Many seem to believe the process of making beer is so infernally complicated it can only be done by ancient European guild members or a team of guys in white lab coats – and so, what you’re serving them will doubtless render them blind and insane. Or it’s strictly illegal – and now they’re party to a federal crime. Or it’s so expensive you might as well be drinking Dom Perignon. None of these things is true. In fact, home brewed ale has been an English farmhouse tradition, which dates back centuries, if not millennia. It was the daily beverage of hard working, simple, thrifty people.

For decades, farmers have been encouraged to either get big so they can achieve the economies of scale needed to compete in national and international commodity markets, or to diversify, add value to their products, and build connections with their customers to survive in so-called specialty markets. The latest U.S. Census of Agriculture only confirms that division, with the so-called “farmers in the middle” shrinking in numbers while very big farms and very small farms increased.