Shorthorn

Three large cattle barns and silo stand out not only from their surroundings, but also from other rural barns in the county.  This is because in 1910 Mitchell Harrison, the owner of what was a 1600 acre country estate that included Vint Hill and Buckland farms, aspired to carry on the work of Virginia’s pioneer cattle kings by breeding and improving the American Shorthorn. 

A breed indispensable to the early settlers for its milk, meat, and ability to pull a plow, the Shorthorn was a speckled and blocky beauty.  Its first introduction in Virginia coincides with its earliest development in England in 1783—a matter of pride for the Old Dominion.  

Harrison sought to return name and fame to Virginia with its superior fields of bluegrass, and his thoughtful and deliberate line breeding methods.  So with insurable, fireproof slate roofs on his new cattle barns built from oak timbers from woodlands on the farm, and with his pedigreed stock of studs from ‘Lespedeza Collynie’  to ‘Vint Hill Revolution’ (who graces our Shorthorn bottle) Harrison began his enterprise to raise the bar for this American breed.

Harrison’s family continued his operations until, according to local lore, they heard German voices over their short wave radio in 1942 and the US military showed a sudden interest in Vint Hill farm.  But that is another story.

Today, with our own investment in the old Vint Hill farm we’re happy to be part of Vint Hill’s next chapter in history.  Like Mitchell Harrison, we find ourselves driven by local pride and a desire for excellence as we endeavor to help Virginia raise the bar for fine ales and lagers.