Human Rumen

a mixed-culture ale brewed with local red turkey wheat straw 

Mashed with local two row pilsner barley malt from our friends at Riverbend Malt house of Asheville, North Carolina along with a multi grain assortment of local raw wheat, local seashore rye malt and local spelt. Filtered through local red turkey wheat straw in our old pub mash-tun-turned-straw-back for an amplified rustic wheat experience. Fermented with our signature clean and crisp saison yeast strain until crushingly dry. Conditioned naturally inside the bottle and keg with a select strain of brettanomyces yeast for maximum barnyard aromatics. 

Created years and years and years ago on the original pub system at our original tiny brewery in downtown Morganton, North Carolina, we finally got around to reimagining this forgotten favorite. Historically favoring a mixed hay for the creation of this beer, our friends at Red Tail Grains had some of their red turkey wheat straw bales for sale and we knew it would be the perfect upgrade. 

The rumen, also known as a paunch, is the largest stomach compartment in ruminants and the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. The rumen’s microbial favoring environment allows it to serve as the primary site for microbial fermentation of ingested feed. Just because we as humans cannot digest straw, doesn’t mean that we can’t drink it. Science!