Farmer-Brewed Wheat Beer Adds Value To Crop

Farmer-Brewed Wheat Beer Adds Value To Crop CROPS Miscellaneous Say you re a wheat farmer and you re looking to add value to your crop What comes to mind?      Beer is the answer we got from Tom Schafer Marlin Washington      I d always thought we could make a good beer out of wheat he says     Schafer who represents the fourth generation on his family farm grows about 5 000 acres of wheat and other small grains with help from his sons Kolby and Zach     When his doctor told him to slow down because of chronic back problems or look forward to spending the rest of his days in a wheel chair Schafer figured a microbrewery would give him something to do while turning the hard work over to the younger generation      It not as physically exhausting but between the farm and the brewery I m spending as many hours or more at work he says     Schafer put together a business plan and coaxed a couple of experienced brew masters to work for him part-time     He put up a building in nearby Odessa where he says he has room to expand if he needs to He located used brewing equipment that he and family members hauled to Odessa in the farm truck     Schafer says getting everything in order including all the necessary state and federal licenses and permits was a three-year process     Once the brewery was up and running he called on his two brew-masters to help him create some distinctive beverages The first keg went out the door in June 2002      We started with four different beers We dropped one of those and added two more so now we have five he says     All are wheat beers heavy on the grain and light on the hops although they vary in taste and color     Schafer uses both barley and wheat in his beers but so far he hasn t used any of his own grain We buy 55-lb bags of malted barley and wheat from companies that provide them to breweries Malting grains to make beer is a labor intensive long precise process and we don t want to get involved in that he says We are trying to negotiate a contract to produce white wheat for one of the malting companies Then we could assume that we d be using some of our wheat he says     Schafer says after just one year of operation the brewery is breaking even It s doing better than we anticipated he says     Rather than competing with canned and bottled beers Schafer decided to make his beers available only in bulk He sells kegs for the bar and restaurant trade self-marketing them in the eastern part of Washington and into Oregon A distributor handles sales in the central part of the state We haven t pushed too hard to get into the Seattle area The competition is pretty stiff there and we need to concentrate first on meeting the demand in eastern and central Washington he says     Schafer spends much of his time calling on bar and restaurant owners I want to get to know them and find out what they like or dislike about my products he says I want them to associate me with my products I don t want Rocky Coulee beers to be just another beer on the wall     In and around the Odessa area local customers can buy Rocky Coulee products in pigs which are pressurized 2 1/4-gal dark brown plastic jugs designed to fit neatly on a refrigerator shelf      The brewery is open one day a week to the public Our customers know that from 2 to 8 p m on Fridays we ll be there to refill pigs Schafer says So far pigs are available only direct from the brewery     He says the entire endeavor has been a family affair involving his wife Lynette their sons Kolby and Zach and daughter Kelly Also involved have been Kolby s wife Kelly and daughter and Kelly s husband Larry Weber     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tom Schafer 17477 Road South NE Marlin Wash 98832 ph 509 345-2216; email farmsinc@televar com

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