Soon beer and spirits drinkers across The Keystone State will be able to spot products made with Pennsylvania-grown grain on labels and menus.
Double Eagle Malt in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania has just rolled out the “Made With PA Grain” logo to differentiate beers and spirits crafted with their malt. Akin to the Brewers Association’s Independent seal and our Craft Malt Certified™ seal, the Made With PA Grain tagline and logo is available to Double Eagle customers to deliver a recognizable image and message for consumers communicating that producer’s use of locally sourced malt and grain, and to provide an easy way to differentiate the user’s products from competition.
“We can’t assume that consumers know what malt is,” explains Alan Gladish, Founder and Owner at Double Eagle Malt. He and his team have simplified their messaging to say grain instead of malt so that producers can easily communicate local ingredients to their customers.
“People care about local ingredients, but often don’t know how beer is made,” Gladish explains. “The entire intention is to make it very simple for consumers to read that there are local ingredients in this can, or on this tap list— which gives brewers a tool to communicate this uniqueness, and why people should care.”
For early adopters of Made With PA Grain, this communication tool hits the mark. “Our goal since our brewery’s conception has been to source locally as much as possible. We have used almost 80% Pennsylvania grain, solely from Double Eagle,” says Manny Salvatori, Owner and Head Brewer at Blind Cat Beer Co. in Pittston. “So we love the fact that we can now share that on the can.”
Every label for the cans in the Blind Cat taproom currently sports the Made With PA Grain logo. The brewery also shares the #madewithPAgrain hashtag on social media posts. “Telling the farm-to-glass story to customers is extremely important. Not only does it back up our mission of running an Earth-friendly brewery and taproom but it also makes people aware of how important (and cool) it is to support local agriculture,” Salvatori shares in this Double Eagle blog post.
A couple hours south of Blind Cat, The Millworks— a farm to table restaurant, brewery, and art gallery— in Harrisburg is another of the first to use the Made With PA Grain logo on their menu.
“The Made in PA logo is important to me to showcase the amazing malts that are produced here in Pennsylvania,” says The Millworks Head Brewer Terry Hawbaker. “We’re not a brewery trying to take over the world; we just try to make the best beer possible for our local community, and Double Eagle Malts help us achieve the terroir we’re looking for.”
The Millworks house beer, Stokes Extra Gold, is a traditional Cream Ale brewed with Double Eagle’s Pennypack Pils and Heirloom Malted Corn. Their Barleywine, Reverberation, has a grist of about 96% Double Eagle Rustic Ale base malt. The Made With PA Grain logo will soon be included on these canned offerings to signify their almost exclusive use of Double Eagle malt.
Qualification for the Made With PA Grain logo usage is available on a sliding scale, based on the minimum contributions of Double Eagle Malt base malt as a proportion of the total grist of each product. This sliding scale accommodates smaller producers, and one-off projects as well.
Gladish and his team are excited about the Made With PA Grain logo as one more bridge between consumers of craft beverages and the farmers who make those beers and spirits possible. Their mission is and always has been to build relationships with farmers willing to go the extra measure to grow world-class grains, using the best varieties for Southeastern Pennsylvania’s growing conditions.
It’s no secret that people care more than ever before about where their food comes from. The Craft Maltsters Guild commends Double Eagle Malt for leveraging consumer demand for local, and building this straightforward educational tool to motivate their consideration of where their beverages come from, too.
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