Forager
FORAGER
Forager is a new series of draft and (sometimes) 750ml bottled beer, brewed with ingredients harvested by you, the community. Too many trees go unpicked: persimmons, pears, figs, paw paws. Seeds mature into a resplendent harvest, only to go untouched until frost. We hear it all the time: “We have a persimmon tree…but the fruit just falls to the ground and makes a mess.” “Our pear tree produced more than we knew what to do with.” We know what to do with it. Let’s make beer. Let’s ferment what we forage. You can be a part of our amazing group of Foragers, simply by responding to our call for a harvest, which we announce on Facebook, Twitter, and in our newsletter. Depending on how much usable ingredients you bring us, we will give you:
- the market price for your harvest (on a per-pound basis),
- a Forager hat that only fellow Foragers can own, and
- a pint or bottle of the beer when it’s ready.
Of course, the money and beer you receive is contingent on the quality and usability of the harvest. (In other words, a bushel of washed, ripe heirloom pears is worth more than a pail of half-rotten fruit). Again, we pay for the harvest. If you choose not to take money, we will donate your proceeds to one of our favorite local charities, SEEDS.
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FIRST FROST winter persimmon alePersimmon (Diospyros Virginiana) — literally, “fruit of the gods.” Sweet and savory, with natural notes of cinnamon and apricot, the orange-globed persimmon fruit truly is heavenly. But it’s not until after the first frost that persimmon turns from astringent and bitter to a luscious fruit worthy of the gods. Once again, the annual wild persimmon harvest was amazing. The Forager community gathered over 550 pounds of native North Carolina persimmons, a harvest that began in October — well before the first frost. This bountiful yield produced a complex, fruit- forward winter ale. The beer’s notes of holiday spices come entirely from the native persimmon and the beer’s Belgian ale yeast. Availability: WINTER 2012-13. 10% ABV |
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PAW PAW Belgian-style golden alePaw Paw (Asimina triloba) is the largest edible tree fruit native to North America –but you may have never seen one before. The nondescript trees grow in wet, shady groves, often along the banks of rivers. Paw paws taste like mango-meets-butterscotch-meets-banana. In other words, they’re delicious. But the fruit’s notorious short shelf life keeps them from being commercially viable.We forage for wild paw paws around Jordan Lake, and a few North Carolina foragers who know the fruit bring us their harvest. Most of our paw paws come from the amazing Wynn Dinssen, owner of Full of Life Farms in Chatham County. He’s a modern Johnny Pawpawseed. In the summer of 2011, we collected 75 pounds of native paw paw. That October, we added the fruit to a Belgian-style Golden Ale. The sweet, tropical notes of the paw paw matched up wonderfully with the Belgian Golden’s notes of fruit and spice. Availability: FALL. 8.1% ABV. |
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FRUITCAKE…THE BEER Old Stock AleYou got Fruitcake for Christmas! Fruitcake…The Beer is a Bourbon barrel-aged old ale brewed with roasted local chestnuts and grilled local (and not-so-local) figs. This summer’s fig harvest wasn’t that great, so we added a few hundred pounds of figs from our friends, California. But over a hundred pounds came from our local Foragers, who received $2 a pound for their fig bounty. Chestnuts from High Rock Farm in Rockingham County. The Internet once called fruitcake “the gift that keeps on giving,” but Fruitcake…the Beer just might break that cycle. Gift one to a friend this holiday season and keep one for yourself. This beer will age well, like a fine fruitcake should.
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[...] This super local brewery in Durham, NC makes beers from locally foraged fruits – like sweet potatoes and persimmons. I [...]
What an awesome idea. I love the idea of using foraged ingredients, and I also respect your integrity for being willing to pay for what people bring you. I just found out about you guys, but I’m gonna come down there and have a beer with ya! Rock on.
Enjoying the sparkling pear right now at Dos Perros. Delicious.
[...] Community-foraged beer [...]
[...] not to love about making beer from the otherwise-wasted abundance around us all? Fullsteam (brewery) makes me proud to live in [...]
[...] First Frost: shout out to Fullsteam, I had the First Frost last night in Saxapahaw, and it was the best tasting thing I’ve had this whole Christmas [...]
I found the 2010-11 persimmon ale last spring in Asheville at Bruisin’ Ales. It was so good and I am delighted to hear you’re doing it again. No spice! Yes!!
I was at Tasty Beverage Company Saturday January 14th and they had “First Frost” on draft. Having not tried it yet I ordered a pint….it was simply beertastic! Great aroma and extremely tasty. I will be purchasing more. Thank you for making such a wonderful beer.
Thank you all for the kind words!
[...] Lagunitas Sucks. It can be felt in the crowdsourcing of ingredients seen in Fullsteam’s Forager series or Hardywood Park’s community hopped IPA. A tour at a craft brewery is about much more than the [...]
Foraging is a really unique and fantastic idea. Wish I could have some of your First Frost persimmon beer.
[...] Cream ale uses all North Carolina malts.Fullsteam even created a crowd sourced beer program called Forager that pays customers who bring in fruit for their seasonal beers. Figs, persimmons, paws paws, and [...]
This past spring/summer, we got close to 70 lb of figs from our tree, the first 45 or so in 10 days. If we get a similar harvest next year, would you be interested in some of it?