Raising the Barn!

It’s coming! Our Dutch Barn Farm-To-Glass Brewery Incubator is on its way to the Carey Institute campus. So far, we’ve raised a quarter of what we need and we’re hopeful we’ll raise most of the rest in 2014 and be up and running in 2015. The project would have made Bill Carey very proud—and it’s an enormous opportunity for our community, particularly our farmers.

We just got a big boost from New York State with a $108,000 grant. We need to raise $345,000 by the end of 2014. So get out your checkbook before the end of 2013 to help get us started and to earn yourself a tax deduction. We are submitting grant applications, developing partnerships and seeking financial and in-kind contributions.

The Dutch Barn will house three key programs: The Carey Institute’s model farm brewery; the Farm-To-Glass Classroom; and the Farm Brewery Incubator.

Our model farm brewery will brew approximately three times per month, serve our beer onsite for conference center events, and sell to a handful of local wholesale customers including the Palmer House Café.

The Farm-To-Glass Classroom will provide educational opportunities to those who want to get involved in various stages of small-scale beer brewing–particularly farmers. Under recent state legislation, there is increased demand for local farm products such as hops and barley. The Farm-To-Glass Classroom workshop series will give information to farmers on everything they need, from soil selection to developing buyer relationships.

In 2012, Governor Cuomo created a farm brewery license for breweries that purchase 20% of their hops and 40% of their other ingredients, including barley and other small grains, from New York State producers through 2018 and escalates from there. However, New York State-grown hop and malting grain supplies are so meager at this time they could easily be consumed by a single microbrewery.

The Farm Brewery Incubator will provide start-up brewing space and technical assistance to emerging farm brewery enterprises, bringing new, interesting people to our community; cultivating future customers for our local farmers; and stimulating regional economic development by supporting small businesses.

The Carey Institute Model Farm Brewery will be located in a reconstructed 1760s Dutch barn, which is being moved here in pieces. The barn integrates our architectural history and agricultural roots with today’s emerging interest in small farming and rural economic development. We hope it will be an agri-tourism and educational facility that contributes to the region’s long-term economic vitality.

Checks should be made out to the Carey Institute for Global Good and mailed to the attention of our Farm-To-Glass Development Specialist, Sarah Gordon, at 63 Huyck Road, Rensselaerville, NY 12147. And please feel free to email Sarah at sgordon@careyinstitute.org to discuss opportunities for tax-deductible in-kind contributions.

The Carey Institute for Global Good is grateful for the support of our community, and eager to open the barn doors in 2015!