottle as part of the Hickster Bimble day, huge thanks for the pour. Pours a lemon straw colour with a white head. Lovely funky veg, fruity aroma. Medium to full body, medium carb. Boozy, very slightly harsh, with light veg, very light caramel, pine, sap, light wood, grapefruit, marmalade. Yes, tasty!
Growler 750ml. Couleur orangée trouble, mousse blanche crémeuse laissant une belle dentelle. Arôme de citron, mangue, alcool, zeste de citron. Goût de mangue, houblon résineux, malt mielleux,, amertume moyenne-élevée, alcool en fin de bouche, pamplemousse en arrière-goût. Carbonatation moyenne, corps moyen-dense, huileuse, collante.