Ryan Schabach picking up two 50# bags of Merit 57 from the Briess Office. He is pictured with the Briess Marketing Team, left to right: Dana, Ryan, Mercedes, and Bernadette.

Back in May, Ryan Schabach, referred to as the “Ye Olde Sponge Bawcock,” from Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee reached out to us for a project he was working on. After receiving our “Grow Your Own Barley” packet in the mail, Ryan reached out to Briess to see if we would collaborate with him on a WI barley test plot. We were more than happy to help a neighbor and over the last month, Ryan has been keeping us up to date with his Hilbert test plot.

Hilbert test plot land before it was tilled.
“There is a picture of Joey Jannette with his tiller. He is one of the grandsons that work for Jannette Excavation out of Chilton. He has been helping me out A LOT – he’s also my brother-in-law!!! He had his dad stop by with a dump truck of fertilizer so we could do a soil adjustment before we planted. That little bed of barley has become a family event, ” Ryan comments.
Breaking ground.
Plot after being tilled.
Bag of Briess Merit 57, proudly displayed next to freshly tilled and sown barley plot.
“The picture with the little barley growing in a round pot is from Lakefront Brewery. It took all of two days to start growing. Very impressive. ” – Ryan
Barley crop on June 22, 2017.
Note from Ryan, “Hello, My wife and I just got back from Iceland yesterday, and I happen to be by my family and took a few more photos of the HUGE Barley field in Hilbert. I heard our area received a “bit” of rain over the last few weeks so you can tell that not all the barley is growing at the same rate. Hope all is well and I will continue to update you with photos as the summer progresses!!” June 22, 2017