That’s our journey. Not along ago beer made from local and regional ingredients would have been the norm. The vast majority of beer styles were created in this way.

Today - it’s very very unusual. Almost no one will have experienced a beer made with local ingredients.

We’ve got one beer fresh on tap and another in the tanks, both made with ingredients from Santa Barbara County. Made from ingredients farmed by us in Los Olivos. It’s a dream come true.

Most of you know we have been growing grains for around five years.

About three years ago we built the trellising for a hop yard, adjacent to the wheat field at the ranch.

Two years ago, we purchased about 800 hop seedlings and rhizomes and planted them.

Last year was our first harvest. It was meager; the plants were small. We harvested a few bines, dried them in the cellar with the lambic, and used them on the cold nights in our lambic wort.

This year the 400 seedlings grew strong. Over 15 feet in the air. In September the air around the hop yard was full of hop aromatic, influenced by the year's weather and our soil.

Zak from Thomsen hops in Tracy, CA was kind enough to teach us how to evaluate hops for moisture content and determine the perfect time for harvest. 

When the lupulin of the hops was maximized and the moisture content where we wanted it, Eric, Tracey, Garrett and I cut the bines down from wires while standing on the back of the flat bed. From the flat bed the bines were loaded into the winery’s box truck and driven straight to Thomsen hops in Tracy, California. 

We yielded enough hops to create about 2,000 gallons of estate Pilsner, and 300 gallons of fresh hop Pale ale. 

The Pale ale was created with fresh Vista hops from the ranch. We drove those straight to our friend Ryan at Wild Fields who created a Pale Ale with them. 

The Pale Ale is currently on draught at Third Window Brewing and Wild Fields.

The estate Pilsner will take a bit longer as it has to be cellared. The estate beer will be the first beer crafted from entirely Santa Barbara ingredients in decades… perhaps a century? We’ve never heard of one - much less tried one.

Only a few weeks more to wait.