USA, VA: Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery officially open for business

Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery officially opened for business on June 7. Located along Berlin Turnpike just north of the Rt. 9 intersection, it will be open Friday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each week and will offer guests all types of beer—from pilsners to lagers to IPAs, the Loudoun Now reported.

Owners John and Bonnie Branding are operating Loudoun’s newest brewery with a 19th-century, European outlook, employing more traditional brewing techniques that even predate the early 1900s barn that they’re brewing their beer in.

Later this year, their 10-barrel brewing system will make new batches of beer using the 18 acres of wheat growing around the farm and the two acres of organic produce they’ve planted on the property’s perimeter.

“You need farms and you need small and large agriculture to bring high quality beer to the glass,” John Branding said. “It’s a farm brewery at a human scale.”

The couple’s brewing system is also 100 percent electric, meaning there’s no gas emissions going into the western Loudoun air. By the end of the year, they plan to brew 500 barrels, or 15,500 gallons, of their own beer.

The environment at Wheatland Spring is all part of a lifestyle centered on Gemütlichkeit— a German word used to describe a sense of friendliness, warmth, peace of mind, coziness and contentment. “Contentment of the soul is the best way to wrap that one up,” Bonnie said.

With seating for 36 in the brewery’s main tasting room, which is housed inside an 1870s barn, and a bit more inside the brewhouse, the couple is ready to serve Loudouners this weekend with a beer that features a more natural and historic flare.

09 June, 2019