Going With The Grain

“It's a big picture approach. I love it because our kids are going to have a future.”

The phrase “more than the sum of its parts” shouldn’t really apply when the parts in question are as significant in their own manner as Wildflower Beer, Organically Greenwood and Voyager Craft Malt. Yet there can be no denying that these pioneering operations are stronger together – their impact magnified by their ongoing collaboration.

Since first discovering each other, the trio – respectively a brewer favouring native, wild and organic ingredients, a farmer exploring innovative regeneration techniques, and a maltster of world-beating ingenuity – have encouraged each other to push their ideas further, to chase their wildest dreams, and to inspire others along the way.

We sat down with two of them – Wildflower’s Topher Boehm and Organically Greenwood’s Chris Greenwood – at an event conceived by the third, the Stu Whytcross-curated Grainstock. They told us about their first encounters, the friendship forged between their families, the exploration and experimentation they’ve enjoyed together, and their hopes for the future of grain, regen farming, sustainable brewing practices and the planet itself.

They’re fascinating and eloquent guests who take us from brewing with saltbush in Belgium to old man Ivan and his crop-enhancing “voodoo juice” with plenty of insight and laughter along the way.

Due to some unexpected and insurmountable gremlins in the system, which we only discovered three hours before this episode was due to be published, there's no full intro this week. Will and James had discussed the week's news –  two more venue closures in the local beer world, a fledgling brewpub changing tastes on the Murray, and the new “Northern IPA” style – but instead you just get a brief word from James before the main course.

We’re always keen for feedback on the show, which you can provide here (just don't mention this week's intro), as well as nominations for good beer citizens in our Have You Done A Rallings? campaign and wonderful breweries you'd like to see named Bluestone Yeast Brewery of the Month. As ever, if you enjoy this episode, please like, subscribe, rate and review.

• 3:05 – Topher & Chris Part 1
• 33:17 – Topher & Chris Part 2

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