[upbeat folk music]
- At the Driftless Brewing Company
in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, the lead brewer Chris
is working on a special new beer.
[lively string music]
- Today, we brewed a unique beer on our pilot system.
The beer is an IPA, which is not unique,
but we used a grain called Kernza.
Kernza is a perennial grass related to the wheat family.
It's a really deep-rooted plant.
This offers a real chance for farmers
to both have a grazing crop but also a harvestable crop
that they can sell into the market.
If we could make this particular grain work
and give the farms another opportunity
for another crop, that excited us.
That was a real good reason for us
to brew with this Kernza grain.
- So in a true Wisconsin tradition,
Chris and his team are taking this locally-grown grain
and incorporating its unique flavor
into a craft beer.
- The flavor of Kernza is really rye-like, wheat-like.
It has some real nice spicy, sharp characteristics
that we designed this beer around.
[lively string music]
- Driftless Brewing Company
was the first brewery in Wisconsin
to make a beer using Kernza.
In fact, this is the fourth time
they've brewed a beer using Kernza,
and they're hoping this version
is as successful as the past ones.
- Chris: In this particular batch of Kernza that we got,
the color was just beautiful.
The aromas were really nice.
We hope the hop choices as well as the other malts
that we decided to use will really work together
to create a nice beer.
- We're gonna check in later with Chris
and the Driftless brewing team
to find out how this new beer turns out.
[upbeat folk music]