NEWS

Meet Legendary Roots Brewing Supply: the feature family business that is the focus of this installation of Proudly Not Made By Robots, our series on the people, suppliers and customers that make Scratchtown who we are.

Legendary Roots is the brain child of the Wagner Family Farm, located in Mira Valley about 7 miles south of Ord. The Wagners (Larry Wagner, Marty Wagner, Chuck Wagner, Therese (Wagner) Hulme, Kevin Wagner and Michael Wagner) determined three years ago that diversifying into a variety of agricultural products that support brewing was a path to create additional on-farm income, along with providing premium ingredients for another love of theirs: beer.

So let’s get to know Legendary Roots Brewing Supply.

Where did you grow up?
All members of our ownership group grew up here in Valley County on a farm 5 miles southwest of Ord. We all graduated from Ord High (s/o to the classes of 72, 73, 75, 78, 82, & 87) and although we are geographically dispersed now, we still consider Ord as being “back home”.

What is your favorite SBC beer? Favorite non-SBC beer?
We have lots of opinions on this one…Wonder Twins is a fave, Lord of Ord, Silver-tongued Devil and of course, and Wagner Pils (hopped exclusively with our Chinook hops). Since starting our hop yard we enjoyed expanding our beer horizons a little bit to learn about different beer styles and how hops can influence those styles. We love doing lots of “market research” at breweries and tap rooms across the state. Among non-SBC beers Boulevard’s Tank 7 and Kros Strain Fairy Nectar are really tasty.

Think back to your most memorable brewery experience: where and why?
We are regulars in the SBC tap room and we simply enjoy getting together to check out the latest brews. Every time we head to SBC, we often say that we’ll only stay for “One Ping Only”…a reference to a Sean Connery movie line. Well, we rarely stay for just one “ping” so, now it’s become a standing joke anytime we contemplate a trip to a brewery.

What do you do at your hopyard? Any particular items of interest we should know about?
Well of course we grow hops, right?  …we also harvest, dry and bale our hops on site. We also have several bee hives we are attempting to coax into producing some honey for us each year. We’ve also planted some fruit trees that we hope someday may provide us with some peaches, apples and even black currants. 

Why did you get into growing hops?
Like many ag producers, we are always on the lookout for ways to diversify our farm operation beyond just our current rotation of corn and soybeans. Growing hops looked like a great way to diversify and so we’re evaluating how well they work for our operation. And the bonus is that the farm smells awesome when it gets close to hop harvest.

What are you most proud of at Legendary Roots?
We love being part of Nebraska’s Craft beer industry and seeing and tasting how brewers turn our hops into “beer art” is a lot of fun. We are most proud of how Valley County’s terroir (the flavor that our soil imparts on hops) grows some fabulous tasting hops. Finally, our hops have done really well in state wide brewing competitions including winning first and third place medals in the Top Hop last fall; we love seeing brewers win hardware with Legendary Roots hops in their winning beers!

If you’re a regular reader here, you’re likely familiar with Proudly Not Made By Robots, a semi-regular feature on what makes Scratchtown, Scratchtown. We’re switching gears today to focus on the suppliers and customers that make our jobs both rewarding, and possible.

Today we’re shining the spotlight on an up and coming local business, integral to the future of Nebraska beer. Meet Loup Valley Hops, one of two commercial yards right here in Valley County Nebraska. The proprietors of Loup Valley Hops are Cody Freouf and Zeb Augustyn.

Both Cody and Zeb started Loup Valley Hops three years ago, dedicated to growing and distributing high quality Nebraska grown hops. Both are Ord natives, growing up in the area and graduating high school here, and returning to Ord for professional and family opportunities. We brew several beers with their hops, and are planning several exciting new beers with new hops we haven’t had a chance to source from them yet. So let’s get to know Cody and Zeb.

What is your favorite SBC beer? Favorite non-SBC beer? Sargent Hwy Pale Ale of course (named after the road that leads to their hopyard). We been to too many great brewery’s and had too many great beers to pick just one.

Think back to your most memorable brewery experience: where and why?
Probability attending the Top Hop with Mike or helping you guys brew the double IPA we entered into it.

What do you do at your hopyard? Any particular items of interest we should know about?
Cody and Zeb both do a lot of hands on work in the yard. Zeb also does all the record keeping, book keeping and financials. Cody does mostly the agronomic side of things keeping the plants strong and healthy to produce high quality Nebraska hops.

Why did you get into growing hops? To prove we could provide a high quality Nebraska hop.

What are you most proud of at Loup Valley Hops? Growing a high quality Nebraska grown hop and growing strong relationships with a lot of really great people in the process.

Today’s Proudly Not Made By Robots feature is that of our taproom manager, Alex Lamb. Alex is an Elkhorn, Nebraska native and has been working in the beer industry for awhile now, first at Thunder Head Brewing in Kearney and now the past year here at SBC. In fact, today is Alex’s year anniversary.

Alex’s addition to SBC has given our production and operations team significantly more time to spend growing our productive output, distribution territory, with more time in our market meeting with customers new and old. He’s a big reason why you’re enjoying more of the Sandhills’ Finest outside of the Loup Valley. So let’s get to know Alex a bit better!

What is your favorite SBC beer? Favorite non-SBC beer? Sandhills Gold Bohemian Blonde Ale; Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA.

Think back to your most memorable brewery experience: where and why? Thinking about anytime I’ve been to Zwei Brewing Company in Fort Collins puts a smile on my face. A special place with special beer.

What is your favorite SBC event? I’ll say Kegs and Eggs. I’m a big proponent of both breakfast burritos and beers which are the main components of the event.

What is one hobby you enjoy in your free time? Sand volleyball.

If you had a year to go on an adventure, where would you go and why? I would walk around Europe checking out Old World architecture and going to soccer games.

Who is your favorite Star Wars character? Darth Vader.

What bit of advice would you give your 18 year old self? You don’t learn anything from talking.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Better at golf.

What is your favorite thing to do in nature? Taking walks.

What do you like best about working at SBC? I am constantly in awe at the pride and support the community shows for SBC.

What is one thing you would do to make the world a better place? Remind people to to  “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.