Following the successful launch of CO-OP GOLD® Lager last spring, CO-OP GOLD® Pilsner and Light have landed in Alberta and Saskatchewan liquor stores – just in time for backyard barbeque season.
Made with local ingredients and brewed by a master, Co-op Gold Lager, Light and Pilsner are refreshing, clean, crisp beer products that are produced and processed in Saskatchewan. The can designs point to the rural Saskatchewan farming community where the beers get their start – illustrating Co-op’s commitment to working alongside farmers to build communities through local food production.
Co-op Gold beers are the first products using ingredients harvested by a producer in the GROWN WITH PURPOSE® program to hit the shelves. Through Grown With Purpose, Co-op Grow Team members work with farmers to develop customized strategies to improve fertilizer efficiency, optimize production and support the health of their land.
“Co-op Gold beers are unique in that consumers can draw a direct line from the beer back to the Co-op farmer whose malt barley is an important ingredient,” explained Susan Grant, Liquor Marketing and Operations Manager with Federated Co-operatives Limited.
Making local connections
Gordon Moellenbeck, who farms near Englefeld, Sask., is a Co-op farm customer and certified Grown with Purpose farmer whose malt barley is used in the recipe for Co-op Gold beers.
Gordon’s farm focuses on growing top-quality products, creating a sustainable farm for the long term and protecting soil health.
“We need to focus on environmental stewardship to ensure safe practices for everyone,” he said. “Good stewardship is important and needed to ensure sustainable practices while remaining profitable.”
Co-op Gold beers have strong local connections, not only to the Moellenbeck family, but to a local maltster and brewer as well. Prairie Malt in Biggar, Sask. prepares the barley for brewing while Great Western Brewing in Saskatoon brews it. The beers are packaged and sold on the prairies.
Even the profits are used locally. “The Co-op Gold Pilsner, Light and Lager are only sold through Co-op liquor stores,” Grant said. “All the profits stay local, helping to keep farm communities alive.”
Old relationships, new products
Gordon has been a Co-op member “forever,” he said. He relies on Co-op for everything from groceries to crop inputs.
“We work with Co-op Agro at Humboldt, which provides competitive pricing, good service and good advice, including making recommendations about alternatives,” he said. “Most importantly, Co-op Agro looks at long-term strategy, at least three to five years out, when making recommendations.”
The Grown with Purpose program has supported advancement on Gordon’s farm, he said. “It helps us set goals and targets on yields over every single acre seeded, and supports land productivity through improved organic matter and achievable goal setting.”
Opportunities like Co-op Gold beer highlight the unique relationship Co-op has with its communities.
“Gordon Moellenbeck is passionate about the health of the soil and local farming communities. He cares about maintaining the rural way of life and keeping small communities viable,” said Grant.
“I like knowing we are contributing to the ingredients used to make our own beer.”
- More: Farm to Fork Stories
