I am sitting at the The Bar in the Great Northern Food Hall. Despite being tucked in a corner of Grand Central Terminal, the Nordic-designed space is a relaxing respite from the hustle of the commuter rail station. Equally relaxed is my drinking partner, a man that makes you realize "hygge" isn't just some bullshit buzzword. This is beverage director Jonas Andersen, clad in a cozy sweater and sipping a cappuccino as we talk. What I came here to find out is: Why did this gentle man need a goddamn wood chipper to make his latest beer?

"We have all this rye bread at the end of service every day. You make so much because there's nothing worse than running out," Andersen tells me. The Danish-owned MeyersUSA hospitality group, which runs Great Northern, is big on not creating food waste, so instead of tossing the bread like most restaurants might, it began storing it in its freezer at the end of every day. Sure, some of the stale bread could eventually become croutons, but what to do with the rest of its fast-growing stockpile? This is where Brooklyn Brewery comes in.

Great Northern Food Hall is the more casual, thrifty version of Danish culinary wizard Claus Meyer's burgeoning empire. Through a nearby doorway is Agern, his seasonally driven sit-down spot that just scored a Michelin star. Both restaurant and bar focus heavily on interesting alcohol pairings for their bites, offering fruited meads, funky ciders, and biodynamic wines. Beer-wise, that means exclusively dealing with local brews if they can help it.

Brooklyn brewmaster Garrett Oliver was already a fan of Meyers's cooking and proposed a partnership. Last year, he let Meyer and Andersen walk through his warehouse to taste countless barrels filled with many of his more experimental beers. Eventually, the Agern pair found an intriguing golden ale they liked that had been fermented with lees (yeast sediment) from a Finger Lakes riesling from the Hermann Wiemer Winery. That beer, Finger Søerne, was tasty but didn't incorporate anything from Agern, and the pair wanted something of their own for the second beer in the series.

Maybe there was finally a use for all that stale rye bread.

Sure, some of the stale bread could eventually become croutons, but what to do with the rest of their fast-growing stockpile?

The loaves were delivered to Brooklyn Brewery back in January, where Oliver, Meyer, Andersen, and the rest of the beverage and brewing teams were on site and ready to brew. One problem: The rye loaves had frozen into solid bricks. They needed to be broken into smaller pieces in order to become part of the beer mash.

"We tried to break it up with our hands. Impossible. Then we started cutting it into tiny cubes. There was so much that would have taken forever," Andersen tells me. "Finally, I got an idea..."

Andersen's vision was to head to a nearby Home Depot and buy two brand-new wood chippers. They were wheeled onto the brewhouse floor, and the loaves were dropped into them. The rye was absolutely obliterated into a bready sawdust they could actually brew with. A practical solution, but also, who hasn't wanted to stuff shit through a wood chipper?

"Yes, it was actually pretty fun," admits Andersen with a wry smile (no pun intended).

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The resulting beer is called Ruggernaut—"rug" means "rye" in Danish, and Juggernaut is a comic book character that Oliver loves. It's a 9.8 percent ale that almost exclusively uses that rye beer as its grain bill (a little barley was added to help fermentation). It is bold and flavorful, caramely and grainy but with a nice zip of acidity from the bread's yeast. In coming months, another version will be released after aging in New York Distilling Company barrels, which were formerly filled with, yes, rye whiskey.

Ruggernaut is now on the menu at Great Northern and Agern, the only places you can currently purchase it. Wood chippers and stale bread, however, are available everywhere.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with a corrected spelling of Andersen's name.

Aaron Goldfarb Aaron Goldfarb lives in Brooklyn and is a novelist and the author of 'Hacking Whiskey.'

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