VALLEY SPRINGS, S.D. (KELO) – A local brewery is now serving up more than just beer on its menu. A Homestead Brew opened its doors in 2017 and works with many farms and producers to create diverse beer flavors.
A Homestead Brew is located east of Sioux Falls.
The brewery is a field to glass approach, where owner Lee Anderson uses hops grown on the farm as well as locally sourced fruits and other items.
“Our field to glass approach is at least one ingredient in every beer that we produced, we’ve personally grown for five years strong,” owner of A Homestead Brew, Lee Anderson said. “With our brewing license I have to use at least 51% malts, and then the other 49% is up for grabs, so I heavily use fruit things, I use a crazy amount of honey, really enjoy exploring those avenues.”
Anderson is taking the field to glass idea, and adding another concept – field to plate, where he is pairing food with beers made at the brewery.
“I’ve got a culinary degree from La Cordon Bleu, so I am classically French trained,” Anderson said.
The Terrior Kitchen brings that idea to life.
The food truck allows him to do beer dinners, which he already started doing back in June.
“You can take it mobile. We are licensed all the way through South Dakota. Our last event we just did at Bigs Bar, where we did deep fried French toast sticks with blueberries, done with a blackberry, blueberry sour and then I did a brisket sandwich with a beer cheese and onion rings on top and rocky mountain oysters,” Anderson said.
Additionally he will start adding charcuterie boards for people to order at the brewery. Taking local products and pairing them with the beers on tap.
“We will have a cooler in the back so you will be able to pick up charcuterie boards when our food truck isn’t running,” Anderson said. “This one in front of us, we’ve got a honey barbeque beef jerky from the Sideline Butcher. You’ve got sharp cheddar cheese from Stensland Farms; you’ve got pickled duck eggs from the Brandon Farmer’s market, and fresh cantaloupe from Cherry Rock Farms with a honey glaze on top. They’re also a honey producer.”
Jeremy Nelson is the owner of Tillford Rye Farm near Garretson. He’s just one of the local operations that Anderson works with.
“For A Homestead Brew, for the last three or four seasons, we’ve been working with them to grow watermelons, so a variety of your normal reds, but also yellows, and a nice sherbet orange one, and they make a watermelon elderberry sour with that,” owner/operator Tillford Rye Farm Jeremy Nelson said.
These collaborations make a significant impact in the community.
“Making those local connections, whether it’s with restaurants, grocery stores, breweries, wherever I can, really help diversify the market and strengthens the local food economy,” Nelson said.
Since A Homestead Brew is a bit off the beaten path, Anderson hopes the new food options will attract even more customers to this countryside destination.
“Here we are a long ways from home, so I’m trying to make interesting things like this, so when you’re here, you can have a nice experience, have a couple beers that pair well with something we are doing,” Anderson said.
Something he has plenty of room for, after completing an expansion to the tap room.
“We’ve recently expanded our tap room into an event room, so now we seat about 110 people inside,” Anderson said. “It was something absolutely needed. We missed a lot of parties because we only had 48 seats and there would be 67 people, so it’s a beautiful thing to have growth.”
A way to enjoy local ingredients in either a glass or on a plate.
“It’s our community, keeping the money here, working with friends and family, it’s a sustainable for the long term, the green footprint behind it is small, and then it’s also really fresh,” Anderson said.
Anderson says he also got a fireworks display operators permit, which will allow him to have fireworks at events.