“For sure, you’re going to see more people doing it,” Brett Joyce, president of Rogue Ales & Spirits, Newport, Ore., says. “Brewers are seeing what the consumer wants. People are looking for farmers markets and local. If you can get that through in your beer, there is a story to tell.”
The brewery is a pioneer in local ingredients. Responding to a worldwide hop shortage, Rogue opened a 42-acre “hopyard” in 2008 on the Willamette River, over an hour northeast of Newport.
Today, Rogue Farm grows 42 acres of hops and 20 to 30 acres of other crops including pumpkins, marionberries, hazelnuts, and jalapeño peppers. Rogue operates a 200-acre barley farm about two hours east of Portland, in the Tygh Valley.
At the start of 2016, Rogue unveiled its Hop Family Series of IPAs. The four India Pale Ales showcase the eight varieties of hops grown at Rogue Farms.
To make its Pumpkin Patch Ale, Rogue harvests its pumpkins each fall, chops them up, and roasts them in a mobile oven at its Newport brewery. “It’s the freshest pumpkin beer you can have,” Joyce says.
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