When David saw the Forge’s surplus of hops, he realized the opportunity to broaden the garden’s reach in a fun way. Now, nano means small, but just how small? Andy’s homebrew set-up can only accommodate 10 gallons of his award-winning creations at a time. His brother Andy Schoenwetter had been homebrewing beer on-and-off since 1991, and in the restless early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he started Stir Crazy Brewing-a nanobrewery that creates small-batch beers for special occasions. However, on that day, a new purpose began brewing…įor David, beer runs in his blood-well, brewing does, at least.
While California hops are often used in beer production, this fast-growing perennial served an entirely different function at the Forge-supporting pollination from the garden’s bees and providing shade through its makeshift trellis. So how did this particular experiment start? Two years ago, Associate Vice President of Operations David Schoenwetter was strolling through the Forge when he recognized a familiar plant: hops. “We’re so disconnected from our food, and if we’re going to reform the food system, we need a better understanding of that system,” says Erika French-Arnold, the director of SCU’s Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which shares the garden’s mission for food sustainability and justice. “Because we can grow so much, we always want to turn the diverse products here into something meaningful,” says Nelson.īeyond exploring the ways urban agriculture can nourish communities, small projects like this locally-made beer demonstrate how we can build a more sustainable future on a global scale. While beer isn’t typically on the menu at the Forge-students and community members enjoy weekly offerings of plant-based meals and freshly-harvested produce-the collaboration highlights the transformative mission of this half-acre campus garden and community space. The sustainable food systems program manager of SCU’s Forge Garden was recently part of a team that helped bring to life “Forge Ahead”-an English-style pale ale made using hops grown at the garden. Now picture a pint of your favorite craft beer. Picture a small hops cone, marked with fragrant yellow lupine dust and crisp brown tips.
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