SQFT Collaboration Brew day at Big aLICe Brewing Company
How many Square Feet of Farmland did we support with Raising the Grain collaborative brew? 5 SQFT per pint!
Excerpt from Big aLICe Brewery Instagram: “So excited to host today’s collaboration for @northeastgrains and @sqftproject ! This speaks to the importance of building relationships with and supporting local Maltsters, Farmers, and other grain-related businesses!
We brewed a Vienna Lager (play Guess the Name in the comments!) with malt from @valleymalt and @hudsonvalleymalt (from farms like @jwkast, @poormonfarms and Domoy Farms) and hops from Chimney Bluffs Hoppery @hop_goddess !
Our friends and collaborators in the brewhouse today:
@northeastgrains
@valleymalt
@outlandfarmbrewery
@amorystomb
@kentfallsbrewing
@exhibitabrewing
Northeast Grainshed Collaborative Beer (January 2020)
This Grainshed Collaboration captures our concept of communications and coordination between the links of the supply chain.
The Northeast Grainshed beer is a collaboration between like-minded breweries from New England that share a passion to use local ingredients. Using our Northeast supply chain we have used local ingredients from NE states, NJ and NY in this grisette.
The Northeast Grainshed Collaboration Beer project started when Wormtown Brewery stepped up and offered to brew a beer that would highlight local maltsters.
Wormtown Brewery invited 6 other brewers who said, Yes!
Brewers: Allagash Brewery, Bissell Brothers Brewery, Exhibit “A” Brewing, Kent Falls Brewing, Throwback Brewery, and Trillium Brewing.
After some discussion, they agreed to brew a Grisette, with the most unique malts local maltsters make.
Valley Malt reached out to 9 fellow Northeast Maltsters to contribute their favorite malt. A recipe was formulated, calculating it all out. Each can of beer will contribute 3.5 SqFt to the local grainshed.
Maltsters: Rabbit Hill Malt – NJ, Hudson Valley Malt – NY, New York Craft Malt – NY, Murmuration Malts – NY, Peterson Quality Malt -VT, Thrall Family Malt -CT, Maine Malt- ME, Valley Malt – MA and Blue Ox Malthouse – Lisbon Falls, ME
Farms: Oechsner Farm – NY, Domoy Farm – NY, Thrall Family Farm – CT, Branton Farms – NY, Corey Farms in Monticello – ME, Stokoe Farms -NY, Morrill Farm – NH, Buck Farms – ME.
As the brew day approached people were getting excited. People were coming to Worcester from as far as Maine on a Saturday! Emails and texts were being exchanged between brewers, maltsters, and growers and the idea arose to have a pancake throw-down with local flour. Using Coleman stoves in the parking lot on a Saturday morning, mouths were filled with local grains and humans were happy. Almost every grain known to humankind was consumed. Children were running feral in the taproom.
The collaboration did not stop there. Other Grainshed members decided to get involved. Restaurants: Row 34, The Dirty Truth, and Clover Food Lab all agreed to pour this beer and begin to help bridge that gap of explaining, to the consumer, the extraordinary supply chain behind a local beer that uses local grains.