Hill Farmstead named best brewery in the world for fourth year in a row

Vermont brewery Hill Farmstead has taken top honors for the fourth year in a row from RateBeer, a brew-review website featuring the opinions of beer critics and aficionados from around the world.

The Greensboro brewery founded by Shaun Hill was again named Best Brewery in the World by RateBeer, making it the fifth time in six years Hill Farmstead was selected for the award.

Hill pretty much announced that as his goal when he spoke to the Burlington Free Press shortly before launching his brewery in 2010.

“For me,” he told the Free Press then, “it’s all about making the best beer in the world.”

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Hill Farmstead also, not surprisingly, captured the RateBeer awards for best brewery in the United States and in Vermont. The brewery shows up repeatedly on lists RateBeer released gradually over the past week, including having eight beers on the list for top 100 beers in the world and six named in the top 50 new releases in the world.

The taproom at Hill Farmstead was named best brewer taproom in Vermont. The brewery had 22 beers honored with medals, including eight gold medals.

“Hill Farmstead Brewery continues to be extraordinarily grateful for the overwhelmingly positive support of the beer community,” according to a Hill Farmstead news release Tuesday. “We look forward to continuing our work of providing the best beer in the world.”

The strong showing by Hill Farmstead dominated Vermont’s representation on the RateBeer best-of-2017 lists, but others made appearances as well, including:

The Alchemist, based in Stowe, had its renowned hoppy brew Heady Topper make the list of top 100 beers in the world.

The Prohibition Pig restaurant/brewery in Waterbury was among the choices for best places for beer in the United States.

Lawson’s Finest Liquids, which is about to expand into a larger facility in Waitsfield, made the top 10 beer-by-style list for its imperial India Pale Ale. (Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist also show up on that list.)

Eden Specialty Ciders, based in Newport, placed three of its varieties in the top 15 on the best-by-style list of cider and perry, an alcoholic drink made of pears.

Burlington-based House of Fermentology was named best new brewer in Vermont for 2017.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck. Support local journalism in Vermont by downloading our app or subscribing to the Burlington Free Press.