Clean Energy
Wind-brewed beer? Wisconsin’s got it.
When I’m not supporting Fresh Energy’s stellar team, you may find me drinking. Not all the time, surely, but often enough that I can consider myself maybe…an intermediate amateur. I love patios with friends, happy hours after work and a nice bourbon on a Saturday night. I get a lot of heat from local comrades-in-bars because I don’t love Summit and Surly for the taste (like seemingly everyone in the state) but I do wholeheartedly support them—and as many others as I can find—because they are local breweries.
The Midwest rocks macro- and micro-brewing—just another reason to be proud I’m from the Third Coast! Much of my heart is in Wisconsin, my home state, so I’m super proud of a brewery doing amazing things there—Dave’s BrewFarm: Wisconsin’s Wind-Brewed Beer. Founded by Dave Anderson, the brewery runs on a 20-kilowatt wind generator (named Jake!) as well as geothermal heating. They have over 200 hop plants onsite as well so they can say that many of their beers are truly local (although, naturally, there are some financial and climate restrictions). And they are truly tasty!
Most often I’ve seen the BrewFarm Select and BrewFarm Matacabras in stores around the Twin Cities. I’d recommend them to anyone—the BrewFarm Select is a pale lager in a can of which Anderson says on his blog:
“BFS was conceived and executed to appeal broadly without compromise or being generic. There’s plenty of that out there already. But there’s really not an easy-drinking, full-flavored lager beer you can bring to football parties or holiday gatherings where it will be accepted and enjoyed by both craft beer drinkers and non-geeks alike. I envision it as a staple in many refrigerators across the region.”
I would also add, there’s really not an easy-drinking, full-flavored lager beer out there that was powered by wind and geothermal!
The Matacrabras is a bit more complex:
“Like its name, it is dark, mysterious, and difficult to translate into a familiar category. The deep hue and creamy body might suggest one style, but the floral aroma and Trappist-inspired flavors say another. It is dark, yet not heavy; complex, yet balanced; strong, yet very smooth…and unusually satisfying.”
Find out more information, visit Dave’s blog, or better yet, give the “labrewatory” a visit one of these weekends in fall. The drive will be beautiful (a bike ride even more!), the beer will be good and you’ll find the passion and hard work put into a sustainable brewery to be nothing short of inspiring.
If you know you like Daves BrewFarm, then why don’t you LIKE them on Facebook? (And while you’re at it, why don’t you LIKE Fresh Energy?!)