Loudoun County farm breweries spur local agriculture economy
July 19, 2018
If you only drink your beer at a city brewery or suburban taproom, it is easy to forget that beer is at heart an agricultural product. That fact does not go unnoticed by the folks in Loudoun County, Virginia.
People who only see Loudoun County when traveling through its Dulles International Airport and the surrounding urban areas may not realize that Loudoun County is mostly rural — the western three-fourth of the county, in fact.
Those attending the 2018 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference will have the opportunity to experience the rural farm aspect of Loudoun County’s brewing industry firsthand. The Aug. 10 evening event will be held at Vanish Farmwoods Brewery in Lucketts. The brewery is situated on the 53-acre Black Hops Farm. Beer from 24 Loudoun County breweries will be on tap that evening.
Loudoun County sits at the very top corner of Virginia, about 25 miles from Washington D.C. with Maryland to its north and West Virginia on it western side. Officially part of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, Loudoun County, like all of that region, has experienced intense growth pressure over the past few decades. Unlike many other areas, however, it is a county that is successfully maintaining a healthy rural side — and farm breweries fit right in.
Kellie Hinkle, agricultural development officer for the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development, knows what it takes to be successful in rural business development. Hinkle and a team of three other specialists plow this ground every day. Hinkle believes they may be the largest unit of any county development office in the country to focus on agricultural-related business development.
“Our job is to make sure the farmland doesn’t turn into houses,” she says.
The county already has the highest concentration of farm wineries and most vineyard acreage in the state of Virginia. Now they are taking aim at farm breweries.
Four years ago, Virginia adopted farm brewery legislation which allowed breweries that build on at least 10 acres of land to have a more flexible path to production. No county has done more with this legislatively-created door opener than has Loudoun.
Loudoun County is one of those special communities in America that has put a lot of its eggs into, not only preserving its rural side, but also developing it into an economically prosperous area. The county’s 44 farm wineries, six farm breweries, numerous farm stands, specialty foods producers, and other agri-businesses are testament to a dedicated development policy on which Loudoun is building its future.
County development policy pays dividends
“We are very bifurcated,” says Hinkle. “Eastern Loudoun is heavy in data centers, high density residential, and Class A office space. Western Loudoun in our rural policy area.”
In 1993, the county Board of Supervisors down-zoned western Loudoun, taking away residential development rights from landowners, but in return, giving them a great deal more flexibility to develop other uses for their farms. In the late 1990’s, they implemented a comprehensive economic development strategy for the rural areas.
“Loudoun County drew a line in the sand and said this three-fourths of the land mass of our county is going to be our rural policy area,” Hinkle explained.
She thinks three things distinguish Loudoun from many other areas: its comprehensive land use policy, a business-friendly climate, and committed resources to support rural economic development. Farm-based businesses are favored with business-friendly regulations. The county makes permitting for a farm-based business relatively easy and inexpensive. Farm breweries are one of the beneficiaries of this rural business-friendly attitude.
Loudoun County targets farm breweries
Hinkle says that about five years ago they looked at the craft brewing boom that was hitting the East Coast. Locally, they expected it would take the same path as the farm winery and local food markets.
“We fully expected that our local consumers would want local beer,” she said, “and we wanted to prepare our farmers to take advantage of that local manufacturing.”
The county has long been a fruit-growing area, though that industry has migrated from apple orchards to vineyards and small fruits. To support the development of farm breweries, the county began promoting farmers to try growing hops. By offering educational programs and technical support, the county has seen a small hops industry take root. The six-member Loudoun County Hops Association is an outgrowth of that effort. Hinkle estimates about 22 acres of hops are now growing in the county. Local berry and other small fruit growers are also finding a ready market in the breweries of the county.
The county is also home to Jasper Yeast, a company which supplies its products to the brewing industry. Located right next to Dulles Airport, the company maintains a large yeast collection with strains that they grow. Those strains include at least two yeasts native to Loudoun County. Their American Saison yeast was isolated from Ashburn, Va., and their US Ale X yeast also originated in the county. Brewers can use these yeasts to obtain a unique Loudoun County flavor.
Another interlocking business developing in the county is in the used wine and whiskey barrel market. Local Catoctin Creek Distilling and many of the wineries sell their used barrels to local breweries.
Fabbioli Cellars, one of the Loudoun County wineries, has developed quite a few brewery customers for it barrels and for its Cabernet Franc grape must and skins. In addition to grapes, the winery also farms hops and small fruits.
Winery owner Doug Fabbioli says he is happy to have breweries as customers, and he has become active in the county hop growers association.
Hinkle said while several local farmers are growing barley, the local malting business has been slower to get started. Pilot Malt House out of Michigan does purchase barley from Loudoun farmers, malts it in Michigan, then returns the malt to Virginia so local brewers can make a beer with Virginia grain. Loudoun County folks are still hopeful that Pilot will build a malting operation there.
In addition to its six farm breweries, the county also has 22 regular commercial breweries in its towns and urban areas. Many of these are also customers for the farmers of local hops, fruits, and grains. More farm breweries are in development, including Bear Chase Brewing (near Bluemont) and one at the Hillsboro Winery (Hillsboro).
Craft beverage industry supports rural economy
Hinkle says the craft beverage industry in Loudoun County not only supports itself, but also supports the entire rural economy.
“People are coming to Loudoun for the weekend or the day to go to a brewery or a winery. They are eating at our local restaurants; staying at one of our B&Bs; stopping at our farm stands and farmers markets.
“In Loudoun County we don’t have Disneyland or a big beachfront. Our attraction for visitors is our rural economy.”
select Loudoun county Farm Brewery Profiles
Vanish Farmwoods Brewery
“We were a farm first, and then we became a brewery,” said Jonathan Staples, owner of Vanish Farmwoods Brewery located on Black Hops Farm in Lucketts.
Three and a half years ago Staples purchased a failed equestrian center with the intentions of converting it to hop farming. About the time he got started putting in the hops, Virginia passed the farm brewery law. Just 25 minutes up the road in Fredrick, Maryland, is Flying Dog Brewery, whose management Staples had gotten to know. The people there thought a farm brewery in Lucketts was a great idea and first thought they would like to be a partner in it. That didn’t happen, but they encouraged Staples to do it and helped him get it up and running.
“So then I was in the brewery business,” he said.
Hops are still an important part of his operation. He thinks it’s important that people learn how to grow hops on this side of the country so East Coast brewers won’t be so dependent on West Coast ingredients.
He says the demand for local hops is there, but the challenge is being able to compete in quality and price with West Coast and New Zealand hops suppliers. He currently farms about five acres of Cascade hops.
He sees the industry coming, but still in need of some evangelizing and lots of education.
“Four years ago I’d never driven a tractor,” he said. “I was not a farmer. I always tell that story because I think it’s a strength of this county.”
He said when he talks to other people from other places about their experience in getting into farming, it’s nothing at all like his, in the sense of county encouraging farmers to work together so when you start something you don’t feel like you are working alone.
For the brewery Staples redeveloped the buildings of the equestrian center. “The tasting room is actually the former riding arena,” he said. “The building we’re sitting in is the former stable.”
Instead of a brewery that might focus on IPAs or Saisons, his head brewer, Larry Pomerantz, has a vision for offering multiple styles of beer. Today, they keep between 16 and 20 different beers on tap in a wide variety of styles. Some of those brews always include locally farmed ingredients. This mid-summer, their Strawberry Blonde Wheat Beer, Blueberry Cassis Smoothie Lactose Pale Ale. and a Plum Saison provided the local flavor.
The farm’s hop processing building includes a German-made hop harvester that they purchased used from Slovenia and a hop drying kiln that they built themselves. They also converted a used wood pelletizer into their hop pelletizer. They can vacuum package the hops in most any size package desired.
Vanish/Black Hops Farm has quickly become leader in the new farm brewery industry. This August 10, the brewery will host the national Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference for an evening of education and fun at the farm. This event will come right on the heels of the Mid Atlantic Crafted Festival & Brew Forum, which is sponsored by Vanish and the Loudoun County Hops Association and will take place at the farm on August 9. The focus of this forum is promoting sustainable agriculture in craft beer, covering water, grain, hops, and yeast.
Dirt Farm Brewing
Dirt Farm Brewing at Bluemont is an outgrowth of the 400-acre Great Country Farms, which is the largest CSA subscription operation on the East Coast. The farm raises fruits, vegetables, hops, and grains.
Dirt Farm brewer Wes Schoeb said the brewery is a natural extension of the farm next door, which the owners have operated for 25 years.
When the Great Country owners purchased the adjacent property a few years back, it was with the intent of starting another farm winery. But after a visit to Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware, they decided to change the concept to a farm brewery.
In its hopyard, Dirt Farm grows Centennial, Chinook, Cascade and Nugget varieties. They are also growing barley on property they lease near by. Some of the barley they raised last year and had malted ended up in their Farm Use Pale Ale, which has been on tap in the tasting room.
Schoeb said they like to put products they raise into the beer.
“Last year we did a wet hop beer we called Hop Harvest,” he said. “We literally harvested the hops down there (pointing down the hill to the hopyard). brought them up the hill to the brewery and put the hop cones directly into the boil.”
He said their fall seasonal Peter Perter Pumpkin Beer is very popular. It made with their farmed pumpkin, which are roasted and put in the mash.
Among the brewery taps this mid-summer were Tart 31 Cherry Ale, made with about 2 lbs. of their Montmorency cherries per gallon of beer, and Lemon-Grassias IPA, flavored with lemongrass they raised.
“When the customer sees that the beer was made with sweet potatoes, pumpkins, or cherries from the farm, that drives them to that product,” Schoeb said. “I think it’s a big factor in people’s decisions.”
Bear Chase Brewing
Bear Chase Brewing Company is a new farm brewery project just getting ready to open near Bluemont. Chris Suarez general manager at Bear Chase says the owners originally bought the property with plans to build a wedding venue. A few months into the development, they decided to turn it into a farm brewery because they could do more events and have more fun with it year round. Beyond weddings, the property is targeting all sorts of meetings, retreats, reunions, business social events and such.
They hired veteran head brewer Charles Noll to set up their 10-barrel brewhouse and hope to be opening their tasting room by second week of August. They will have 20 taps serving 12 to 16 of their beers at any given time. On the 35-acre hillside property they are getting started growing hops, raspberries and blackberries and keeping bees. They also plan to put in some fruit trees.
Noll says to expect the brewery to have many different style of beers, and down the road, to offer barrel-aged products, Belgian-style sours, and beers made with farm-sourced ingredient in addition to more common styles such as IPAs and German-style lagers.
Along with the farm brewery and event center, the Bear Chase owners also operate a B&B that sleeps 16, has an indoor pool, sauna, fitness center. three kitchens. laundry facilities, a player piano and spectacular views.
B Chord Brewing Company
On a 66-acre farm in the Blue Ridge foothills at Round Hill.
Old 690 Brewing Company
Using as many local resources as possible from local wood barrels, to malts and hops.
Quattro Goomba’s Brewery
Eighteen brews on tap. Crowlers to go.
Barnhouse Brewery
Originally opening in Lucketts in 2014, they built a new facility in 2016.
Loudoun County’s Lost Rhino Brewing was the first Virginia brewery to brew an all-Virginia ingredient beer. Native Son Virginia Table Beer has been brewed for about six years.
Roots 657 is a spacious counter service BBQ restaurant with lots of retail space featuring specialty foods and beverages — many of them from local producers. It sits along the highway outside Leesburg in a rural area of Loudoun County. It is an example of a business that gets a lot of its customers from people coming in to visit area wineries and breweries.
For additional information on all of Loudoun County’s breweries
LINK: LoCo Virginia Ale Trail
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