From Farm to Glass: A Seasonal Strawberry Story

From Farm to Glass: A Seasonal Strawberry Story

SUMMER IS FOR STRAWBERRIES

Seasonal food is not only fresher, but it’s also more nutritious, tastes better, and doesn’t have to travel as far as its out-of-season counterparts. For these reasons, Pure Project’s beer menu is dictated by what’s in season; we showcase ingredients, not styles. We believe that ingredients matter—not just in your beer, but to our ethos as a whole. Sourcing the highest quality ingredients as locally and sustainably as possible has been a part of our ethos from the beginning.

Strawberries are one of the few organic fruits cultivated en masse in San Diego (along with citrus) so they are a true reflection of our local terroir. For this reason, we choose to brew a variety of strawberry beers every summer (or, should we say, Strawberry Fest!).

LOCAL, ORGANIC, AND PURE

We are proud to source our organic strawberries locally from J.R. Organics. Located just up the road in North County, J.R. Organics is named after Joe Rodriguez, Jr., a fourth generation farmer on the grounds who initially helped his father farm conventionally. After several illnesses caused by exposure to agricultural chemicals, Joe asked his father for a small piece of land to start farming organically. In 1986, after successfully growing crops organically for a few years, Joe obtained his California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certification and J.R. Organics was formed. Since then, Joe has expanded his business and taken over the farm. All produce from J.R. Organics is 100% organic and grown in the purest way possible…including the 10,000 pounds of strawberries that are being added to our strawberry brews this season!

As part of our mission to build both community and a reverence for beer as an agricultural product, we took our team to the farm to taste the strawberries, check out the fields where they were grown, and get to know the family that grew them. From our brewers to our beertenders, everyone had the opportunity for a hands-on experience to connect with the ingredients. Because of this experience, we are better able to tell the story behind the beer and enrich your experience when you taste the beer in your glass.

BRINGING YOU THE BEST

We want only the best—not only for our beer, but for people and the planet too. We choose to use organic strawberries for a number of reasons:

taste the difference

It’s true…organic strawberries taste better! Organic strawberries are usually sweeter and juicier and that flavor translates directly into the final product. Not to mention the fact that brewing with conventional Seascape strawberries can sometimes create an unfortunate plasticky off-flavor.

purity for people and the planet

Crops like strawberries show the importance of organic agriculture for the following reasons:

➝ Because strawberries have a very shallow root system, many of the chemical fertilizers used in conventional agriculture end up running off and contaminating local waterways.

➝ Strawberries are a very delicate fruit, so in conventional farming, lots of pesticides are used to protect the berries from predators. The problem is that pesticides can harm more than just the pests that they target, including people, animals, air, land, water, and other crops.

➝ Conventional strawberry cultivation often uses a process in which the soil is fumigated with toxic chemicals like methyl bromide and chloropicrin; this sterilizes the soil before planting to protect against verticillium wilt, a disease that kills plants. Methyl bromide can cause central nervous system and respiratory failure. Even though the soil is tarped after fumigation, a large portion of the chemicals escape into the atmosphere and contribute to depletion of the ozone layer (EPA). What remains in the soil is water soluble and enters the local watershed. 

THESE STRAWBERRIES TELL A STORY

Here at Pure we believe that every beer should tell a story. For us, Strawberry Fest is about more than just the beer. It’s about the purely San Diego strawberries grown by family-run farms like J.R. Organics, and how they were produced in a way that gives back to the earth. It’s about creating unique, high-quality beers that showcase our local terroir. And it’s about bringing the Pure family together to embrace the process and elevate the entire sensory experience by giving context to the beer in your glass.