There’s a new farmers’ market in town, and it has at least three distinguishing factors: It’s in a brewery; its afternoon hours are friendly to the non-early risers among us; and it bravely launched in November, with winter about to set in. The Harvest and Hops Farmers’ Market takes place on the first Saturday of each month from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Brewer’s Cabinet Production Facility, at 8565 White Fir St., in Reno. The vendors set up indoors, and there’s picnic-table seating indoors and out. The next two markets are slated for Saturday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Jan. 3.
How did the idea come about to host a farmers’ market at the brewery?
It’s a huge space, and I was trying to find some ways to fill it up with some activities and promotions, and when I go from the restaurant downtown to the production facility, I drive by the farmers’ market (on California Avenue) almost every time. … I was like, “I’m sure in the wintertime, it gets hard to do those farmers’ markets,” and I thought, “I have an indoor facility, plus space. Maybe it’s something worth trying out.”
What other events have you tried?
We did an Oktoberfest celebration in the end of September. (On Nov. 22), we actually (had) a huge concert going on. It’s called the School of Rock. They teach kids how to play music concerts there. We have bunch of holiday parties that go out there as well. We had the Manogue (High School) track team do their end-of-year celebration. … We rent it out and use it to do parties all the time.
What types of vendors are at the new farmers’ market?
We’ve got produce, of course, which is getting harder and harder to do because of the weather. We have a poultry guy; we have a meat guy; then we have little knickknacks. One person’s doing candles. Another vendor is doing candy and chocolate.
At the November market, did you see anything that particularly caught your eye?
The lady who was doing face-painting was selling Thanksgiving wreaths, and she sold a bunch of them. I think Frost Giant ice cream had a good turnout; it was nice that day, actually. It was pretty sunny. … I emailed everyone, like, “Hey, how was the response? Would you guys do it again?” And everyone seemed pretty positive, especially considering it was the first one. … I know the taco truck (La Reyna) had a great day.
Will the taco truck be there all winter?
Yeah, they’re there every time we’re open.
Can people buy canned beer from you there, too?
We have six packs to-go.
Any special holiday brews?
We’ve got a beer coming. It’s called Control Alt Delete. It’s a festive Kölsch ale, a light German beer. In Germany, there’s a town that makes Kölsch, which is Cologne, and the town next to them makes what’s called an altbier, which is a rival of the Kölsch. It’s a light beer, but it looks dark. So we have the yeast that we use for the Kölsch beer, and we’re excited to make an alt beer. That comes out Dec. 4. It’ll be out for the next farmers’ market.
Any other news?
We’re doing the collaboration with the Reno Ice Raiders, which is the local hockey team. We’ve done a beer for them every year, and we’ve changed it up every year. Last year, it was an IPA. This year, it’s actually a Kölsch. It’s called The Tookey. The coach’s name is (Tim) Tookey, and he was a famous NHL player on the East Coast. Now he coaches the Ice Raiders, and the team wanted to make a beer named after him. We sell it at both places (the production facility and the brewpub at 475 S. Arlington Ave.), and then we sell it at the ice rink. … I went to a game a couple weeks ago, and the cans were everywhere. The beer was everywhere. Everybody was having a great time. It was fun.