Winner
Hill Farmstead Brewery

Runner-Up
Switchback Brewing Company

Shaun Hill started Hill Farmstead Brewery in 2010 in Greensboro, the town his family founded 230 years ago. His beers — ranging from pale ales to citrusy IPAs to smoked Baltic porters — are named after his ancestors and his favorite philosophers. Last February, RateBeer.com named Hill Farmstead Best Brewer in the World, an accolade that continues to draw crowds of brew lovers to the tiny Northeast Kingdom town. Lines at the brewery are known to get pretty long, but the beers are worth the wait.

SEVEN DAYS: If you could have a beer with anyone — dead or alive — who would it be, and what kind of beer would you share?

SHAUN HILL: Ah, wow. I would want to drink Edward with Edward [Hill’s grandfather]. I would like to drink the beer I made after him, with him. I feel the same with all of my family, but especially him and my grandmother Norma. I brewed a beer in her honor the day she passed away. These two are my greatest influences, and they both never got to see the brewery.

—SARAH WILLIAMSON