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Our Farm Brewery & Name Change!!!
Our Name is Changing! No longer will we be just “Wishful Acres Farm”…..
we’re now “Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery”!
It’s been almost 6 years of planning, and yes of course more “Wishing”, to reach this moment!
My husband Nate has been brewing craft beer for 10 years, both professionally and as a hobbyist. This is his true passion in life, just as mine is farming. Our original business plan for our farm included a “Value Added Processing Center”… which basically means a commercial kitchen on the farm. This center would be used for processing our farm’s products into other foods… as well as into artisan craft beer! Many of the crops grown here, including our hops, apples, peaches, pumpkins, herbs, and much more, will be used in our artisan craft beers!
The moment has arrived. Last fall, as required by the state of IL, we: hired an architect who drew up our plans (thank you to Christopher Fye & Associates, better known to us as Chris, former neighbor & longtime CSA member of our farm! :), we completed paperwork with our County Zoning officials to begin the process of allowing for a Micro Brewery on our farm (Special Use Permit), and we submitted our business plan. And just 2 weeks ago, we were approved by the County Board – unanimously. Our heartfelt thanks to our local officials for their help & support through this process!
In the meantime, our Federal Brewing License has been filed, our loan has been approved, and construction is set to begin in February! We hope to be up and running by late summer. Here is some info on our upcoming Brewery:
- We’ll be Community Supported! Just as our farm’s products are sold through our Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA), our artisan handcrafted beer will be sold through a Community Supported Brewery program (CSB)! We will offer “shares”, which is basically a 6-month membership to our brewery, and in return Brewery members will receive a specified amount of beer (there will be 3 categories to choose from, Gold Membership, Silver Membership, and Bronze Memberships, and each will feature different amounts of beer). Beer will be given as growler fills here on site. Members will have first rights & access to all of our beer! Nate will be brewing new fresh recipes all the time, so there will be something new & fresh on tap for growler fills frequently. Additionally, members will receive other benefits such as discounts in our store & farm programs.
- We’ll have an on-site store! We plan to have a store (in a newly renovated location on our farm) open to the public on Saturdays year-round. In the store, we plan to sell some of our farm’s produce as well as packaged beer (bottled beer and growler fills). In addition, the store will serve as a new & improved pick-up site for our farm’s CSA Members and our brewery CSB Members. We will not be serving any of our beer for on-site consumption (meaning no bar/tavern/taproom). This is a family farm, after all! :)
- We’ll be sold in stores! We will have a limited amount of our bottled artisan craft beer available for sale in stores. This will not include all of our beers, the best selection will be found at our farm & brewery, but it will be a convenient option for non-CSB members when our store is not open.
We’re really excited about our expansion project, it’s been many years of “Wishing” and dreaming!
We hope to see you soon! Best Wishes from Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery.
Wishful Acres Farm is located in Northwest Illinois – visit our farm web site at www.WishfulAcresFarm.com.
Source: http://all-natural-mama.blogspot.com/2016/01/our-farm-brewery-name-change.html
