Beer Terrain

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Mystic Vinland Two, above and below. Some fine suds made with native yeast cultivated from the skin of a lowbush blueberry.

Now available at Mystic Brewery. Book signing Dec. 13 5pm

Below is a beer Chris brought over from his trip to Iceland. Outstanding and sustainably brewed, but not sure about specifics.

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Mission

This is a blog about beer made in New England and New York featuring ingredients grown in the same region.

After all, importing hops from Bavaria and Oregon and grain from England and Wisconsin doesn't really make for a local beer no matter how close to home it is actually brewed.

Since local means fresh, it's obvious something must be lost when malt and hops undergo weeks of processing and travel. Looking closely into that bubbling glass of microbrew reveals a product masquerading as local when it is tenuously supported by events in Europe and rainfall in the midwest, fuel prices and the long term health of giant monoculture.

Instead of being at the mercy of long distance supply lines and global market swings, many brewers have enlisted local growers – and one vital piece, a malthouse right here in Massachusetts – to provide the fundamental ingredients of beer. In the process family farms are supported and the local economy gets a boost.

Even more importantly, locally sourced beer ingredients provide security for the regional beer supply. Is there a more noble and heroic endeavor?

With this for a premise, that fresh ingredients make for a better beer and a more secure world, we have been on a mission to drink only beer made with hops and grain grown in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and New York.

This region once grew abundant hops and grains, two precious resources that are – batch by batch – making a comeback. Beer Terrain will focus attention on the return to making local beer with local ingredients.

Along the way, we'll note the soil, the water, and the climate. We'll talk to the brewers, the growers and the maltsters. We'll map out where this truly local beer can be found on tap and in the bottle.

While other blogs have noted the use of local ingredients in craft beer, this one will focus exclusively on what winemakers have long called terroir.

Beer Terrain will face the facts, if we of the Northeast are to secure our economy, natural resources and most importantly, beer supplies for the long term, we must support the fledgling progress being made. To do that, we need to seek out local brew and drink it.

Mission accepted.

Background

WRITING – Cook began his writing career in 1996 with a guest column in the Charlotte Observer. Next, he penned a few stories for Yankee Brew News. With Maine Commons, Cook covered the governor’s election from a barstool. In 2003, he covered the $600 million casino proposal for the Sanford News and the Portland Phoenix. Moving to Worcester, Mass. he published TheWormtownSpy.com before joining Turley Publications from 2008 to 2011.

BREWING – Cook learned how to homebrew in 1996. From the beginning he used local ingredients including honey, lavender, sage, apples, pears and later, hops from the backyard. In 1998, Cook became the assistant brewer for Portsmouth Brewing working under Sean Navish, the world’s most patient teacher. Today, Cook brews with regionally grown hops and malted grain.

FARMING – Cook’s first garden broke ground in 1999. Soon after he stumbled into a job with Wolf Pine Farm in Alfred, Maine. After returning to Massachusetts, he sought and found work with several CSA’s, most notably Many Hands Farm. These days he is starting his own operation called One Acre Works.