Raspberries: the JSM Organics difference

Raspberries: the JSM Organics difference

Organic gold, double gold, and red raspberries have once again made their way into our annual barrel-aged collaboration with Fruition Brewing called Everything Gold May Stay (to be released this Thursday)!

We choose to source our raspberries from JSM Organics, a certified organic farm in Royal Oaks, California, which is a small little town between Watsonville and Salinas. JSM Organics was established by Javier Zamora, who comes from a farming family in Michoacan, Mexico. After moving to the US in his twenties, Javier had a vision to bring sustainable food to our tables without the harmful effects of synthetic products and pesticides. Starting on two acres in 2012, his operation has expanded to 40 acres that are certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).

 “We have to understand that the way we treat the soil will impact the future generations of farming and food production,” Javier says. He doesn’t just use and mine the soil; he feeds the soil through the processes of cover cropping, composting and rotating crops. “We are really blessed to have the soil, so we have to leave it for future use in better condition than when we found it.”

The diversification of different types of fruits and vegetables that are grown during different seasons is not only better for the soil, but for the employees, too. Javier is able to employ his workers eleven months out of the year, and he pays them really well, too. And while we are proud to support JSM Organics for all of these reasons, their organic raspberries burst with flavor; you can taste the difference.

And back to the beer… We enjoy using raspberries in Everything Gold May Stay because of their bright and tart, yet deep and smoky flavor they impart. Their color is a bonus. 🙂 For this batch, we received the fresh raspberries from JSM Organics last summer and lightly macerated them before adding them to the beer to age together.

We hope you enjoyed learning a bit about where we source our raspberries and how we brew with them, and that you can taste the difference when you try our newest batch of Everything Gold May Stay, too!