Custom Craft

The Blackberry Farm Brewery team has been thinking a lot about how to minimize our environmental impact, support local producers and better express our sense of place, all while not sacrificing the quality of the products we produce.

At the same time, the quality of locally-grown and malted barley has continued to improve. In alignment with these goals, among other initiatives, we have made the decision to phase in a custom, Tennessee-grown, two-row barley malt in all of our products. Some of these products, such as IPA and Pilsner, were formulated with this malt from the beginning. Other familiar brews have been slowly transitioned to include this malt over the first part of this year. While our fans might taste some slight difference in the beers through the transition, we believe it is a change for the better; a change that more fully expresses our vision and values and the area in which we live and brew.

Local and regional producers and craftspeople have always been a big part of what we do as a company. As the agriculture and craft of malt production in our area has developed in leaps and bounds in recent years, we felt it was time to do the same at the brewery. We have always prided ourselves on using the best ingredients that we can source. Traditionally, that has meant using ingredients from other parts of the world, as well as other parts of the United States. Now, we feel we can still do that, sourcing from producers right here in our little corner of the world.

It’s exciting to be using something customized just for us, because we’re able to get exactly what we want for a unique ingredient that fits our beer. We have specified the malting of the barley to be more flavorful and complex than what we had been using and what is typical for base brewers malt. In addition to that, we looked a lot at quality specifications. We are in no way sacrificing quality just to buy local, but instead we are matching or exceeding quality while supporting local farmers. Malting barley has not been traditionally grown in our region for a reason. Historically, it has thrived in a more northern climate under specific conditions. But through research and breeding, varieties have been developed that are better adapted to the Southeastern climate. Lucky for us!

We hope to highlight some of those fine folks soon, to introduce to you those that are helping us make great beer while supporting local economies in the process.

Travis Hixon, Brewmaster

Spent & Shared

Beer consists of water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Each ingredient imparts its influences on the water, but after it's utilized, it either ends up down the drain or in the trash. One way brewers are able to reduce or re-use some of this material is by offering it to local farmers to use as feed.

Cattle, sheep and most livestock love spent brewers grain. Its full of proteins, minerals and other nutritious goodness. At Blackberry Farm Brewery, we put all of our grain in to 55-gallon drums and give them to a local family of cattle farmers.

They are a vital partner for us and another example of how important relationships are to us at Blackberry Farm Brewery – especially local relationships.