For a long time, it has been a shared dream of us, Simon Siemsglüss and Nienke Oostra, to have a farm. It was the longing for a Horizon in the most literal as the figurative sense. As two countryside kids in the city there was always this lack of wind, cause the horizon got hidden behind concrete and stone.

The move to a farm also opened up a new perspective on things; it opened that figurative Horizon. We started asking ourselves the question why in beer and spirits the terroir of the main ingredients is so undervalued. In wine the terroir is seen as key to quality, but in beer almost all of us are working with grain bought with the large malteries. So basically, this is grain without traces of a distinguishable terroir. The more interesting is the fact that a lot of former grow regions of brewing grains are no longer producing. Reason here is that what is a good brewing grain is momentarily defined by the large industrial breweries. Their mentality of scraping pennies is the driving force of favouring some growing regions over others: regions where the grain has the highest rate of potential saccharification.              

              This is where our marvel starts. Does this mean that if the mayor industrialization of the last twenty years in the beer industry with respect to brewing grain, would also have taken place in wine, we no longer would have been able to enjoy a great Riesling or a Champagne? Isn’t it obvious there is so much more to grain than just a boring source of sugar? Would it be possible to catch traces of the surroundings in grain? We would like to test the grounds around our farm on their terroir: what indistinguishable ownness will they leave in the grain they produce. We are utterly sure this step will set our beer apart.

              In 2020 we bought a farm in the North of Germany between Elbe and Weser. It was derelict and completely overgrown by blackberry and meters high Nettle. We freed our castle from the thornbushes to make it into a brewery, distillery and family home. We planted a hundred fifty tree orchard with heritage apples, pears, medlar, quince and of course lots of sour cherry, a total of 50 different varieties. Underneath the traditional High stem trees we started growing our botanicals like juniper, gale, rosebud, raspberry, chamomile and calamus. Fenced in by hops, elderflower, sloe, hawthorn, saskatoon and crap apple. As an organic farm we try to stimulate the biodiversity to protect our crops.

We plan to focus mainly on wild fermented beers; Landbier, fruited lambics and botanical barrel aged stouts. Fermentation and aging is done on wooden barrels; Our barrels range from a big 2500 liter foeder to 500 liter ex-wine and whisky barrels, and port butts, to 200 litre wine and whisky barrels. We also plan a koelschip: an open basin to cool down the beer after brewing, while inoculating the wort with micro-organisms.

Besides a brewery we will also run a distillery, On a two-pot copper still where we will focus on grain, fruit and botanical distillates. Wild fermentation always has been the key to creating distillates with a wide yet gentle taste profile. We will use our knowledge to embrace these traditional methods.

To finalize this project, we will build an ecological constructed Waterland for renewal of waste water and create our own water source. To make all of this happen we will start a crowd funding 18^th of June 2023. During this crowdfunding you can have the opportunity to become a treeholder as well as to secure yourself other some perks. And see you on our founders day?

Crowdfunding

We bought the farm about two years ago. Since it had been a lost place for the last 20 years we had to do some substantial rebuilding. We got far on our own funds, but now we need to reach out to our community to help us making the last steps. The brewery is there, the distillery is there. What we need is funding for the installation and for the water management of our brewery and distillery. We are planning to get our own well to provide us with water. Also we plan our own waste water treatment facility, a constructed waterland, to purify it and bring it back into the ground without pollution.  For this we need a sum of 50 000 euro. We hope to win you over as a treeholder who not only will help us realizing our farmhouse brewery and distillery – but like the tree you chose – become a long term part of this project. Don´t have the funds to become a treeholder yet but want to get a taste of it? No worries, we have other smaller packages there!

In total we have 167 trees for our future treeholders. For 500 euro you will become a guardian and sponsor of one of the trees in our orchard. You of course get to pick a variety that fits your personality. You receive an invitation to our Founders day organized in the beginning of October (apple harvesting time). At the inaugural day you´ll be handed a magnum bottle of the Founders beer, a four year old elderflower wild ale. On this first treeholders day we host a festival full of music, amazing food and some exclusive breweries at our Lost Horizon Farm. Besides this you´ll receive the next five years every year our exclusive treeholders beer (shipped free of charge in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Chech, France, Denmark, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg).

There will be 100 additional tickets available for treeholders day. This Festival ticket requires a hundred euro donation. There also will be a special beer for you.

Also well have some smaller perks online, like a unique handprinted t shirt.