Popular Poughkeepsie Brewery Featured for Sustainability Efforts and Homegrown Approach
Locals to the Hudson Valley and fans of craft beer alike have come to know that this area is home to so many delicious brews. One particular Poughkeepsie-based farm brewery that was named among the 'best in the northeast' for 2021 has become a huge fan favorite locally, but do you really know the full story behind Plan Bee Farm Brewery?
Plan Bee Brewery
A recent feature in 'The Business Download' shared the story behind Plan Bee's owners, who "never intended on building a sustainable farm and beer company with a demand for their brews across the United States and even around the world." Their mission is to brew 100% New York State ingredient based beer. They do so by growing many of their ingredients at their own farm, with those they don't produce on-site coming from other local farms. They truly mean it when they say their beers go from ground to glass within measurable feet of their origins.
At Plan Bee Farm Brewery, our beers are created by the limitation of local resources. From the yeast we cultivate from our honey comb, to the grain and hops in our fields, if it isn’t in our community it doesn’t enter our beer.
Husband and wife team Evan and Emily Watson began their journey into the world of beer brewing in the Hudson Valley in 2013 on a one-acre plot in Fishkill where they had registered an 8x10 shed to brew. It was kind of a 'Plan B' to their careers at the time; Evan's as a musician, Emily working in the environmental non-profit field. Fast forward to today, they are operating on a 25-acre farm site in Poughkeepsie that they relocated to in 2015.
In their feature with The Business Download, they went on to explain:
Our signature had been (and continues to be) using bees to harvest their own yeast – the ingredient involved in fermentation that eventually creates the alcohol content of beer. Plan A for them was always Evan’s music career, Plan B was beer. The jump from their “Plan B” to the double entendre of “Plan Bee” was clear.
Sustainability along with a local first and community-centered approach is clear when it comes to their operations, and a great Poughkeepsie spot that just keeps growing in popularity is what we've come to know from Plan Bee Farm Brewery.
You can catch up with their full feature in The Business Download here, and also check out their just-announced March through October food truck season here.
I guess it's safe to say that sometimes, plan B can end up turning out better than plan A....