Buffalo Riverworks and Pearl Street Brewery have launched the “ŌM” (organically made) series, a new beer line brewed with fresh organic ingredients from farms and suppliers who keep insecticides, weed killers, and other modified foods out of beer.
The new beer line features Silo Light (light beer brewed with corn and barley), Trainwreck (German Amber Ale with rich malt and toasted nut notes), Wheeler Wheat (Hefeweizen with notes of banana, clove and spice) and Kolsch, a collaboration with Peak Organic Brewing.
“We have three of the core beers at Riverworks and switched them to organic,” head brewer Jason Dunshie says. “[We] found a place called Valley Malt, which brokers a network of organic farms in the northeast. You can then select which farm/region you want to source grain from.”
“So we use regenerative organic pilsner malt and malted corn in our Silo Lager and New York state hops from the NY Hop Guild. Same pilsner malt in OM Wheeler Wheat and organic wheat OM Trainwreck needed a few organic malts like chocolate malt that had to be sourced elsewhere. The new OM Trainwreck has a slightly lighter profile in malt presence, but even more crushable. It has a similar character of a [New Belgium] Fat Tire, but a more depth in color and flavor.”
When it comes to introducing organic beers, Dunshie admits that he was skeptical, but that cynicism was short-lived because he quickly became a fan of what these ingredients became.
“When we get delivery of the organic malt, the smell is incredible!” he said. “At first I was skeptical that it would be worthwhile, but I was more than happy with the finished product. The pilsner malt is very robust and earthy, yet smooth. It was also my first time using malted corn and I absolutely love it – light sweetness and yet complimentary in a lager profile.”
The malt is grown using regenerative agriculture, which is the process of restoring degraded soils using practices (e.g., adaptive grazing, no-till planting, no or limited use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, etc.) based on ecological principles.
“The regenerative process is incredible,” Dunshie continues. “They will leave the fields fallow or plant crops after harvest that will naturally regenerate nutrients for future barley crops. I’m amazed at their reasonable price point and availability of product considering how lengthy the process is.”
The OM Series beers are available at Buffalo Riverworks and Pearl Street.
“We are stoked to be the first brewery in Buffalo to have organic beer,” Dunshie said.
Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).
