Lesser Arts beer is an assemblage
of human influence and
natural processes.
Lesser Arts beers variously incorporate:
Regional, selected, non-synthetic agriculture.
House-propagated & wild-captured microbes.
Site-specific spring & well water.
Learned & improvised cellar techniques.
Ambient & open wort chilling.
Barrel conditioning.
Carbonation in package.
Organic waste composting.
Care, philosophy, intention, practice.
Our “recipes” are written as concepts rather than formulas — our beers vary batch to batch as the components of the assemblage evolve.
Less than 200 years ago, breweries were embedded in the communities that they served. Many breweries were located on the farms where the ingredients were grown, practicing closed-loop resource reclamation, upcycling grain and hops used in brewing for animal fodder and composted fertilizer. Many were seasonally operated by farm hands in the winter off-season. For township breweries, ingredients were sourced in partnership with local farmers, likely in conjunction with local bakeries and flour mills.
The industrialization of industry gives inevitable rise to homogeneity and sameness. In the current craft beer landscape the ubiquitous small local craft brewery is more a small-scale factory than an artisan’s workshop. XXXX While there are craft ingredient suppliers, most “local” breweries are using malt from Germany or Canada, hops from Yakima, Germany, and New Zealand, and yeast from a lab. We have amputated living hand of the beermaker and replaced it with the cold precision of the glycol loop and the flagship IPA; we have corralled the natural beauty of fermentation into cylindroconical cages and are spinning the life out of beers with centrifuge. The predictable result is a beer landscape that engenders few sparks of genuine magic — it leaves the drinker declaring that one beer is comparatively better than others rather than seeking those singular essential moments of beauty and strangeness that beer can bring.
We drink and think a lot about Belgian and French saison, American and British porter, Czech and German pilsner, American pale ale, British mild, and Mexican and Vienna lagers, amongst others. These are inspirations rather than asprirations.
Check out past Lesser Arts beers here.
Generally our beers are low- to mid-abv (3% - 5.5%).