By Dan Carlson

One major byproduct of brewing beer is spent grain - leftover barley matter stripped of its starch, and, seemingly, any value. It’s wet, heavy, and starts to smell real sour within a few hours. And if it weren’t for the thousands of animal farms across the country happy to take it off our hands, it’d be a real nuisance for craft brewers.

Thankfully, like many craft breweries, we’re able to donate all our spent grain to a local dairy farm that can use it to make its cows fat and happy. And like maybe some other craft breweries, we purchase dairy products back from those farms, creating a delightful circle of resources that just warms the heart. If you’ve ever ordered a coffee with cream or milk at our taproom, you’ve likely been served a ration of Elmhurst Dairy Farm dairy. And, if so, you know that their cream and milk straight up rules.

Calves enjoying some of that sweet, sweet Redemption Rock spent grain.

Honestly, their cream and milk are just perfect. It’s as rich and flavorful as any dairy you’ve ever had. It sticks to the glass like the finest wine. It never goes bad. I don’t drink milk on a daily basis because I’m neither a baby nor a psychopath, but we do have to occasionally taste test our half-and-half and milk for quality purposes, and it’s a “holy shit” moment every time.

AND THE EGGNOG. My word. It’s liquid gold. It puts grocery store brands to shame. I chug it straight from the carton. That makes the wife real mad but it’s worth it.

With late-fall being Eggnog Season and also the tail end of Yuppies Like Me Going to Farms to See Farm Stuff season, I decided it was high time for me to trek down to scenic Millbury, Massachusetts to see the cows and people in action, and maybe witness a tiny bit of the magic that goes into Elmhurst Dairy Farm products. And to stock up on all the eggnog before you all can. That part was half-successful. Read on to learn more!

The Dairy Plant

The retail store at Elmhurst Dairy Farm is, even for a roadside farm dairy shop, impossibly quaint. It’s an old wooden structure with retro fridges and black-and-white photos and framed newspaper clippings on the wall - a time capsule for 20th-century America.

The farm store sells the aforementioned half-and-half, milk, and eggnog - and, I discovered, sells ice cream, honey, and maple syrup that are produced on the farm, too. The farm also grows and sells vegetables throughout the summer, and sources eggs and butter from other central Massachusetts farms.

The store also has a front row view of the dairy processing plant, and it didn’t take long for me to get right to the main event: Eggnog makin’!

I was greeted by Bob Pearson and his daughter, Cindy, who wasted no time showing me around the dairy-making equipment, which, staying on brand, is also wonderfully retro and quaint. It’s a fairly small operation - much smaller than our 10-barrel brewery - with old cast iron components connected to more modern stainless steel vats. Branded wooden crates sat next to empty plastic buckets that held eggnog base, and steam from the vats fogged the old windows. Bob and I discussed some of the similarities between dairy processing and beer brewing - the transferring across different tanks, when ingredients are added, the heating and cooling, etc. And I asked him how old their homogenizer - a roughly two-foot tall iron machine that looked like it weighed 10,000 lbs - was.

“OLD,” Bob said. “REAL OLD.”

Of course, I also asked about the secrets to Elmhurst’s egg-quisite nog (many times, to be honest). And while I didn’t get a full recipe or anything, I did learn a couple of interesting things. First, Elmhurst keeps its dairy at the same butterfat content as it is straight from the cow, whereas many supermarket brands thin it down to the absolute legal minimum. In other words, Elmhurst cream/milk/eggnog tastes richer. It might also kill you faster. WORTH IT.

Second, the actual “eggnog” flavor - which comes from the aforementioned eggnog base - is sourced from a partner in Maine, which the Elmhurst team was absolutely effusive about. So while I won’t give away the family’s nog base secrets, I might break into the farm to steal a bucket of nog base and drink it all. Follow us on Instagram for updates on that.

After the dairy plant tour, we were joined by Bob’s son, John - a.k.a. the gentleman who picks up the spent grain after our brew days. We took a quick drive to the farm down the road to meet the real stars of the show: the cows.

Cow Town

Elmhurst Dairy Farm owns about 120 cows, a combination of both the classic Holstein variety and the delightfully furry red milking shorthorns. All the cows are born on the farm and are generally free to roam its 300+ acres. How does Farmer John manage to corral all those cows into the barn when it’s time for milking? He doesn’t! They just show up on schedule. These are punctual cows we’re dealing with.

You came to the right neighborhood, friend.

And they must be pretty good at keeping time, because the farm processes 2,000 lbs of milk a DAY.

The farm, like the processing operation, combines old-world charm with modern touches. Most of the milking occurs in a large white barn built in the 1930s, and trucks and tractors from across the decades dot the landscape. It also smells to high heaven. I know it’s a farm and I really should’ve expected that but I, like, didn’t even wear boots. Not exactly in my element.

They also have a dog! I know it’s a farm and I also should’ve expected that but meeting Maggie the black lab was a delight nevertheless. She’s a good girl.

Next year’s taproom dogs calendar cover dog.

They also grow Christmas trees! Yeah, bet you weren’t expecting that. Who’s the idiot now. Anyway, between the trees and the nog, Elmhurst has 90% of your holiday shopping covered if you have your priorities straight.

Finally, the coolest thing about the farm is that it’s largely solar-powered, both through panels on the barns and via solar power purchasing. We’re obviously biased toward small, local, family-owned businesses that give a shit about the environment and Elmhurst checks all the boxes.

A Family Business

Elmhurst Dairy Farm has been in the same family, although not always all together, since its inception in the 1930s. John’s great uncles bought the farm (which has been around since the 1700s) and started the business. Around the same time, John’s grandfather started selling milk in his home neighborhood of Quinsigamond Village in Worcester. That operation took off, and he started the farm’s dairy processing business down the road from the farm.

Both businesses were passed down through the generations - Bob, John, and John’s brother eventually taking over the dairy processing, and his cousins running the farm. In the 1980s, John’s side of the family purchased the farm from his cousins and consolidated the businesses into one. Today, it continues to be a fully family-run business, with John’s daughter and his wife working in the business, too.

I asked John if it’s always a foregone conclusion that every generation will work on the farm. While that was more or less the case for him, it isn’t necessarily always true for everyone. John’s daughter, for example, worked as a teacher for a bit, and his brother went to school for forestry. However, both eventually were drawn back to the farm.

“It gets into you and you just love it,” John said. “I always loved the animals. I’ve never been interested in anything else.”

Back to the Store

After chatting with John, I stopped back in the store for the real purpose of the trip: loading up on just an absurd amount of farm-fresh dairy.

The largest container of eggnog was an easy choice. Sorting through the dozen or so varieties of ice cream took a good long while, but opting to get two flavors moved things along. I wasn’t sure if I needed both honey AND maple syrup, but I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry. My wife asked for half-and-half, too, so sure.

It was right then, unfortunately, when the store’s retro quaintness booted me right in the goddamn chest: CASH ONLY. Thankfully, I had exactly enough cash for the two absolutely non-negotiable items: the cream for the wife and the eggnog.

The ice cream, honey, and maple syrup would have to wait for another visit. Twist my arm, why don’t you?

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Field Trip! A Day at Elmhurst Dairy Farm