2018 Farm to Pint

A celebration of NYS brews

Popping up throughout Western New York, black and white oblong stickers with F2P printed in bold lettering. You might have seen one on the wall in a brewery or the back of a car or a bathroom stall door, wondering what the letters meant.

F2P, acronym for ‘Farm to Pint’, refers to a beer that is brewed locally with local ingredients. This week, breweries across Western New York will showcase their own F2P beers as part of Farm to Pint Week; presented by the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association (BNBA).

“Farm to Pint week is an initiative through the BNBA to put a focus on local ingredients,” Rusty Nickel Brewing Co (RNBC) co-owner Jason Havens states simply, “From the farm, To the Pint –> F2P”. As WNY’s premier Farm Brewery, all of Rusty Nickels brews are F2P and RNBC heavily advocates for and showcases support of local farmers.

By law, as a farm brewery, RNBC must incorporate local ingredients in each of our beers. Farm to Pint Week requires participating breweries to create a beer following ‘NYS Labeled Beer’ regulations – which mimic the NYS Farm Brewery requirements for ingredients used in each beer.

Through the end of 2018, 20% of the gains and hops for each beer must be sourced in New York State to be considered a NYS Labeled Beer. Beginning 2019, those numbers jump to 60%. For Farm to Pint beers, many breweries, including RNBC, try to get as close to 100% NYS ingredients as possible. RNBC also sources all of its fruits and natural flavors from local farmers taking the F2P experience well beyond the state law regulations.

The increase from 20% to 60% might not be difficult for a beer brewed once a year, but it can pose a challenge for a brewery when every single beer produced must meet these standards. Lucky for RNBC beer lovers, it’s a challenge that co-owners Jason Havens and Dave Johnson have prepared well for.

“The idea behind this entire Farm Brewery Bill was to incentivize breweries to utilize New York State products, and we really embrace that here,” Jason explained, “Which is why you’ll see our seasonal beers are truly seasonal.”

That means waiting until local ingredients are ripe before brewing, and that a beer might taste slightly different year to year depending on the harvest. It also means working with NYS farmers and maltsters to create products that allow Farm Breweries like RNBC to produce a local variation of a common style, showcasing the unique flavors that are specific to this region.

“We really like the products. They’re getting better all the time, and the New York flavor is starting to develop. We want to be a major player in the development of the ‘New York’ flavor,” Dave explained. “Within the next two years, I would say, there will be a ‘New York’ style, and that was one of my goals.”

With a climate that allowed New York State to be the leading producer of hops before Prohibition, a unique New York flavor isn’t a far-fetched idea. Initiatives like Farm to Pint week and Farm Breweries are the perfect testing (and tasting!) grounds for local brewers to work on developing this flavor, while supporting the local community and agriculture.

Beyond beer, the New York State Farm Brewery Bill allows breweries like RNBC to sell a full line of NYS-made products and act as a home brew supply store. This means that RNBC employees can offer customers a truly local and hand-crafted experience no matter what their drink of choice or need as a home brewer.

“We can carry and sell at retail and by the bottle ciders, wines and spirits from NYS cideries, wineries and distilleries,” Jason said. “We are not only a brewery, but we are a distributor and retailer of alcohol. We have actually become a liquor store and a brewery in one place.”

Jason and Dave’s passion for supporting the local community runs much deeper than legal obligations. That’s why they choose to support small, local businesses in every product that they sell from serving local food like GetLinked Sausages to selling locally made products like Rusty Bones dog biscuits, handmade mugs for mug club members, and locally sourced merchandise.

So on your next visit to RNBC’s tasting room, sit back and relax knowing that every product you buy will benefit the local community from F2P.