Each autumn, we return to Twilight of the Idols, our seasonal porter brewed with coffee and cinnamon and conditioned on vanilla beans. Its origins precede Hill Farmstead, reaching back to Denmark in 2009. 

Shaun and Ryan Witter-Merithew first met in 2007. Two years later, as Shaun prepared to leave his brewing position at Nørrebro Bryghus and Fanø Bryghus, he enticed Ryan to move to Denmark to assume the role. They lived and brewed together for a month, beginning a friendship and collaboration that continues today.

During that overlap, they established Grassroots Brewing to continue making beer together and maintain their connection to Denmark. Working on their first Christmas beer together (Fanø’s JulePorter), the idea for what would become Twilight of the Idols emerged from this period, taking its name from Friedrich Nietzsche’s text. Birth of Tragedy, Six Years, Phenomenology of Spirit, and Viola Sofia also became part of their shared work.

Here in Greensboro, the porter has become a familiar part of the brewing year, prepared each autumn as colder weather approaches. We welcome its return, seventeen years after its beginnings on a tiny island in Denmark.