ThirstyBear Brewing Company is the First Californian Brewery in 75 Years to Brew Beer With 100% Local, Organically Grown Ingredients.
Eatwell Farm is the First California Farm to Organically Cultivate Barley for Malt Since Prohibition
San Francisco, California, July 21, 2010:
ThirstyBear will formally release Locavore Ale at 5 pm on August 24, 2010. This is their first 100% Bay Area beer made from Eatwell Farm (Dixon, CA) malted barley and Hops-Meister Farm (Clear Lake, CA) hops. ThirstyBear will serve Locavore Ale exclusively on premise at 661 Howard Street, San Francisco. ThirstyBear invites you to join them for a special press tour and tasting on our release date. Eatwell Farm will also provide its organic heirloom tomatoes for the event prepared by ThirstyBear’s chef Jessica Gorin. You may arrange a tour and tasting the week prior to the release up to and including the release date by contacting brewmaster Brenden Dobel at brewery@thirstybear.com or founding brewmaster and owner Ron Silberstein at ron@thirstybear.com.
With a renewed emphasis on local, sustainable food, why should beer be any different? This is the thought behind ThirstyBear, Eatwell Farm’s and Hops-Meister farms joint effort to make beer from commercially available, locally grown malted barley a reality for the first time in 75 years. "Although Sierra Nevada has brewed an estate ale, Locavore ale is brewed with organically cultivated malt and hops. More importantly, it's a model for brewing beer with commercially avaliable and locally sourced ingredients," says Ron Silberstein. ThirstyBear is San Francisco’s first and only certified organic brewery by the California Certified Organic Farmers (“CCOF”). Now, ThirstyBear is taking their commitment to organic one step further – local organic.
“San Francisco is at the front of the local food movement," says Eatwell Farm’s maltster Chris Goldsmith. "Beer should be no exception."
"We’ve made beers with locally grown organic hops, but our organic malt comes from Canada, England, or Germany," explains ThirstyBear head brewer Brenden Dobel. "Moving California brewing forward requires us to start using organic malts that are locally grown.”
To fill a void for local, sustainably produced grains, Eatwell Farm began organic cultivation of a variety of grains in 2008. Organic Metcalf, a barley variety favored by craft brewers, was added to the fields in 2009, resulting in a 15 ton harvest. “I have been brewing beer on a small scale for many years,” said Goldsmith. “I had searched for locally grown malt but none was available so I decided to do it myself.” Although the barley has been cultivated pursuant to CCOF organic guidelines, because the field is still in transition, it is not yet CCOF certified.
"We grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, pasture raised eggs and grains for flour at Eatwell Farm so why not barley for beer? I like to produce what people want, I also like a good beer,” says Nigel Walker, proprietor of Eatwell Farm.
Seventy-five years ago Prohibition destroyed California’s small malt houses and barley production. Since then, local breweries have had to rely on malted barley grown in the Midwestern plains states, Canada, or Europe. Barely is trucked to giant, industrial malting facilities and then trucked to the brewery. This industrial system creates a big disconnect between a local craft brewery and its ingredients. A few pioneers are trying to restore the local malt house to American craft brewing. “Our friends at Colorado Malting Company are hand malting small batches for us while we develop a malt house on the farm,” explains Goldsmith.
About ThirstyBear
ThirstyBear Brewing Company is San Francisco’s only brewery making CCOF certified organic beers. ThirstyBear is also a San Francisco certified Green Business. ThirstyBear promotes the culture and craft of beer. The brewery-restaurant serves Spanish cuisine sourcing its products locally and using a contemporary, seasonal approach to traditional Spanish tapas and paellas. It is located at 661 Howard Street, San Francisco, California adjacent to the SF MOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts and Moscone Center.
www.thirstybear.com
About Eatwell Farm
Eatwell Farm is a 105-acre organic farm located three miles north of Dixon in the Sacramento Valley. Eatwell has been farming organically in Northern California since 1993. Eatwell Farm is certified organic by CCOF.
www.eatwell.com
About Colorado Malting Company
As long time growers of Coors barley, the Cody family has always known a thing or two about raising great malt barley in the San Luis Valley. Now, teamed up with some of the most talented brewers and maltsters in the industry and barley growers from the San Luis Valley, we truly have something special. One of our sayings is “You can’t truly know barley until you grow barley.” Colorado Malting Company knows barley!
www.coloradomaltingcompany.com
About Hops-Meister Farm
Hops-Meister is a family farm located near Clearlake, California. Established in 2004, Hops-Meister grows several varieties of CCOF certified hops, including Cascade, Chinook, Horizon, Columbus, Glacier and Nugget. In addition, Hops-Meister has brought back to commercial production the original California Cluster variety which it calls Ivanhoetm. Hops-Meister specializes in hand-picked fresh hops and whole dried products.
www.hopsmeister.com
Contact Information:
Ron Silberstein
ThirstyBear Brewing Company
ron@thirstybear.com
415.307.1870 (cell)
Brenden Dobel brewery@thirstybear.com
Chris Goldsmith chris@regularbeer.com
Nigel Walker organic@eatwell.com
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