A Brew for Bru

On this trip we went to visit some of the small business processing products locally as part of the growing micro-brew and micro-still industry. A growing number of Americans is showing appreciation for local small batch varieties of beer, wine and spirits, and young entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this trend.
Our first stop of the day was at Caledonia Spirits. located in Hardwick, the operation started as a honey making company that evolved to making several honey derived products and mead. Now the company is growing and is working on perfecting its recipes for Gin and Vodka.

By using a unique local sustainable product like honey, the people at Kaledonia are helping bring young members back to the community offering both jobs and recreational products. They are also currently building a space for tasting and service of their products, which will hopefully turn into a local social gathering and watering hole as well.

Our second stop of the day was at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro. Shaun Hill, who is an eighth generation farmer on the land, started his way with beer when he was a student at Haverford College outside Philadelphia. The area was one of the first in the country to bring back micro-breweries and Shawn took to the art and started working at breweries and learning the art. He later continued to work in NY city and then spent 18 months in Denmark in preparation for opening his own brewery.
Shun and his operation are the perfect example of how new ventures can take place on old land bringing tradition and new trends together. The brewery is named for the farmstead and most beers bear the names of Shaun's ancestors.

Shaun is committed to keeping his operation small scale and manageable. he firmly believes that quality is lost as you expand and has no wish to expand his business beyond its small scale capacity. It is truly inspiring to see him bring glory again to his family's heritage and land and reinvent the identity of the local young farmer.