Homegrown, Village-Scale Beer
The story around this brewery is not typical. Chimacum Valley Grainery and Brewery approaches beer from a different angle; it looks at beer from the soil up. The brewery is part of a farm and a grainery in Washington’s Chimacum Valley that grows certified organic grain, including barley used for brewing its beers. (Images from Instagram and chimacumgrain.com.)
The grain is grown by Keith Kisler, a 4th generation Washington grain farmer. The barley is floormalted by Sam Dressler, who also brews the beer. Chimacum Valley Brewery has been brewing for awhile now, with limited availability and no retail outlet of its own, but the beers are now available in cans at select locations in the Chimacum/Port Townsend area. More about that below.
Chimacum Valley Brewery describes itself as a micro-farm-brewery operation, making beer from the ground up. The intention is to offer people an opportunity to taste beers produced from organically grown grains in an integrated, farm-grounded brewing model: “soil sustained, land-based, handled by a few sets of hands—beer at village-scale.”
From the Ground to the Glass
Typically, the barley used to make the beer you drink is grown on expansive farms in places like Idaho, Montana, and Alberta. Trainloads and truckloads of grain are shipped to facilities where it is malted on a large scale before it is moved into the distribution network that eventually provides malted barley to the brewing industry. Some breweries even use malted barley imported from Europe. All of this is business as usual in the brewery biz.
Chimacum Valley Brewery is doing something different. It grows the grain, harvests the barley, and then employs a technique known as floor malting—a manual, labor-intensive technique that was common before the industrial revolution. Planting, cultivating, harvesting, malting, brewing. It’s a farm-based process. Even some of the hops come from the same land.
“Big step over here for our very small, very localized brewing project,” said a recent post on social media that announced the availability of the brewery’s beer in cans. “We grow this beer! Using our organically grown Chimacum Valley barley, we then floor malt it in our barn by hand turning, and then brew it across the courtyard from the bakery and the stone mills. A continued quest to diversify our organic grain crops, our processing capacity and the goods we can offer our regional community that are grown and made at village-scale.”
“In many ways, it’s really hard to stay small scaled. We’re producing too little beer to attract a distributor and we’re too small to have a sales team, so we’re hoping our community will help us get the word out and give it a try!”
About the Beer
GRAIN HOPPER RYE IPA
Chimacum style RYE IPA, unfiltered. Brewed with our organic, valley-grown, floor-malted Talisman barley. Dry hopped to bring out flavors of citrus and pine. Light straw color and medium body with balanced malt character. A “grain hopper” is the bin on the combine that holds the harvest, like this beer. 6.8% abv.
GRASS IS GREENER PILSNER
An unfiltered, German inspired Pilsner. Brewed with organically grown and traditionally floor malted barley from our Chimacum fields. The pale style malt shines through, making for a flavor forward brew balanced by light floral hop spice. A clean effervescent sipper as you watch the grass grow. 5% abv.
WINTER STORM OATMEAL STOUT
Dark roasted barley and smooth chocolate character evoke a broody afternoon in the valley. Brewed with a bucketful of organic Cascade hops, and our Chimacum grown organic Talisman barley, with a bit of roasted barley malt, chocolate malt and crystal malt in the mix. And the addition of flaked valley-grown Streaker Oats. A winter ale with full complex mouthfeel and a hint of sweetness to smooth the stormy edges. 8% abv.
HAZY & HARROWING IPA
A cloudy brew with a Spring attitude. Made with our Chimacum-grown, organic floor-malted Talisman barley. Creamy mouthfeel and smooth body thanks to a healthy addition of our homegrown, organic Streaker Oats and a WSU Bread Lab red wheat named Ruth. Medium straw color. Bittered with Azacca and dry hopped with Citra and Nelson Sauvin for deep hop layers. Finish is bright grapefruit and juicy melon. A “harrow” is a field cultivator we pull behind the tractor. 6.5% abv.
Get the Beer
Follow Chimacum Valley Grainery and Brewery on Instagram. Look for the beer in cans at the following locations:
Pourhouse (Port Townsend)
Chums A Shop by the Sea (Port Townsend)
Nordland General Store (Marrowstone Island)
Bishop Block Bottle Shop & Garden (Port Townsend)
Chimacum Corner Farmstand (Chimacum)
To learn about other recent beer releases, visit our New Beer Releases page. To let us know about your brewery’s new releases, here’s how to reach out to us.
