Journal #1: Zymurgustic Practice and Regional Topophilia

Welcome to the first Journal from Lesser Arts Beer Co., a brewery in the Sierra foothills. Lesser Arts is a contemporary farmhouse brewery dedicated to a bucolic vision of brewery de-industrialization. Our beers are shaped by select ingredients, gentle cellar practices, the local ecosystem, and natural microbial processes. We brew seasonally in small batches on simple equipment with direct-sourced ingredients. Wort is open-chilled overnight, and then fermented at ambient temperatures in opentop vessels with laboratory yeast or (soon) with our own wild-captured cultures. Styles, recipes, and techniques are varied with the weather, ingredient availability, and the beermaker's sentiment. After conditioning, the beer is refermented in package for natural carbonation. Simplicity, beauty, magic.

At this point, Lesser Arts is a solo operation. I brew and package the beers, design the labels, do the marketing, balance the books, run the website, and handle the sales. I try to grow things in the garden and orchard.

As the summer is shouldering over I thought it might be a good time to start sending some dispatches into the aether. These “Journals” will be structured to flow from future to present to past: event and sales announcements up front; a report on current brewery happenings and goings-on; and then reflections looking back on beermaking, infrastructure and ag projects, and the places I might have visited in the last month or so.

Here are some upcoming

engagements where I will be pouring and selling beer to-go. Please keep an eye on our website and Instagram for more

or last minute happenings.

Lesser Arts beers are packaged in 16 oz. cans, convenient to take along with you on autumn hikes, spooky movie nights, and harvest dinner parties. Your friends will love them!

I currently have about 24 cases and a few event kegs of Autumn 2026 Harvest Pale Ale available. This wort was brewed with our well water and Admiral Pilsner and Clipper Oats on a scorcher of a day in mid-September. It was moderately hopped with whole-cone Crystal and USDA 0032 hops in the boil, and Vista overnight in the coolship (all from 16 Quartz Hop Farm). At 84 degrees, wort was transferred the next day into a grundy with a grip of 2025 Comet hop pellets (from Hoppin’ Raccoon Ranch) and an aggressive pitch of kveik yeast. It fermented dry in 3 days, and rested for another 5. Then it was racked and kegged, then canned a few days later. The final beer presents with a lime curd aromatic, turning to a spiced dessert bread on the palate, then finishing dry and slightly tart with a clean, lime peel-like bitterness. At 4.9% abv it is tasty and refreshing. The photo on the label was taken on the Amador backroads very close to Lesser Arts Acres.

Zymurgustic Practice and Regional Topophilia (Beer and Place)

The Lesser Arts brewery is located on a 10 acre rural property in a small valley of the Sierra Nevada foothills. The property has a small orchard, a few acres of pasture, and an on-site spring. The plan is to integrate the brewery into closed loops using the existing features of the property, creating beers that are unique to the place they are brewed, and to improve the fecundity and water retention of the soil. Our wort is brewed using site-specific spring and well water. The practice of open chilling and ambient fermentation places beers in direct contact with our microclimate. I have been experimenting with wild yeast captured from fruits and flowers, and I hope to develop that program further in 2027.

On the land management side, the goal is to absorb the organic byproducts of the brewing processes as resources: either liquid or solid compost, irrigation liquid, and livestock fodder. Our spent grain stream is mixed with woodchips for compost, and also supplements feed for our small flock of chickens. Another link will be to grow a portion of the ingredients for beers and beer-adjacent food. This ag program is starting with the resources that have already been developed – namely our small mixed orchard and gardens, where we hope to harvest fruit, herbs, and hops for future beers. This is undoubtedly one of the foremost challenges of this project, but I am excited to see it take root.

One more note before I close this first entry. I’m saddened to share that Admiral Maltings located on Alameda Island has ceased malting operations. I was an early supporter of Admiral, and count their owners and many of their past and present employees as close friends. The contributions of Admiral Maltings to California beer culture cannot be overstated – working alongside UC Davis researchers and California family farms Admiral became a critical link in the supply of brewing- and distilling-ready California-grown barley, oats, rye, and wheat. Over nearly a decade of operation, Admiral Maltings built a small grain economy that connected local brewers directly to local farmers – not only through malt, but also brewer and public education, field visits, and small producer advocacy events. California has long been a center of regional food movements, but few institutions create an entire small-scale economy based on local agriculture. Shop local, support small businesses, and lift a pint to Admiral Maltings – its founders, maltsters, and partner farmers – may we endure to see their like again. No malt, no beer.

The Rake at Admiral Maltings, their attached bar that serves beer and spirits made with their malt, will be open until October 18th. It is a fantastic place to experience local beverages made with local malt, and once its gone its gone.

Admiral has supplied every kernel of grain in every Lesser Arts beer made to date, and supplied a majority of the grain used at my previous brewing project, Break Even Beermakers. Upon news of their closure, I scrambled to purchase enough Admiral malt to brew about three more batches of Lesser Arts beer. After these batches are brewed I will necessarily shift my sourcing to small maltsters from farther afield, and the “region” that I am drawing from will necessarily expand. While I am disheartened by this development, I am also interested to see what opportunities will develop and what beers will come. Above all things I will stay dedicated to sourcing the best regional ingredients that I can, supporting local growers where I can, and making the best beers that I can.

Well, thank you so much for your interest and attention.

I’ll see you around the county —

~ Aaron Wittman

P.S. Follow @lesserarts on Instagram, or check the Events page on the web for more info and upcoming events. The webstore is coming soon!