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Ravinia Brewing's Spent Grains Helping Local Farm Even Before Pub Opens

By Patty Wetli | August 31, 2017 5:32am
 Ravinia Brewing is donating its spent grain to nearby Global Garden Refugee Training Farm for use as fertilizer.
Ravinia Brewing is donating its spent grain to nearby Global Garden Refugee Training Farm for use as fertilizer.
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Facebook/Ravinia Brewing Company

IRVING PARK — Ravinia Brewing hasn't poured a single pint or served a single meal out of its still-under-construction Montrose Avenue brewpub, but it's already providing food to neighbors in an roundabout way.

The brewery — coming to the former home of Finch Kitchen/Breakroom Brewery, 2925 W. Montrose Ave. — has joined the growing "foam to farm" movement, donating its spent grain to the nearby Global Garden Refugee Training Farm in Albany Park.

Spent grain is what's left behind in the brewing process after the liquid that goes on to become beer is drained from the mash of crushed grain and water. 

Some estimates place spent grain at as high as 85 percent of a brewery's byproduct, and if an alternative use isn't found for the stuff, which is edible but highly perishable, these remnants wind up as landfill.

"Every brewer hates to throw away the grain," said Catherine Price, general manager of Ravinia's Chicago operation (the company also has an "innovation lab" in Highland Park; Chicago is its main cannery).

Price investigated composting but that solution, at the moment, is "really really expensive," she said.

A Horner Park neighbor suggested Price contact Global Garden, where refugees from Burma and Bhutan farm a one-acre lot, and a match was made.

Every couple of weeks, the brewery donates four trash bins-full of spent grain to Global Garden, which the farmers use to fertilize their crops. Some of the farm's harvested produce eventually makes it way to the Horner Park farmers market, where Global Garden is one of the weekly vendors.

That Ravinia has spent grain to donate is good news for neighbors — it means the brewery is in production and getting closer to opening its restaurant/pub on Montrose.

Making beer has been Ravinia's top priority over the restaurant, Price said.

In recent weeks, the brewery introduced its Steep Ravine Pale Ale, Rooster Saison and Pleasant Ave Belgian Wit. To date, one of the few places to sample any of these brews has been on tap at Ravinia Food Truck Thursdays in Highland Park, but that's about to change, Price said.

Ravinia just inked a distribution deal, meaning its beers will be available for sale in stores and bars likely within the next month, she said.

No firm timeline is in place for the restaurant's opening, according to Price.

Ravinia Brewing is donating its spent grain to nearby Global Garden Refugee Training Farm for use as fertilizer. [Facebook/Ravinia Brewing Company]