Good News and Good Brews

It’s a month of gratitude, and we are here for it!

Life gets so busy at times that all of us - your Root Shoot Malting team most definitely included - often forget to stop and smell the rose…er, hops…and recognize all that is right and good and delicious in the world. This month, as part of our emphasis on gratitude, we’re doing a Good News/Good Brews round-up. Heck, we’ve even thrown some good spirits in as well…we just couldn’t make it rhyme with “news.”

Our industry is so fantastic, the people are so amazing, and the libations are so well-crafted that we could probably do a good news review every month. Maybe we should. But for now, we’re wallowing in the autumnal awesomeness around us, and making this (by no means complete) of some of the excellent things happening - and pouring right now. And of course, we must start with…

Get your drink on!

With the holidays approaching, there are so many options for beverages to accompany those hearty homemade meals. A few things we’re loving right now?

Upslope’s oatmeal stout:

An annual release featuring Root Shoot’s English Pale malt, this year’s batch of stout is particularly palate-pleasing. Actually, in the words of Malthouse Manager Mike, it’s “really freaking awesome.” Which is amazing, because we’ve always considered it really freaking awesome before…but this year…a real winner. If you’re looking for a dark beer for these short days, this one should make your short list.

Horse & dragon’s Agile INquisitor Doppelbock

Are you the “Go big, or go home” type? Then you should go grab the new Doppelbock by Horse & Dragon. Registering at a whopping 9% ABV, this big beer features Munich 10 malt and was made for thick sweaters and campfires: something to keep you toasty all night long.

Coopersmith’s GABF Gold Medal Pro-Am Beer:

She Fancies Herself A Little Bit French is local homebrewer Mark Pennick’s second consecutive win with Coopersmith’s in the Pro-Am category (using Root Shoot malt, of course)…and this beer…is just…

Wow.

A huge congrats to both Mark and Coopersmith’s on being amazing partners and absolutely stellar brewers!

It’s not all beer, either!

The (New) Rosie’s Root Shoot Cocktail:

Live in NoCo? Rosie’s is a brand-new cocktail bar behind the secret door at Rosie’s Barber Shop in Loveland. Sound intriguing? That’s because it is! As is the Root Shoot cocktail they have on the menu. But since speakeasies thrive on a little bit of secrecy, you’ll have to go check it out to learn more…

Molly Brown spirits..at home:

Want to get your drink on, but too cozied up in your pjs on the couch? Molly Brown Spirits can be ordered online. The belly-filling warmth of bourbon, without ever leaving your bed!

Beer (or bourbon or gin or whatever you may choose) is no fun without buddies, however, so in addition to suggestions on some of the beverages we’re currently sipping, we’ve also got suggestions to…

Hit That Holiday Fun, Early!

So many releases, so many anniversaries, so many holiday happenings that there’s no reason to wait until Thanksgiving to start having fun…Mark your calendars and start celebrating, now!

Timnath beerworks’ 5th anniversary:

Join them starting Wednesday to celebrate 5 years of Timnath beer! The festivities run into the weekend with events daily 11/8 to 11/11. Check out their calendar for more!

Green Mountain Beer Company’s 7th anNIVERSARY:

Live a little further south than us? GMBC is celebrating their 7th anniversary 11/24-11/25 in addition to all the regular fun they have going on. Open mic nights, live trivia, music bingo, run clubs…you could spend every night of the week there and never get bored!

Verboten Brewing’s Barley Friday:

Wayyyy more fun than Black Friday is Verboten’s annual Barley Friday: a day to taste (and take home) an impressive array of artful barleywines.

Woods Boss Sip and Shop and City Star Handmade Market:

You know how we feel about supporting local. The holidays always provide ample opportunity to support artisans, craftspeople, and makers of all types…and to do so with a beer in hand? Even better! This month, Woods Boss’s Sip and Shop is happening 11/12 and City Star’s Handmade Market in Berthoud is 11/25. Stop by either place (or better yet, both!) for some artful inspiration.

Get Into That Giving Spirit

Finally, and most importantly, the holidays are about gratitude and giving: a moment in our year to take a breather and reflect on the things that matter. And something that matters very much to us? The Masters.

Rob Masters, head distiller at The Family Jones and a longtime, dedicated Root Shoot partner is currently battling bile duct cancer and is waiting for a liver transplant, hopefully coming soon. His wife, Heather, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and they are now facing the reality of double cancer battles while also raising their son and managing life.

Please join us in supporting them through this crazy rough patch. Donations made to this account will go to paying for the cost of care as well as services that will make their lives easier during this time.

Family, Friends, health, and happiness.

And maybe a few craft beverages.

This is what the holiday season is all about.

With gratitude,

Your Root Shoot Malting team

Field Day Fun Facts (and Photos!)

We never truly got a chance to say thank you!

To each and every one of you who came out to celebrate seven years with us…and those who helped Field Day happen!

So if one of us Root-Shooters didn’t make it over to you personally to say thanks for joining us, we apologize. And…thank you so much! We wanted to take a minute this month to make sure to give some shout-outs and share some of the fun, and the fun facts from our big day!

But first, beer!

Beer is at the heart of Field Day and we had SO MUCH good beer! A huge thank you to Woods Boss, Los Dos Cerveceria, Upslope, Stodgy, Green Mountain, Two22, Public Offering, Bruz, Hello, Avant Garde, and Purpose for giving us some killer kegs to put on tap! And so many more breweries that brought cans to share!

A few beery fun facts:

The Mexican Lager from Los Dos was the first 1/2 barrel to kick

Hello/Purpose’s Vienna Lager was the favorite on tap, and…

Timnath Beerwerks’ North German Pils was selected the first (annual?) Field Day Favorite Beer winner. Which leads us to the next fun fact…Root Shoot now has a traveling Field Day award….a handmade didgeridoo (seriously!) from Kjell Wygant at Two22 that will live at Timnath Beerwerks for the next year, until it goes to someone new next Field Day.

We also must note that we had the best dang homebrew in the state, thanks to Mark Boelman and Craig Kneeland. Root Shoot homebrew is a step above.

A spirited good time!

Craft malt isn’t just for beer, and the whiskey and canned cocktails at Field Day were a huge hit. Samplings from Molly Brown, The Family Jones, Idlewild, and Abbott and Wallace helped warm out bellies as the night cooled off. If you haven’t yet been to all of their tasting rooms, we highly recommend you schedule some field trips. They’re the perfect place to be as fall settles in!

Knuckle Puck Brewing provided their house-made kombucha for all the NA Field Day folks and we now must say that pinapple jalapeno is our new favorite thing.

Fine Food!

Did you even see that charcuterie board??

Wander and Graze out of Denver knocked it out of the park (field!)

If you’re having an event, you should totally hit Shelby up!

Our friends, partners, and the all-around fantastic people at Six Capital Brewing and BBQ and Golden Toad did an amazing job prepping and seasoning over 350 hamburgers, all the sides, and they even brought beer, too! It was service with a smile, good spirit, and even a little singing.

How best to top off a good meal? With Little Man Ice Cream, of course.

Food fun fact: Every single burger served, plus the chuck roast in the baked beans was from Olander Farms, born and raised just down the road from Field Day by Farmer Steve who…since we’re speaking of tasty food, spent two days preparing his legendary smoked meatloaf.

And, oh, the music!

The One and Only Jon Ham has been a musical fixture at Field Day for years, now and the Ham Bonne Duo with Jess D’Arbonne only doubled the fun! Combined with the amazing vocals from the opening band Angie Stevens and the Beautiful Wreck (with her friend Drew Dedon) we were pinching ourselves as we watched a concert in a field of conserved farmland with spectacular views of the Front Range…

Fun fact: There was a didgeridoo solo at the end of the night. If you missed it…you’ll just need to stay later next year!

High fives!

The Waggener family, you rock! The Waggener Farm is such a magical place and we are so grateful for their family’s commitment to protecting agriculture in the Front Range. Jake Waggener and Jane Vielehr were gracious enough to not only provide our backdrop for Field Day, but they sponsored our delicious food!

Volunteers, you rock! This event is made possible because of YOU! Many thanks for pouring beers, slapping on wrist bands, flipping hamburgers, and donating your time.

Donors, you rock! Wow! To those of you who are sporting some new Root Shoot swag, wear it proud! Your donations towards merchandise and all tips are greatly appreciated. These funds will be used towards future Field Day events!

Pssst. Did you catch the Root Shoot ice sculpture courtesy of Katie and Scott from Arctic Belle Ice? It was rad!

Thank you for celebrating seven years of craft malt with us!

If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be us.

Cheers to seven years of friends, fun, and the craft malt community!

Seventh Heaven

It’s fall, y’all!

Time to gather ‘round the campfire, crack open a bottle of Root Shoot Whiskey, spend time with friends, and tell a few stories.

Seeing as how we’ve got our bottle and our fire right here, ready to go, we’ll start. We’ve got a little story to tell. It ends two weeks ago when we celebrated Root Shoot’s seventh anniversary in the middle of an alfalfa field with all our amazing partners: brewers, distillers, farmers, and craft drinkers. But the roots of our story began over seventy-five years previous, when the first Olanders began farming in the Front Range: a long line of farmers, growing crops and raising animals, generation after generation, steadily and faithfully until, four generations later, things got much harder. The farm crisis of the 1980s pushed farms to get big or go under. Land was split off, sold, and had to be repurchased again to keep the farm whole.. The profit margin became thinner and the development of agricultural lands more aggressive.

So, what is that fifth generation of farmers to do?

That, friends, is where the Root Shoot story begins.

And, as so many good things do, it all started with a beer…

A beer and a brewery tour, to be more specific. In 2014, Todd and Steve, along with Todd’s brother Mike took a tour of High Hops Brewery with a Young Farmers group. At this point, Todd was farming (he’s the key fifth generation we mentioned) but malting wasn’t even a consideration. That day, however, chatting with the folks at High Hops, Todd realized that purchasing local malt wasn’t even an option for Colorado craft breweries. It simply didn’t exist, at least in any meaningful quantities. 

To use the obvious farming metaphor, a seed was planted. The Olanders had been growing barley for decades. But what if that barley could take the next step to being malt? What if it happened right there on the farm? Todd started visiting other local breweries. None were using craft malt. Many were interested. All said that to make the switch, the number one requirement would absolutely be consistency. 

Brewery visits morphed into serious conversations. Emily and Todd began having in-depth discussions about what it would take to “save the farm.” How could they ensure a steady income? Protect the land? Keep agriculture successful in the rapidly changing Front Range of Colorado? Could malt work? Would malt work?

Did they really have any other viable options?

So, they did it.

In 2015 Todd traveled to Bamberg, Germany to meet with Kaspar Schulz, the only maker of labor-efficient, turn-key malting equipment at the time. The same year, they broke ground for a malthouse on the farm property and started scouring the internet for barley varieties that might work for quality craft malt. That first year, Todd planted seven different barley varieties. (He has since trimmed it down to one and a couple small test plots of trials each year.) They had no idea how those varieties would perform, no idea how they would malt. In fact, they had no idea how to actually malt them short of buying equipment that supposedly would make it happen. But, you know…details, details.

In 2016, the malthouse construction finished. The steep tank and first drum arrived from Germany, landing in Houston where the steep tank promptly had a crane fall on it, causing significant damage.

Custom malting equipment from Germany isn’t exactly something one can run out and purchase at your local Wal-Mart. A replacement tank would be at least a year off, so the ever-impressive farm crew simply took possession of the damaged tank and hammered and banged on it until it was usable again. In April, Todd took a course at the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) on how to malt. In July, Kaspar Schulz sent out a crew to teach him how to use the malting system. In August, they worked together to make the very first batch of malt (Light Munich, if you’re wondering), then handed Todd the keys and hopped on a plane back to Germany. Root Shoot was now on its own, with exactly two (unpaid) employees: Todd and Emily.

Did you catch that? Let’s rewind and look at that timeline one more time.

Todd learned how to malt three months before his malting business opened and a full year after investing the time, money, and land in building a malthouse. At the time, he had zero confirmed customers. He had made exactly one batch of malt in his life, under supervision. The only people who knew how to work his malting system lived on another continent and had no U.S.-based operations.

Sometimes, the key to success is having no room for failure.

For a full year, the malthouse ran with just Emily and Todd. They figured out how to malt the seven different barleys they had grown, created recipes from scratch, learned how to use their new equipment, and, constantly, pounded the pavement for customers. On top of all of this, Todd was also running the farm and Emily was working her “real” job as a dental hygienist four days a week. They lived in Ft. Collins and frequently drove to Loveland at 2 a.m., just to check on a batch of malt. It was utter insanity. 

And yet…it worked. They attended their first GABF with beers from Grimm Brothers and Resolute brewed for the event. City Star Brewing in Berthoud toured the malthouse with their staff, became Root Shoot’s first regular customer, and served as a huge advocate. In 2017 Root Shoot hired its first sales position, in 2018, fearless Malthouse Manager Mike came on board and did absolutely everything the malthouse required: malting, packaging, order-filling, cleaning. Root Shoot hosted its first Field Day, ordered a second drum, and began the process of putting the farm in a conservation easement. 

Five years later, we can’t believe how far we’ve come.

We now have three drums running 365 days per year (and yes, we did eventually replace the original, damaged steep tank.) We have a fully staffed malthouse, with sales reps, packaging support, a dedicated driver, and even behind-the-scenes help with things like communications and HR. We still make Mike clean, occasionally, though, just to keep him honest. 

Most importantly, however, we have built a dedicated community of craft malt lovers who believe in us and believe in what we’re doing.

You have no idea how reassuring that is.

We have so much to be grateful for. We also know we still have so much to do. Root Shoot Malting (and Root Shoot Sprits) are entirely dependent on our farming operation and Colorado farms are facing very real challenges right now, both from a changing climate and the accelerating loss of farmland to development. If the road behind us hasn’t been easy, the road ahead looks just as rocky…with one very important difference. 

We have you. 

We’re launching into our next seven years (and hopefully many more!) with a strong community of brewers, distillers, fellow maltsters, and craft beverage drinkers who have shown that craft malt can work. So, really, our story doesn’t end in the alfalfa field of this year’s Field Day. It just moves into the next phase, one in which we’re not scrambling to make it alone but rather working with all of our wonderful partners as a cohesive community showing that it is possible to save farms…one beer (and whiskey) at a time. 

Our heartfelt thanks for joining us on this journey.

Your RSM Team

Field Notes: Oh, the Irony

Well…we tried.

Last fall, we shared a post about two experimental varieties of fall-planted barley that we were testing. The hope was that these varieties, Thunder and Lightning, might prove to be viable alternatives to spring-planted barley, giving us a leg up by allowing it some of the winter moisture in the form of snow.

And they still might be. But the results of any tests we run on this year’s harvest are going to be skewed because Thunder and Lightning got nailed by…well…Thunder and Lightning (and their devil spawn, Hail.) Both of our 16-acre trial fields got hammered, resulting in significant damage.

For a while, it was looking like they both might be a total loss. In fact, we planned to harvest it all out to prevent disease from taking hold in the damaged plants and perhaps even the soil, but then (because, you know, Mother Nature) it never stopped raining long enough for us to do that. So, we left it much longer than intended, and then (plot twist!) the damaged plants bounced back enough gumption that it looks like maybe (just maybe) we’ll be able to harvest enough to run at least one malting test batch of each. That is if we can make it another few weeks without any more hail, disease, marauding elk herds, or malfunctioning pivots.

Easy peasy, right?

We often try to focus on the upbeat side of farming, but the reality of it is this: sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes they go very wrong, making this whole farming venture occasionally feel like nothing more than minimally controlled chaos. Fields get flattened by hail, entire wheat crops are lost to drought, everything breaks, all the time.

So perhaps we’re getting off easy this year losing only most of our trial Thunder and Lightning fields. On the brighter side, those spring storms and the moisture they brought did wonders for the rest of our plants. The rye crop is going gangbusters, the Genie barley is coming in right on time, and the corn is looking so good…almost as good as this here farmer who farms it.

This is farming, pull and push, rain and hail, sunshine, and storms.

Harvest starts in less than a month.

We’re certain it will be glorious.

But even in the years it’s not, we’re still here, working through it all, knowing that sometimes it takes a little thunder and lightning to grow into the kind of resilient operation we aspire to be.

Although, if anyone could point us in the direction of experimental barley varieties named Sunshine, Rainbows, and Really Stinking Good Yields, we might rather give those a try…

Cheers,

—Olander Farms

Brewery of the Month: Blue Spruce

You’re going to need a tissue for this one.

What does being a community brewery look like?

It looks like a loyal German Shepherd pup and protective gear for K-9s. It looks like a handler’s best friend and a memorial for best friends lost.

Graffit was a Jefferson County K-9 killed in the line of duty in February of this year.  The German Shephard was shot by a suspect on the run. His handler, Deputy Zachary Oliver lost his best friend and his working partner. Blue Spruce Brewing Company in Littleton, Colorado got wind of the ordeal and decided to step in. They brewed a new beer in memory of Graffit, 

Graffit’s Ale of Honor and, at the charity launch event, they raised enough money not only to get Deputy Oliver and the Sheriff’s Unit a new K-9, but also to build a memorial statue for Graffit and purchase protective gear for future K-9s to prevent future tragedies like Graffit’s.

All of this came from what started as a dream and a garage. Blue Spruce owners, Rick and Theresa Kane, were inspired by the vibrant craft beer scene that defines Colorado and decided to retire from teaching to pursue their passion of brewing great beer. They opened their first location in Centennial and, outgrowing that with the help of a dedicated and supportive beer-drinking community, opened their second location in Littleton which allowed them to drastically increase the brewing operation.

As they’ve grown, so has their impact on the community. 

They pride their brewery and beer on being a catalyst for sharing stories and building lasting friendships. 

At the helm of the brewing operation is Nate Nicklas, a brewer who received his first Mister Beer brewing kit from his grandmother as a Christmas gift in 2009. Good on granny, because that one gift has led to an entire career of brewing, from being the first graduate from the MSU Denver brewing program to brewing for Tivoli (Nate commissioned their brewery at DIA), Sleeping Giant, and Blue Spruce as well as teaching classes in MSU’s brewing program.

Nate, Rick and Theresa have always strived to use the best quality ingredients in their beers. As Nate indicates, “It’s even better if those high-quality ingredients are also locally grown. The malt must have a consistent flavor, consistent protein and sugar composition, have traceability and transparency, a reputation of community support, sustainable practices and just good people. Root Shoot hits all the marks and goes above and beyond.”

Aww, thanks friend!

From our end, it’s this combination of high-quality malt and personal relationships with brewers and owners that we most value. Nate, like so many of our brewers, has served us beers, visited our farm, and attended our Field Days. Heck, he’s even ridden in our combine! 

We are, as Nate puts it craft beer family.

If you’re convinced you should give them a visit, Nate recommends the Honey Kolsch for first-time visitors. A gem of an easy-drinking beer with a clean and crisp profile, it offers a delightful balance of flavors attractive to experienced beer connoisseurs or newbies to the craft beer scene.

Snag some food while you’re there, too! They’ve got a full menu daily, happy hour specials from 3-5 pm, and happy hour all day Sunday! Mug clubs, private event hosting, live music on Saturdays…Blue Spruce has it all, served up with amazing beer and an open invitation to join their community. 

Field Notes: Digging Deeper on Kernza

A few weeks ago, we did a post on the newest grain trial we’ve got growing on the farm: a small, seven-acre patch of Kernza, an exciting grain project from The Land Institute out of Kansas. 

Now that the seed is sprouting and things are greening up, we wanted to take a bit of a deeper dive into these trial acres we’ve planted. What the heck is Kernza anyway, and why bother trying something that’s still just in the development phases?

What is Kernza, anyway?

Kernza is the trademark name for the grain from an intermediate wheatgrass being developed by The Land Institute out of Kansas.

That’s a real mouthful. And if you’re thinking, “Well, what the heck is an intermediate wheatgrass, anyway?” we’ve got you covered.

It’s a perennial, sod-forming grass. And grasses - even the sod in your lawn, if not mowed - produce seed. The goal with Kernza is to produce a seed large enough to be used as a common grain, just like wheat, barley, or corn. The real key with Kernza though, is its perennial nature. Once planted, it comes back on its own year after year which, potentially, could provide a whole host of benefits for farmers, ranchers, and the environment.

Let’s start with soil…

Back in the pre-western expansion days of the prairie, before the land was tilled up to become the “breadbasket of America,” a complex system of grasses and some shrubs dug their deep roots into the soil. This provided a rich ecological environment in what, at first glance, might appear to be an open, almost barren (except for those grasses) expanse. Those deep roots prevented erosion, encouraged rich soil microbiology, and provided resilience for the prairies after a fire. We also now know they pulled carbon into the soil. Above ground, they fostered grasslands teeming with critters and wildlife including, of course, millions of buffalo.

When those perennial grasslands were tilled up to plant annual grains, all sorts of unintended consequences followed: soil exposure to the elements, erosion, the release of large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, decreased plant diversity, and decreased wildlife diversity to name only a few.

But what if we could change that, even a little?

By working to develop a perennial grain that could be viable from a commodity standpoint, what if we could turn back some of the unintended consequences? And what if it could benefit farmers? A perennial grain could…

• Reduce, or even eliminate tillage, which not only reduces carbon released into the atmosphere, but also the amount of fuel, labor, and expense for farmers. 

• Reduce the need for farmers to purchase new seed annually. Once a field were planted, it would produce indefinitely.

• Serve multiple functions: in addition to producing grain, Kernza stems and leaves can be grazed by cattle, allowing for pastured beef and hooves on the fields, a symbiotic relationship of perennial grass and grazing animals that goes back millennia.

Just this short list of changes could have great impact, and there exists even more possibility: Kernza produces more seeds than wheat, it’s lower in gluten than wheat, and high in antioxidants, and fiber. It’s quite healthy.

But it’s not there, yet.

As great as it all sounds, developing a new grain isn’t easy. For it to be truly viable, it needs to have crop yields similar to those of other grains - and there’s a whole host of factors that farmers have to consider that most folks just munching on a loaf of bread wouldn’t realize goes into that loaf. Grains have to resist lodging (falling over) so that they can be harvested. The seed size has to work for farm equipment, the seed heads can’t shatter too easily, or too much grain is lost, and the grain quality has to be consistent. 

It’s a tricky process, for sure.

But difficult things are often the things most worth doing, and to have any hope of getting them done, sometimes you just have to…

…try.

So we’ve planted this initial seven acres of Kernza and we’re going to see what comes of it. Certainly, we will learn a lot. Possibly, we’ll get some really unique grain out of it.

And ideally - hopefully - we’ll be able to do a little good. 

Cheers to difficult things.