The DC Beer Show

Explore the intersection of farming, community, and craft beer with Bonnie and John from Wheatland Spring. This episode highlights their sustainable farming practices, innovative brewing, and the meaningful community events they host, emphasizing the importance of terroir and local support in beer production.

Main topics:
  • The farm's history and regenerative agricultural practices
  • The philosophy behind estate brewing and terroir in beer
  • The annual Land Beer Fest and Oktoberfest celebrations
  • The impact of small-scale maltsters on local brewing
  • Community engagement and the future of Wheatland Spring
In this episode:
  • Bonnie and John share the background and mission of Wheatland Spring, founded on the principles of regenerative agriculture and small farm support
  • The hosts and guests discuss their approach to making beer with a sense of place, emphasizing terroir and the uniqueness of estate-grown ingredients
  • Details about the Land Beer Fest, including the new Liberty estate beer, celebrating the US 250th anniversary
  • The importance of supporting local maltsters like Murphy and Rood, and how the upcoming change affects their supply chain
  • The community-building aspects of Wheatland Spring, from farm weddings to festivals and local collaborations
  • Their vision for preserving farmland and maintaining the farm as a retreat within reach for future generations
  • Insights into the planning and execution of their events, including German-inspired Oktoberfest
  • The significance of supporting small businesses and the local economy through intentional brewing practices
Resources & Links:

Connect with Bonnie and John:
Join the conversation and support local brewing, farming, and community in Virginia. Cheers to Wheatland Spring’s mission of sustainability, terroir-driven beer, and community connection!

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Creators and Guests

Host
Brandy Holder
This southern girl got a late start in the beer world, but with such a bold and intoxicating personality behind the name, booze was destined to be a part of her endeavors.
Host
Jordan Harvey
As a born and raised Georgian, lover of music, and HBCU advocate, Jordan’s affinity for craft beer kicked off after being exposed to the craft beer scene in Pennsylvania and the legendary beer scene in Europe.
Producer
Richard Fawal
President of DC Beer Media LLC and Publisher of DCBeer.com and The DC Beer Show

What is The DC Beer Show?

The official podcast of DCBeer.com! Everything you need to know about the people, places, and brews that make the DMV America’s best beer scene, including the best local places for eats, brews, trivia, live music, and more! Learn about the latest trends in craft beer – from the beers, to the breweries, to the business – from the editors of DC Beer.

JB (00:06)
Welcome everyone to DC Beer Show. We're at DC Beer across social media. Brandy, what are you drinking tonight?

Brandy (00:13)
Hi Jake, it seems like it's just me, you and our guests. So I'm double fisting it. ⁓ I'm taking into account the lack of other people drinking. So I'm drinking double for everybody. I am finishing my love Uma, which is my lovely lost generation beer that I grabbed on Friday at their event, their yearly event, the AAPI, Chef Stopping AAPI, hate, and it's delicious. It's an homage to

to Anne's grandmother, which is awesome. But I'm about to pour a Virginia-made beer, ⁓ bold and bitterful from Port City, which is a West Coast, you know, I'm a West Coast girly. So I'm here celebrating Virginia-made beer. And speaking of Virginia-made beer, we have a very, very special guest, which apparently we haven't had on the show ever, mind boggling.

And they not only make Virginia beer, but they grow everything that goes into their beer. It's awesome. So everyone, please give a very warm welcome and raise a glass to Bonnie and John Branding of Wheatland Spring. Hi. What are you guys drinking?

Bonnie + John (01:28)
Thank you so much, Brandy. Thank you. Glad to be here.

Well, since we are on a farm and slightly more isolated than you, Brandy, we are drinking Wheatland Spring Beer. I have one of my favorites. It is Kölsch and it is one that we have decided to brew quite often this year. So you can find Kölsch all year round. I'm going to go ahead and open it up. What about you, John? We're splitting the Kölsch. Yeah.

Brandy (01:42)
Hahaha!

Bonnie + John (02:03)
Jake, what are you drinking?

JB (02:05)
so cool that a guest finally asked me. So we got two groups keeping at Virginia. I'm going to go in the other way. I'm going to make mine in Maryland. I've got here a hazy called Free Drift from Edentown Brewing. It is one of Maryland's newest breweries. They just opened five months ago in Denton, Maryland. So that's Eastern Shore, right off 404 if you're on your way to the beach. And despite being five months old, Free Drift just won silver at the World Beer Cup.

Bonnie + John (02:08)
Yeah. ⁓

Brandy (02:32)
Well...

JB (02:34)
in the hazy, pale ale category. ⁓ So I got to walk over to them this last past weekend and say, hey, I'm Jake. I'm often on Maryland 404. Now I get to try this beer. It's really, really good that a five month old brewery could make like a clean shelf stable hazy like right off the bat that took a medal and, you know, amongst like 200 other beers.

is pretty, pretty impressive. ⁓ I hope that we start to see a little bit more distro from them over here. But in the meantime, it's beach season. Give them a visit.

Brandy (03:10)
Cheers to them. Congrats. That's awesome. Yeah. Thanks for the Intel, Jake. before we get to Bonnie and John talking about their amazing farm,

JB (03:11)
Yeah, yeah, I think it's super cool.

Brandy (03:18)
let me plug the events we got going on. The Women's Culture Club event will already have passed by the time this comes out, so that's null and void. But look for a Women's Brew Culture Club event in Baltimore the following month and check out our very first

beer share hosted by Henceforth at the end of May, May 31st, the very last day of May. Let's go out with a bang and we're visiting Henceforth for the first time. It's going to be fantastic members only, but don't worry. It's only $5 minimum per month if you want to be a member and come to our endless beer flowing beer shares. so one last event I'm going to plug. We are going to Wheatland Spring as a field trip.

Bonnie + John (04:04)
Woohoo!

JB (04:05)
Yay!

Bonnie + John (04:05)
Field trip!

Brandy (04:07)
Which is a huge deal. We have teamed up with City Brew Tours. Caleb is delightful. He's the new owner of City Brew Tours and he's just the nicest human and we're so thankful to be collaborating with him and he is giving DC beer a steal. ⁓ If you look up how much it costs to get a Lyft or Uber out to Wheatland Spring from DC, it's like a hundred some plus dollars one way and

Each ticket is only $40 and it gets us to and from DC to Wheatland and includes our first beer. So obviously so much thank you to Bonnie and John for offering a free beer for our awesome 14 person van trip, our field trip, literally. And so if you're interested in that, please go on our social media or email us or sign up for our newsletter to get a ticket. There's only six spots left.

So catch them while you can. And Bonnie and John, let's talk about Land Beer Fest because it's one of my fucking favorite events of the year. It's gorgeous.

Bonnie + John (05:15)
Amazing

and before you depart from that plug for the bus, let me just say that we hosted a wedding here on the farm this past weekend. It was the best party we've ever had here. The bride and groom were incredible. They've been guests of ours since the very first day that we opened. It was a real homecoming, beautiful weekend. And there were three gals who brought with them

tambourines in their purses and apparently they're known for this they pull out the tambourine mid reception and they kind of like hype everything up and so we had these tambourine girls going around the farm getting everyone involved in like the DJ and everything and so this this is my commitment to your bus i'm going to locate and purchase three of these hype tambourines and you're going home with tambourines on that bus that's you

Brandy (06:08)
That's me. I'm gonna be tampering the whole time. Yeah.

JB (06:08)
Poor Caleb. I

Brandy (06:11)
my God.

JB (06:12)
don't know what Caleb did to deserve all the singing school bus songs and having a tambourine, but.

Bonnie + John (06:17)
There it is. It was Joe! I didn't know...

Brandy (06:18)
Was it Joe? it Joe? Joe!

Joe is a huge DC beer fan. Shout out to Joe. Anytime DC beer, Women's Pro Culture Club posts anything about Wheatland Spring, Joe is always in the DMs like, what's up? Love Wheatland Spring. Shout out. You're going to be there. So shout out to Joe. Congratulations. Love. Yeah.

Bonnie + John (06:38)
That's right. Rachel, you were absolutely gorgeous. She

stayed here on the property in our B &B. They were incredible. Yeah. Yeah.

Brandy (06:44)
Cool. I love, what a great story. Yeah. So guys,

Wheatland Spring has an Airbnb. ⁓ Just plug in that real quick, extra. It's gorgeous. So ⁓ yeah, do that. Yeah.

Bonnie + John (06:58)
Thanks, love, we're still waiting to host

you. So Land Beer Fest it is.

always okay so I'll use the word homecoming a minute ago and I really should have saved that because that's really what I feel about Land Beer Fest. Every year that we do this we change it a little bit we're always trying to reimagine what it can be make sure that it's fresh for people and really what I've noticed and this was a conversation that you and I had last year Brandy the thing that always stands out to me is actually what it should be.

It's really the people who show up year after year and the conversations and moments that we're able to have together when we really don't see each other that often. ⁓ So when we were thinking about Land Beer Fest this year, we wanted to really focus it around the guest experience, maybe take out some of the noise. Maybe we don't need...

quite as many activities as we've done over the other years. We're so grateful and honored that we've had some incredible guests like Stan Hieronymus and Rob Ruba and all of these wonderful folks in our community. We aren't doing a panel this year, but we do have all the things that make a party what it is. We have wonderful local music, some of our favorite guest food vendors, some excellent beer.

that John's gonna talk about in a minute, but we're really looking forward to this year's homecoming. And one of the things that is always so touching for us is a lot of our previous coworkers ⁓ come from as far as Texas and other areas of Virginia, and they come back to either work, land, beer, fast, or to be with us for the weekend. And that's really the best part about it for me.

Brandy (08:47)
Yeah, it's gorgeous. can't, honestly, my words don't do Wheatland Spring justice.

So I wanted, I want folks to try to imagine a place. So if you're listening to this podcast, if you're not driving, close your eyes and imagine this beautiful field, huge field, and this beautiful barn and,

Just like an oasis almost like it's almost not even real looking and you walk up and you order a beer and it's served to you in a beautiful glass and the beer is Refreshing and delicious and it tastes like it was it came literally from the ground into your glass and I want John

I want you to just paint the picture for others who haven't been there

Bonnie + John (09:38)
thanks for your kind words. That's really generous of you. ⁓ We do have a lot of passion for this. I think to do this, you have to, or else your common sense would kick in and say this doesn't make any sense for so many different reasons. ⁓ We were here on a farm from 1832. ⁓

Brandy (09:40)
Yeah.

Bonnie + John (10:02)
The main barn, the bank barn here, the base is still from 1832. It was burned down during the Civil War and then rebuilt in 1870s. ⁓ And the brew house was built inside a corn crib. So if folks are familiar with that beer of ours, the pre-Brobish and Lager corn crib, it's named after this building and the 100 year anniversary of this building. ⁓ The intent here is to try to close the gap between

farming and community. And we use beer as the way to do that, to connect people to small farms, agriculture. ⁓ It started back when we were living ⁓ in Germany for years, and we would travel to different spots around there. You can get in a car and drive to different communities around there. And what struck us was the connection that people had with their farmland, with the agriculture, through food and drink. And so food and drink was the vehicle.

that people connected with their region. what we found was there was such a pride in the different types of food, different types of drinks, wine, beer, whatever it was. And it was so special and it anchored their culture. It was something that they really felt proud of and it was something they really bought into. And ⁓ it was something it really resonated with us. And so when we came back to the States, that was something that stuck with us. And at one point we...

We just decided to go for it. ⁓ So we looked around at a bunch of different properties and this one spoke to us. ⁓ It's a 30 acre farm out here about our west of DC. And it was an opportunity to save an old farm. ⁓ As you probably are aware, there's a lot of old farms that get turned into other things these days. And once the farm's gone, it's gone. They typically never come back.

So for us, it was about saving acreage ⁓ and making the farm more valuable as farmland than it would be for other purposes. And to do that, we figured we'd do something that we felt we could do well, or at least we could put our all into it and we'd give it our best shot. And so we practice regenerative agriculture here, which means we don't use sprays or synthetic fertilizers or anything like that.

So we're comfortable having our kids run through the fields. We don't have to worry about anything like that. ⁓ And we brew with renewable energy. So our goal here is to complete the cycle as much as possible. There's always room for improvement. There's always opportunities to do better. But the goal really is to really shrink the distance between what the land is capable of and what we can offer folks. And when it comes down to it,

the beer's got to be good or else nothing else matters, right? You can have the best intentions and you can have great storytelling, but if the beer isn't any good, it kind of doesn't matter. So we really, really focus on the beer. And ⁓ one of the things we've said since day one is it's all about the beer and it's not about the beer at all. And so for us, means, yeah, exactly right. Exactly right. So beer is very much

Brandy (13:14)
Because it's the beer and the people. Yeah. Yeah.

Bonnie + John (13:22)
in focus for us. We're so fussy about the beer, but at the same time, the beer is the vehicle that allows all this other stuff to happen, allows Land Beer Fest to happen, it allows us to have this conversation, and it gives us the opportunity to talk about small businesses and small farms and the stuff that really, really matters to us. so, know, Jake reached out ⁓ previously about this, ⁓ small grain malters, and for us, ⁓

Brandy (13:41)
Absolutely.

Bonnie + John (13:52)
supporting small business is woven into what we do. It's not a one-off beer that we make. It's everything that we do. It's the ethos by which we operate the business. so for us, that stuff matters. are decisions you make as an organization. And it's not the easy choice. ⁓ There's certainly different ways to go about it. But for us, it really matters.

Brandy (14:15)
And speaking of small, ⁓ your brew house is beautiful, but small. How do you, it's a little bit bigger than Urban Garden, formerly, right proper, that little room, but it's a small little brew house. How do you, it's you and how many other folks in there brewing and how does that go?

Bonnie + John (14:37)
Yeah,

we're a lean team. a small team. ⁓ We're small but mighty, we say. And so for us, it ⁓ works. The size is perfect for what we do. ⁓

Brandy (14:51)
Yeah, how many barrels

system do you have? Okay.

Bonnie + John (14:54)
It's a 10.

Yeah, yeah. And so when they were designing the barn 100 years ago, for some reason, they didn't think about a brew house going in. The tractor drive. I know. It's kind of funny to me that you say that it's even small because to me, we've expanded like the brew house either what twice, right? And so for me, like I get what you mean by it being tight or like

Brandy (15:03)
⁓ How could they? ⁓ dare they?

Bonnie + John (15:23)
physically small, but like the amount of beer that I think that we're making now is more than I ever thought we would make. Like we're, we've actually had that conversation recently. We're like, let's really look at, you know, what we're serving on site and in our immediate community versus what we are sending further afield. Like we really want to make sure that we're touching our local community and being available to folks, you know,

right how, you know, with our intention, like our neighbors need to make sure they have all the access to what they want. ⁓

JB (16:01)
I actually wanna talk about how much beer you all are putting out because I think especially in 2026, you seem to have like really ramped up a variety of cans and a couple bottles too that are coming into Northern Virginia. And then by extension, a few ⁓ cans coming into DC as well, which is great because Brandy and I can't get out there every every weekend as much as we would like to. It's like.

Bonnie + John (16:02)
thank you.

Brandy (16:05)
Yeah.

JB (16:27)
By my count, you've got something like nine or 10 different beers in circulation right now.

Bonnie + John (16:33)
I would

love

to highlight that might be what you're seeing. It's just our partnership with the wonderful people at the Arlington Brew Shop. So they are really, they have committed to wanting to carry all of our products. So the stuff that we have available on the farm, they have available there consistently.

⁓ I think folks in Arlington and perhaps some of it's trickling a little bit further in as well, they're seeing all the things that are available here on site. So we have always kind of had that spread, ⁓ but a lot of people have to come here to get it. The Arlington Brew Shop in particular is now a really great destination to also have that access.

Brandy (17:21)
every single episode, I feel like we send massive love to Beth and Julie at the Brew Shop because A, they show up to everything. Not only do we have a beer of the month with the Brew Shop every month, but we've had Wheatland Spring as our beer of the month, at least.

Bonnie + John (17:27)
Yeah.

Brandy (17:42)
once, if not multiple times. ⁓ yes, yeah, obviously shout out to them

Bonnie + John (17:45)
Thank you.

No, they're wonderful. ⁓ They've been fantastic friends and partners for years now. We're very lucky that we're in the same orbit.

Brandy (17:59)
So

Land Beer Fest and Oktoberfest are the two events that I'm gonna be at every year unless like I die or something. ⁓ Can you tell me like what goes into this? Especially because you're on a farm. I mean you obviously incorporate family and child friendly activities. You have a new play set that you built a couple years ago which is gorgeous. Like ⁓ you have the barn and you it's a whole it's a spread and

Verbally, we can't do it justice because I'm not a poet. Land Beer Fest and Oktoberfest, the planning that goes into that and the beers that you put out specifically for that. Do you how far in advance do you plan for the beers for these events and what new beers? I know you do a yearly beer for the Land Beer Fest

tell us about that beer. Okay.

Bonnie + John (18:49)
Yes. Yes. Yes to all that.

I don't want to miss the opportunity though to compliment my wife. You asked about how much planning goes into this. A lot.

A lot and a lot of planning goes into Land Beer Fest and to October Fest and Bonnie is behind the scenes months and months ahead of time making sure everything is wonderful day of and she makes it look effortless. So so much happens behind the scenes to get it to where it is and that's all Bonnie. Of course we have an amazing team leading up to that. We have great event folks. We have great

day of, ⁓ we have an incredible crew. Bonnie's really working hard ⁓ behind the scenes for a long time to get it there. ⁓ You're welcome. ⁓ So for this year's Land Beer Fest, ⁓ are making, we're offering a beer called Liberty. And that is also a celebration of the US 250th anniversary. ⁓ What's special about this one is it's an estate beer.

like most of the beers are for Land Beer Fest. ⁓ It's named after a wheat that we grow here on the farm called Liberty. It just, it was too perfect to pass up. And the idea here is it's not a throwback recipe and it's not a historical cosplay of what beer was 250 years ago. It's actually much more in the spirit of the founding fathers looking forward, ⁓ trying to do something new, looking ahead. And it's a

From our perspective, it's a call to action for what truly local beer can be. It's grown in the community for the community. And so for us, it's a combination of wheat and barley that was bred by Virginia Tech for this region. So it has a better chance of growing well without synthetics, without pesticides, any of those kinds of things. ⁓ And the idea is it's meant to be a ⁓ beautiful beer that represents this place. And when you have it, you should say, this tastes like Wheatland.

before we talk to ⁓ Oktoberfest, I just wanted to add what you're talking about with Liberty is really our intention, like our concept of what we try to do. a ⁓ lot of, ⁓ when people ask us about our beer, we tell them that we're trying to make Wheatland beer.

So of course we always orient and we have to give direction of, know, we can't just like put a can out and be like, guess what it is? And we're like, you know, it's a lager, it's this, whatever else. But we don't intend it to taste like something you've tasted before. When we ⁓ look to create a new style, we're not trying to replicate a Guinness.

We always use that example because like Guinness is so awesome. I don't want to replicate you. Like you do your thing and we'll do ours. So when you taste Liberty, it should taste like something fresh, new, and you haven't had this before.

JB (21:55)
Yeah. So I think this is like one of my questions is that beer is fundamentally agricultural product. Yours even more so because so much of it comes from the area that is directly around where you work and where you live. Such that what do you say to, you know, customers, drinkers who are like, well, you know, I had this beer this time last year and I've had it this year and like it's slightly different and like it's

I feel like to some consumers, it's a negative and to others, it's a positive. Like to me, it's cool to drink the estate Pilsners because I get like these are kind of like almost like strange, grapey notes that come out of it. And to me, like Stan Hieronymus and I were having this discussion with some other beer people who said, there's no terroir in beer. And Stan and I are standing in your barley field, like just laughing at these people who we think are fundamentally wrong. Like this, this

beer tastes of place.

Bonnie + John (22:56)
Wow. Well, we're so honored to have you and Stan on our side. So, John, do you have a thought on that? Yeah, no, I Jake, that's that's I love the framing. And I think that's that's what it comes down to for us is it's a great opportunity to have that conversation. And so we we compare a lot of the estate stuff, especially our farmhouse, ale, estate beers, but certainly the lagers as well, ⁓ to. Wine making. And so if you if you have a.

2022 vintage and it tastes differently than a 2024 vintage, nobody loses their cool. ⁓ That's just part of it because it is an agricultural product. And I think the the the difference here is that there's there's kind of been a separation because I think beer is a commodity in many cases. It has been commoditized, but it doesn't mean it can't be without terroir, meaning. If that's your intention.

And if that's the goal, you still can do that. And that's very much our intention, certainly for all of our state beers. so it's, it's both are true at the same time in a sense, right? So it is both a commodity product in some instances, but it can also be an estate product with identity, can taste a place. It's a lot more work and it's a lot more expensive.

but I think it yields really interesting and fun and fascinating and at times meaningful results. And let's not forget that all this money then cycles in our community and it goes to the small farms and it goes to the small businesses and it stays here with the idea that if I buy whatever we don't grow here, we're going to buy from other farms in Virginia. And if I give that farmer money for barley, there's a

good chance that that farmer's gonna go to their coffee shop and buy a cup of coffee and that barista's gonna go to their barber and that barber's then gonna go buy a beer and the cycle continues. Whereas if you buy the commodity products, the money leaves the community and it typically doesn't come back.

JB (25:04)
So these beers are made with local malt and they're malted by another small business, Murphy and Rood out of Charlottesville. Murphy and Rood is closing up and it's Virginia's only maltster at the end of May. What does this mean for like for your supply chain? I know that you are very strongly committed to not just like the Midlantic or the Piedmont, but to Virginia. you then like, do you now have to switch to like...

Epiphany out of North Riverbend out of North Carolina, Bear Branch out of Maryland. ⁓ What happens on June 1 ⁓ when the dearly departed Murphy and Ruth and Jeff is no more?

Brandy (25:36)
Fair branch.

Bonnie + John (25:49)
I appreciate the question. ⁓ Jeff has been part of Wheatland Springs since before we even put grain in the ground. And so we have a really close connection with Jeff and Murphy and Rude. Started professionally and has turned into a really close personal friendship. And so we're going to continue supporting Jeff and Murphy and Rude up until the last second ⁓ that he has his shop.

And then we'll figure out next steps. ⁓ Continuity, we're good. ⁓ I'm not concerned about that. ⁓ Right now it's about supporting Jeff and making sure that he's taken care of.

Brandy (26:27)
Yeah, that sucks to hear. I mean,

JB (26:30)
Yeah, it's well said.

Bonnie + John (26:32)
Here's

JB (26:32)
Boing!

Bonnie + John (26:33)
your fun line for your segment though if you want to be like, ooh, she said something interesting. I really think the number of people who have texted me and said, ⁓ no, Murphy and Rude, if they were actually buying from him, maybe this wouldn't have happened. That's my take.

Brandy (26:37)
if

⁓

yeah, I mean.

JB (26:49)
No, think

like it's in one hand, it's a hot take, but it's fair. Like 3 Stars was never as crowded as when 3 Stars was going out of business. you know, Mike, you know, like Mike McGarvey, like pulls people aside and it's like, you know, like if we had had, you know, 20, 25 % of this traffic over the last couple months, ⁓ you know, would it have mattered? Maybe like, we'll, we'll never know. But Brandi like, you know, yeah.

Bonnie + John (26:58)
That's right.

Brandy (27:10)
Yeah.

Bonnie + John (27:12)
And only Jeff knows, Jeff knows that

every bag of grain that we used last year came out of his shop. I mean, who else can say that really? ⁓

JB (27:16)
Yeah.

No, I've

been, Brandy, we walked into dynasty to brew with Justin over a bitter fruit and Fabio and he said, what do you want to use? And I just looked and I said, can we, you know, just sacks of, of Murphy and rude Pilsner. And I'm, know, I just said, can we do Murphy and rude Pilsner? see. And so, ⁓ those, yeah, yeah, we're not, ⁓ there's no video. ⁓ but, ⁓ John and Bonnie are up above their brew house and they have.

Brandy (27:22)
That's cool.

Yep. Yep.

Yep. The iconic bags.

and the crib.

JB (27:50)
Yeah, the crew, yes, as it were. And they've had many, many sacks of Murphy and Rude behind them. But yeah.

Bonnie + John (27:50)
That's right. ⁓

Brandy (27:53)
My favorite space.

Bonnie + John (27:56)
Yeah, we're brewing

in a state beer tomorrow.

Brandy (27:58)
Cool, yeah. yeah, so that's right, perfect timing. What musical acts are you gonna have that really cool blue grassy band come out again? I loved them. What were they? Karma Creek? They were awesome. Cool.

JB (27:59)
Excellent.

Bonnie + John (28:11)
Yes, ⁓ they

will be with us ⁓ as kind of our headlining band this year. Last year we also had Paul Myra. This year Karma Creek is the main show and then we have some to be announced folks joining us as well for music. So stay tuned on that. Yeah. So yeah.

Brandy (28:31)
Cool.

Jake, you always have questions.

JB (28:35)
Very nice.

Bonnie + John (28:37)
You also asked, I can also jump back to your other question really quickly, Brandy. You also asked about like,

⁓ Oktoberfest. So ⁓ yes, Oktoberfest would be the one time when John and I really pull on our five years of time in Munich. And while we could never be like Theresienwiese, we really try to incorporate as much authenticity into Oktoberfest as possible. And I think that's something that we try to do across the board when we host people here. We want it to be an authentic experience of, you know,

whatever

the theme is. But yeah, for Oktoberfest, I mean, we lived it. Our son was a baby going through the 10s of Oktoberfest. And ⁓ we always find a lot of joy in brewing our Erschbrung Fest beer for ⁓ that each year, alongside a number of other German-inspired beers. So while we generally brew of Wheatland, those are ⁓ an... ⁓

I guess a throwback to our experience in Munich.

Brandy (29:43)
It's always a

beautiful event. It really is. I love it. I just love going out to Wheatland Spring. I feel like I'm your biggest fan, like a weirdo. And I'm like on DCB. I should be plugging DCB or more, but I'm like, Wheatland Spring.

Bonnie + John (29:58)
We appreciate it. And something you've said, it's meaningful to us. It resonates with us because it's something that we try to convey. And we never quite know if it does. But you call it an oasis. And the way we frame the experience is a retreat within reach. So this idea that you can get away, but it's it's attainable. You can get here, you can have a day trip, you can spend some hours. And for us, whenever I get over the ridge line,

Brandy (30:16)
⁓ yeah.

Bonnie + John (30:26)
coming over and you can start to see the the mountains over here. I can breathe easier. I start to get a little bit more relaxed and then something our good friends over at the brew shop say is that the sky is bluer out here. ⁓

Brandy (30:40)
feel like it is.

Somehow it's crazy.

Bonnie + John (30:46)
Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot.

JB (30:48)
Yeah, but thank you for preserving 30 acres in Loudon. That will not be turned into like a data center that's three football fields long. ⁓ I know that the people ⁓ in Waterford and Wheatland and ⁓ Luckett's, Levittsville would never go for that. But there was a time where people in Ashburn and Sterling would also never go for that. ⁓ It matters.

Brandy (30:56)
Ugh.

Bonnie + John (31:12)
Yeah.

Yeah, we think so. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's funny that you said that. just did an interview for a high school kid who was writing a paper.

Brandy (31:14)
Yeah.

JB (31:16)
huh.

Bonnie + John (31:22)
And one of the questions was about, you know, how do you see your business like growing with the county, like as things continue to develop? And I said, basically, you know, along those lines, like these 30 acres will always be the retreat that we have created and we don't see that changing. So.

Brandy (31:43)
Yeah.

JB (31:44)
So this leads to a follow-up question and that is do you ever see yourself acquiring more land in that area of Virginia and sowing it with grain?

Bonnie + John (31:54)
How much money do you have, Yeah. Is this a proposal?

Brandy (31:55)
Good question, Jake. Are you backing this?

JB (31:56)
⁓ yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't, I yeah.

Maybe we can sell the naming rights to a data center and then we can use that money to... Yes. See?

Bonnie + John (32:07)
Okay, I like it. I wouldn't

Brandy (32:12)
my gosh.

Bonnie + John (32:12)
I

never would put anything past John, but like the list of ideas is extensive. ⁓ I think with two young kids right now, we're just, you know, balancing what we can really ⁓ do well. So I don't think like more land is it right now. yeah. Yeah, I think we have plenty of land here. I think for us, it's about

Brandy (32:28)
You

Bonnie + John (32:36)
actually focusing, refining, and trying to just keep executing better and better. And we have, I said it before, but we have an incredible team. ⁓ It's just, we're really lucky that there's so many folks who are true believers. ⁓ We're all rowing in the same direction, so that's great.

Brandy (32:56)
If I may, closing thoughts, ⁓ yes, your team is wonderful. I love them, they're wonderful. You both though are probably some of the nicest people I've met in the industry and I've met some really wonderful humans. ⁓

The people behind it, you both, have just created this wonderful oasis. And the oasis is Wheatland Spring, but it's really the people behind it. And yes, it's your team, but it's you, it's you both. to the people, for the people who have met you, they understand what I'm saying. And for the people who have yet to meet you, just wait and go visit Wheatland Spring and you're going to be

blown away,

And I thank you both for A, being friends with you, but making great beer and creating this beautiful space that I love. I love, I love, love. That's love is the highest word I can say. So thank you.

Bonnie + John (34:06)
That's

so sweet. Thank you so much. That's Brandy, leave us speechless. That's really kind of you. ⁓ I don't know what to say, but thank you. What a beautiful message. We really appreciate you. ⁓ yeah, laugh, laugh, laugh. ⁓ We're genuinely ⁓ grateful to have you all have known you all for years at this point. ⁓ And we really value the friendship. So thank you.

JB (34:36)
No, thank you all. Like we've done a lot of telling and I think for the listeners go out there and let Wheatland Spring show, you know, as well. But we are again, John Bonney, thank you so much. We are at DC Beer across social medias, dcbeer.com slash Patreon. As Brandy said, six spots left on this bus and be good everybody. We'll see you soon.

Bonnie + John (34:48)
Okay.

Brandy (35:01)
Cheers.

Bonnie + John (35:03)
Cheers. Cheers. Thank you.