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Continuing this week with our tour and discussion of Nebraska craft breweries, we are focusing on Ploughshare Brewing, the newest brewery in Lincoln. You can see the previous breweries here including Blue Blood, of which I am an investor. There is also a more complete introduction to the series here.
I’ll be contacting other breweries around the state (with the next stop being Omaha), and posting a profile of a brewery on each Friday morning. Feel free to add a brewery in the comments section, and I’ll get to as many as I can before school starts again and football season kicks off.
Background
Ploughshare’s name reflects the idea that beer comes from agriculture. Farmers grow the ingredients. The name is also a reference to the hard life of the farmers and animals who put in a hard day's work to grow food for us. It encourages people to celebrate a hard day of work, no matter the vocation, with a cold beer at the end of the day.
The ploughshare is the curved piece of iron on the animal-pulled plow. A plough* could be made from sticks and pieces found around the farm, but the ploughshare had to be purchased from the blacksmith. The company’s logo is an ox and shows both the playful and serious sides of an animal that has been trained for 3-4 years to do back-breaking work.
Ploughshare Brewing opened in July 2014 and operated as a taproom with guest beers only until they tapped their own beer in November 2014.
*Old English spelling intentionally used to keep with the spelling of the brewery’s name
Location/Hours
Ploughshare is located at 1630 P Street in Lincoln. The taproom is open during the summer Thursday and Sunday from "4 pm ‘til late", Friday from "4 pm ‘til midnight" and Saturday from "2 pm ‘til midnight." Tours are available Friday and Saturday at 6 pm. Tours cost $5.50 +tax, but come with pint glass and a free fill. Ploughshare also has a limited food menu that changes seasonally to match the beer that is available.
Beer
Ploughshare’s website has a great description of their beers. On their website, the beer is split into three categories:
Regular Line Up
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Robber’s Pils - Pre-prohibition pilsner
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Farm Boy - Cream ale
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Buckboard Bitter - English style ESB
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Tailgate Red - Irish red ale
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Percheron - American IPA
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Weathervane** - Belgian style witbier
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Smithy** - American export stout
**Weathervane and Smithy may be replaced with other wheats or stouts
Seasonals
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Pitchfork Tripel - Monastic-style tripel
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First Blush - Tart cherry witbier
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Bumper Crop - 100% organic Belgian-style saison
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Coal Train - Baltic porter
Boiler Room Special Releases (Generally barrel-aged, but all very limited in availability with collectible bottles)
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There were none listed at the time of publication, but there will be some available in late summer/fall
They also have rotating taps with guest beers from other nearby craft breweries that include ciders and gluten-free selections.
Availability
Ploughshare’s beer is only available in their tap room. The only offsale available is in 64 oz. growlers. Look for them soon on draft in your favorite bar in and around Lincoln.
Verdict
I’ve never had a beer from here I don’t enjoy. The Tailgate Red is robust and complex. Ya know, exactly what you’d want to tailgate before Big Red games (I wonder how they named it…). The Farm Boy is a very good cream ale, which is not a terribly common style, but Ploughshare does a great job of making a light, refreshing beer. My friends who enjoy stouts really like Ploughshare’s stouts of which they have a couple of rotators.