The farm-to-table movement has changed the way we eat, mostly, for the better. Now, more than ever, consumers want to not only know where their food and drink comes from, but also how it ended up in front of them. It was this way of thinking that brought me to Houston Hall in New York City, eating a pig that had been fed a hearty diet of corn, oats, alfalfa and beer.

If you’re picturing a pig gleefully lapping up hefeweizen straight from the bottle, you wouldn’t be too far off from reality. Tank Jackson, the pig-whisperer of Holy City Hogs in South Carolina, has built his business on providing the highest quality pork for some of the country’s finest chefs. His hogs are pasture-raised and allowed to freely forage in the woods and open fields of Jackson’s farm. These are some pretty happy pigs, and happy pigs produce more tasty meat—anyone who has taken a bite out of Kobe beef can attest to the virtues of pampered meat.

Jackson met chef Dale Talde during the Charleston Food & Wine Festival. The chef was immediately impressed with the quality of his hogs. “If you look at Tank’s farm, and you look at how he treats his animals, you know, without a doubt, that those are some of the happiest pigs you’ve ever met in your entire life,” Talde said. “There’s an enormous amount of respect.” So, when Talde was tapped to create a unique dinner to kick off OctFest earlier this month, he knew exactly where to get his meat.

The concept for the dinner, which hosted brewers from around the country who would be pouring beer the next day on Governors Island, was simple: Create a whole-hog feast featuring a pig that had been raised on beer and pair it with beer. It wouldn’t be the first time Jackson was tasked with producing, what he calls “designer” meat. “We had previously fed a hog peaches and buttermilk. We have used apples and molasses, and another on peanuts and milk,” Jackson said. A pig’s diet, especially during its last few months of life, affects the pig’s flavor and fat content, or marbling.