opinion

Judy Putnam: New beer nut for Michigan

JACKSON – A local researcher known as the "Chestnut Man" may have found a new market for a growing Michigan chestnut industry: beer.

Dennis Fulbright, professor emeritus at Michigan State University, says brewers are a great target market for chestnut producers in Michigan.

"It's the fourth-largest nut industry in the world, but we don't eat chestnuts (in the U.S.), we sing about them," Fulbright told a small group last week at the Jackson County Agriculture Council, which meets monthly to promote agriculture in the region.

Fulbright is a plant pathologist who became intrigued with the potential of a U.S. chestnut industry. Now he is vice president of product development for a newly launched chestnut processing company called Treeborn Products, Inc. and he's promoting toasted chestnut chips to regional brewers.

Chestnuts are a diet staple in other cultures, particularly in Italy and areas of the Middle East and Asia, Fulbright said, but in the U.S. there's mostly just seasonal consumption at the holidays.

Fulbright and his business partners hope that even if Americans don't want to eat chestnuts, they will at least drink them in the form of gluten-free beer and regular stouts, ales and porters.

Fulbright said the chestnut makes for sweeter, smoother taste and it can be used to produce gluten-free beer.

As Michigan continues to recover from an economic slump many call the "Lost Decade," new ideas are needed. The chestnut industry has been promoted by MSU with about 110 growers in the state, most of them in West Michigan with about eight in mid-Michigan. Michigan led the U.S. in production, according to the 2012 US Census of Agriculture and it has the fifth-largest craft beer industry.

"The brewing industry is perfect," Fulbright said. "A lot of brewers are taking samples."

Treeborn Products is housed at the Rogers Reserve in Jackson. It was donated to MSU to grow and study chestnut trees.

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter produces a seasonal ale with chestnuts using the chestnut chips. Called Fuego del Otono, it draws puzzled looks from some before sampling the fall beer, said Dan VanDuinen, manager for the brewer's Taphouse in Dexter.

But after customers try it, "they tend to have another one," VanDuinen said.

"We go through Fuego pretty well, even in the off season. Fuego does do very well here, which is crazy, because you think that chestnuts and warming spices wouldn't do well but it does," he said.

Another Michigan brewer is trying chestnuts and is offering a taste locally. Short's Brewing Co. of Bellaire and Dusty's Cellar in Okemos are holding dinner/beer pairing with six beers and five foods, said Billy Shreck, general manager of Dusty's Wine Bar.

He said the dinner is sold out, but a small keg will be tapped after the dinner, around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, in Dusty's Tap Room next door. It is a special Bellaire Brown with toasted chestnuts (not gluten-free) and the public is welcome.

Perrin Brewing Co. in Comstock Park and Grand River Brewery in Jackson also use the chips.

Bill Nash of Nash Nurseries near Owosso grows chestnuts. He has 400 trees on six acres and sells trees as well to other orchards. He said his family nursery has been growing chestnut trees for 30 years but much more is known about the science and fitting the right type to the local climate.

"To try imagine twenty years ago that the chestnut industry would have grown so much and the craft beer industry would have grown so much, it's almost like a perfect storm," he said.

Judy Putnam is a columnist at the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter@judyputnam or on Facebook.com/judy.putnam