Support Your Local Brewer and Wisconsin Week

In graduate school in Madison my wife and started getting vegetables from a local CSA (community supported agriculture). Each week through the growing season we got a box full of vegetables, we had lots of opportunities to visit the farm, and I even worked one day a week there one summer. Madison has one of the most active CSA communities in the nation with almost 9,000 memberships at various farms.

Madison also has an active beer drinking community (I know hard to believe). But Madison drinkers like more than just Schlitz, PBR, and Milwaukee's best. Madison has an active microbrew scene. But one man, Page Buchanan, noticed that there was a demand to have a close relationship with your food provider from the CSA, but no brewer truly met that desire (although I do recommend the Cap City Brewery and New Glaurus brewery tours).

With that idea in mind he created the CSB (community supported brewing). Each month for a subscription fee of about $10 a six pack Brewer Master Buchanan will brew you a batch. There will also be educational demonstrations about brewing. Plus Buchanan will work to get local Wisconsin ingredients in his beer.

By getting subscribers Buchanan will lower his risk and fluctuation in sales making starting his brewing project more attractive. And by offering the relationship with the brewer the CSB provides an extra benefit just like the CSA.

Thanks to Amy for pointing me to the Wisconsin State Journal article about this.

Finally, this week's post will all have a Wisconsin link. Of course the next two posts will deal with cheese and sausage.