The Time Has Come! (A Brief History of the Founding of Mother Earth Brewing, and the Release of a Very Special New Brew)
I think the title says it all. For those of you who have followed the brewery for the past 5 years, you probably know what I am talking about. But if you’re unfamiliar, let me explain:
When Trent and I decided in 2008 to start a brewery, we had one major beer that we wanted to produce. It’s taken us 5 long years of research, development, testing and so forth to make that dream a reality, but in just a few short weeks the beer on which Mother Earth Brewing was founded will finally be released.
It all started in the summer of 2008. Well, for me it started earlier than that but 2008 is when the wheels in my mind started turning. For as long as I can remember, I have been gardening at my home in Kinston. I grow all sorts of vegetables (squash, butter beans, string beans, okra, and beets just to name a few), but my favorite by far? Tomatoes! One of my favorite things to do in the summer is make my own tomato juice and can it, just like my mother did. Back when I was younger, my uncle introduced me to this drink he called a Red Eye. He would take the tomato juice that my mother made and mix it with beer. Since he introduced me to this delicious concoction, I’ve been hooked! Not only do I look forward to enjoying my fresh, homegrown tomatoes each summer, I look forward to canning them and making my own version of the Red Eye, which I call “Homegrown.”
During the summer our family spends a lot of time in Atlantic Beach, NC and we are always having friends over. One night, Trent and I were drinking Homegrown and mixing them up for some of the friends we had over, folks ranging from early 20s all the way into their 70s. They would rave about it! They couldn’t get enough. It was amazing: a 50 year age range and they all loved Homegrown. So, I looked at Trent and said, “We should start a brewery and make this beer, and put it out there for the whole world to experience.” And so it began: a little (tomato) seed that ultimately grew into the Mother Earth Brewing that you know today.
Of course, a lot of things have grown out of our original concept for the brewery, but we are so happy to finally be able to release Homegrown, the beer that sparked our idea. We have been working on fine tuning every aspect of this beer for the past 5 years. We’re very proud of the outstanding beers that we’ve been brewing since we opened in 2009, but we couldn’t be more proud of this release, painstakingly researched and developed so that we can be sure that Homegrown will taste just the way it’s intended to, as it was when the concept was born.
Homegrown really is the key ingredient of our mission statement: to brew the best beer we can, as close to nature as possible, and we’re excited to finally see this concept come to life. Mother Nature is providing us with some luscious tomatoes that are coming off as I type this! We can’t wait to finally share this dream with you in late August.
Cheers to Homegrown…..Stephen