Area Microbrewery has Cook County Agricultural Roots
Area Microbrewery has Cook County Agricultural Roots
Scott Vander Griend, a Cook County Farm Bureau member from the Southside, and his friend & business partner Justin Verburg began making batches of homebrew about 10 years ago, giving much of it to their friends. Those same friends encouraged the two to start their own brewery and after much thought and research, they decided to give it a try. Located in a remodeled former overhead door business in Dyer, Indiana (just across the Illinois border on Rt 30), Windmill Brewery was born a little over four years ago.
The beer production tanks for Windmill Brewery
Purchasing a brewing system from One Trick Pony, a microbrewery in the Lansing area, Scott remembers vividly that first day of working at the farm stand followed by a long night making their first batch of black toast milk stout. Since that time, Windmill Brewery has made a name for itself creating hazy IPAs through the original Memes and dreams, a milkshake IPA with mango. They have taken the Memes and dreams recipe to create variations using fresh ingredients such as Red Haven peaches, pineapple, strawberries and even gummy bears. Another creation came from the Yellow Dolly watermelon (grown in Lowell, Indiana) for a seasonal favorite, the Watermelon Smash.
Scott says, “Our beers use fresh fruits which is different than most breweries that use purée juices. It’s like the our (Vander Griend) farm stand where we are willing to pay more money for a quality fresh product to provide to our customers… It’s about the quality. Purées are much cheaper and easier to work with but the freshness from the fruits you can taste in our beer product!” Scott uses his relationships with local growers/farmers to source and purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.
Scott with a customer at his family’s farm stand on lenwood Lansing Rd, Lynwood, IL.
The website of Windmill Brewing is www.windmillbrew.com