Beer to Farm to Table: JV Farms & Superior Bathhouse Brewery

November 17, 2016 in Advertising Photography, Commercial Photography, Editorial Photography, Food Photography

I've spent a lot of time over the past year working with Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs photographing varying projects. But one I did over the summer was one of my favorites.

JV Farms is a small, family, homestead farm located in Bismarck, Arkansas. They use organic and sustainable practices and offer a variety of items such as: free-range eggs, whole hog sausage, rabbits, pasture-raised lamb and seasonal produce. JV Farms sausage and other pork products can be found daily on the menu at Superior. I can attest to how good their bratwurst it.

Once the brewing process at Superior is complete, the spent grains are then scooped out and dumped into buckets. But what to do with it? Jay Lee, the owner of JV Farms picks up the spent grains who then feeds it to his pigs. To the pigs, it's like eating candy.

On a very hot afternoon in late July, I spent the evening at JV Farms during the feeding of the little (and big) piggies and then afterwards, it was dinner for everyone. You cannot beat the smell of fresh, artisan bratwurst on the grill.

Superior and JV Farms takes the Farm to Table concept one step further: Just add beer!

From Baths to Beers: Part Two | Superior Bathhouse Brewery

August 30, 2016 in Editoral Work, Advertising Photography, Food Photography

By now, most of us know about Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs. It's the only brewery located in a national park. I spent a day at Superior this past spring photographing their brewing process as well as some beauty shots of selected beers and some of their more popular menu items.

The old, and historic, Superior bathhouse seemed like a logical place to have a brewery, after all bathhouses are built to handle large amounts of beer's main ingredient: hot water.

The idea of re-purposing an old building as a brewery is not new. Retrofitting Superior posed special challenges since the bathhouse building itself is a National Historic Landmark.

The spring water that is brought into the building is already at 142 degrees, so less energy is needed to get it to 172 degrees which is ideal for brewing beer.

Superior is getting lots of national attention. In a recent article by the Chicago Tribune, spoke to owner Rose Schweikhart, "Very few springs are both hot and potable. We are the only brewery in the world utilizing thermal spring water in our beer. You will find many breweries with spring water and many breweries that use geothermal technology to heat water, but we are truly the only one who uses thermal spring water out of the ground directly into our processing vessels."

There's a lot of downtime when it comes to brewing beer, which is something I learned during my photo shoot. In between the steps of the brewing process is when I photographed the beer beauty shots. You can see those in my other blog post.

Karen E. Segrave | KES Photo

Superior Bathhouse Brewery

Once the brewing process is complete, the spent grains are then scooped out and dumped into buckets. But what to do with it? Jay Lee, a local farmer and owner of JV Farms in Bismarck picks up the grains who then feeds it to his pigs. To the pigs, it's like eating candy. JV Farms processes their pork and several of their items can be found on the menu at Superior. I can attest to how good their bratwurst it.

More on that in another blog post coming next month....

From Baths to Beers: Superior Bathhouse Brewery

July 11, 2016 in Advertising Photography, Food Photography

If you haven't visited Hot Springs lately, you're missing out on quite a gem. Superior Bathhouse Brewery is located on Historic Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park and is home to Hot Springs' first Craft Beer Tasting Room, on-site Brewery.

I spent an afternoon back in April photographing some of the most popular brews and non-brews that Superior has to offer. In the photo above is their Killer Irish Red served in a tankard.

For the dark beer lovers, on your next visit you can try (above) Foul Play Stout served in a pint glass showcasing artwork by local tattoo artist and founding Foul Play Cabaret Member, Doris Night.

For the blonde beer lovers, try Hitchcock Spring Kölsch, seen below.

Another popular beer is Chaudfontaine Houblon (below). Chaudfontaine is a Belgian town located in the province of Liège and when translated literally, Chaudfontaine means Hot Spring.

For those looking for the perfect nibble to pair with their beer, one of Superiors most popular items is their Southern Black-Eyed Pea Hummus served with pretzel chips. I can eat this stuff by the bowl.

Or you can try their Superior Plate. Served at dinner, the Superior Plate featured Arkansas-own Petit Jean seasonal meats and Kent Walker artisan cheeses. In the photo it's paired with Chaudfontaine Houblon.

Looking for the sweeter, more indulgent drinks at Superior? A local favorite is their root beer float. Superior uses Arkansas-made Yarnell's Ice Cream serving over 40 floats daily and going through more than 50 gallons of ice cream weekly. We went through a few tries to get the right photo and we tasted as we photographed.

Quality control...right???