The Biscuit Story - Or, How the Biscuits got their bite!

In the late summer of 2017, I was rejoicing that I had survived a full season on the farm. The heat had somewhat subsided and I was starting to settle into a groove. Having worked hard all season, caring for birds and attempting to grow a garden, I decided to join some friends and attend the annual fundraising concert put on by Our Hospice in Columbus, Indiana, during Labor Day weekend. My thoughts were to sit back in the picturesque landscape of Mill Race Park there in Columbus and perhaps enjoy a few adult beverages with no worries for a few hours. 

As my group arrived, we dug into our coolers and began to lazily sip beer beverages – waiting for the headliner band that night, Blue Öyster Cult to take the stage. Funny now to realize that the band’s name came from an anagram of “Cully Stout Beer” after reading that the origins of that name came from a 1960’s poem written by their manager, Sandy Pearlman. Little did I know in those brief moments how much my life would change.

Have you ever seen the movie “Back to the Future” where Marty McFly’s parents have to attend the “Fish Under the Sea Dance” to fall in love and thus produce Marty? Yeah, it was kind of like that only without the whole Biff thing. If I hadn’t been where I was at that specific time, I wouldn’t be telling the biscuit story.

I was settled quite comfortably in my lawn chair when a friend walked up and asked if I had met this guy who was going to be brewing beer in Seymour in just a few weeks. I said I’d love to meet him and then found out that he wanted to know if my chickens would want the spent grain for extra feed. Knowing that this would absolutely help my feed bill and also be a pretty cool thing to be a part of, I said yes and he and I started talking.

He, Ritch, told me that the pizza place in town, Brooklyn Pizza Company, was going to be opening Seymour Brewing Company in just a few weeks (after the red tape of the licensing passed through) and that he’d love to give me the spent grain to feed to the chickens so that he didn’t have to throw it away.

We chatted for a bit and I found that his wife was one of my very good friend’s kid’s pediatrician and also that we were in the same high school class in Seymour. After some additional pleasantries, we both headed back to our respective groups and I anxiously awaited the text from him that said that the grain was ready for pick-up.

Two weeks later, I got my first notification and arrived at the back of the restaurant/bar to find three 5 gallon buckets that had to have weighed 50/60lbs. each. Curious, I lifted the lid of one of the buckets and saw the grain. Cool! The smell that accompanied the grain wasn’t unpleasant as I’d heard others say it was – it was earthy and warm. I guess that was a good thing now that I think back- as my car started to carry a hint of the smell and started to stick to my clothing. Needless to say, that made me not so popular with the office that I was working in at the time. Haha.

I took the buckets home and carried them to the chicken coop. Knowing that three buckets would be WAY too much grain for the 5 birds that I had, I gave one bucket to the birds who eagerly started gobbling it up and took the other two buckets to the garden to start composting into the ground for next year’s yield.

A few days later, Ritch contacted me again with another three buckets available. I was now faced with the dilemma on figuring out what I was going to do with this grain as the chickens hadn’t eaten but a portion of what I had dumped in days earlier.

I couldn't stop accepting the grain because I didn’t want to lose that relationship with being a part of something that was going to be huge in my tiny small town. With this determination I took those three buckets and put them on the garden plot.

My garden is quite large so it definitely can handle the leavings of a small brewing operation, but I wanted something more for the grain.

One morning, as I was getting ready for work the idea hit me. Hey, can’t spent brewing grains be used for doggy treats? I grabbed my phone as I was brushing my teeth and went to Google to search.

Sure enough, there were recipes available that worked the pungent grains into treats that dogs loved and that were good for them. I decided on a peanut butter recipe and that night went to work creating the first batch of spent brewing grain dog treats.

My dogs went crazy for them that first night so I took treats to work the next day and had those coworkers try them on their pooches. The reports came back that the pups loved them. Thus, I.P.A. Bites were born.

After a few more trials and a lot of errors and the challenge of coming up with a name that was catchy and tied back to its roots of beer (the term "pupper" was one of my favorites), the I.P.A. Bites are now in local stores, had their first showing in Indianapolis this past summer and were sold at the Indiana State Fair and, most exciting, were recently recognized by a well known public state figure. That's right, the Governor of Indiana's dog, Henry Holcomb, has enjoyed these treats. It's honestly one of my favorite pics. that I've received.

I've since increased the flock to allow me to feed all three buckets of spent brewing grain to the birds at one time, several times a week - but I still hold back a small bit to make the well liked treats. It's good for the environment and helps pay those farm bills that regular work just can't do.

I.P.A. Bites - Incredible. Pupper. Appetizers. - your dog's own Happy Hour!