Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery

About

Estate Brewery Wheatland Spring is an estate brewery. Family owned and operated, we work our farm to grow grains, herbs, produce, capture native yeast, use water from a natural source below our fields, and host honey bee hives for the sole purpose of offering the highest quality beer we’re capable of making. As an estate brewery that’s Farming for Fermentation, we have the opportunity through ingredients and methods to create beer unique to Wheatland Spring that reflects the agricultural character of our farm and growing region. We call this Land Beer. We look forward to welcoming you to the farm so you’re able to experience for yourself how we marry agriculture and beer. Location Wheatland Spring sits on 30 acres of rolling Virginia farmland in the Piedmont region. Named for its natural water source, the property was established circa 1832 as a working farm, as it is today. We understand the soil in this region to be some of the finest around for growing. It stands to reason there’s still hundreds of acres of small farms all around us. Purpose Grow beautiful beer that celebrates and strengthens small agriculture. Farm + Brewery We’re focused on offering you the finest beer we’re capable of making. Since beer is an agricultural product, it all starts with the highest quality ingredients available. To go about this, we grow on our farm the highest quality ingredients we can for our beer. Of the many benefits to this approach, our water, grains, fruits, vegetables, and microflora capture a unique agricultural character that reflects our farm and region. WATER Named for its natural source, Wheatland Spring has offered water since it was established in the 1830s. As many generations did before us on this farm, we draw water from a natural source hundreds of feet below our fields. This water forms the basis for all of the beer we make. GRAINS The majority of our farmland at Wheatland Spring is dedicated to growing grain for our beer. Nearly all of the rest of the malted grain we use comes from two, small batch craft maltsters who source their grains from small farms in our region. FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND HERBS We grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs on the farm for use in our beer. In addition to our own produce, neighboring farms grow outstanding, sustainably-produced fruits and vegetables that we use. POLLINATORS Honey bee colonies in the grain field help pollinate around the farm and offer honey that changes character as the crops rotate. MICROFLORA We are thankful to be surrounded by a thriving, sustainable agricultural community. Beyond the excellent offerings of our neighboring farms, they also contribute to the availability of microflora in our local environment. There’s a good chance it helps us make beers with a special character unique to Wheatland. Craft Malt Our beer is brewed exclusively with craft malt. Always. Read more about why HERE. Sourcing local We believe farming grains bred for our climate using regenerative agricultural practices gives us the most control over and access to the highest quality, most unique to our place, and freshest malted grain available. For additional ingredients, we carefully source as much as possible from other small farms and small businesses. In fact, 95% of our ingredient costs go directly to small business. Of that, 91% are businesses in our growing region, the Piedmont — Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. There are a lot of great people, places, and products around the world, but we choose to focus on supporting our neighbors and friends across the region whenever possible. Why? There are a few reasons in particular: PEOPLE We’ve found the closer we source goods and services through person-to-person relationships, the more people tend to care about quality and the more value is placed on long-term partnerships. KEEP MONEY SMALL AND NEARBY We think supporting our community, state, and regional businesses is a good way to play a role in building a strong local economy. In particular, we’re focused on strengthening small agriculture. FEWER MILES TRAVELED The fewer miles something has to travel means less energy is used, roads aren’t as congested, and fewer pollutants enter our shared environment. QUALITY OVER PROXIMITY Of course we source goods and services from outside of our region. Sacrificing quality for proximity runs against what we aim to do. The good news is our region has so many wonderful farms and small businesses offering ingredients. There are times, however, when the highest quality things are only available from far away, so that’s where we go. We do our best to research and find those organizations that share our approach to sustainable sourcing. But we still do our best to work with partners close to home whenever we can. Fork + Rake The symbol is made of two implements used by farmers and brewers for centuries: a farmer’s pitchfork and brewer’s mash rake. These tools capture our focus on artisninal, hand made beer that reflects our ingredients (farming) and methods (brewing).