“Truly local beer means beer grounded in time and place”, states co-owner of Subversive ​Malting and Brewing, Max Ocean.

Subversive Malting and Brewing is a small yet upbeat destination for beer lovers in New York State, serving the ​Hudson Valley and beyond from their location in The Catskills. Ocean and his business partner, Coffey, opened the ​brewery just a few years ago after graduating together from Ithaca College; they graduated with a $20,000 check-​in-hand after winning a business competition for their concept of a malthouse and brewery combined. Ocean and ​Coffey specialize in 100% locally sourced and grown ingredients, purchased from local farmers within a small radius ​of the business.

CATSKILL, NY, 4 November 2020 - Ocean inspects the recent barley that was delivered to the brewery from ​a local farmer in Syracuse, NY. The barley is in it’s original state but will eventually be used in the ​germination process.

While many breweries buy their malt from a malthouse, Ocean actually malts their barley by himself in the back of ​the brewery. By doing it himself, Ocean not only saves money, but he is also able to form better relationships with ​the farmers, something Ocean and Coffey both take great pride in. Malting, often referred to as “The Soul of Beer”, ​is the process of germinating the grain so that brewers can use the fermented sugars. There are several different ​approaches to malting, and at Subversive, the most simple method is used. Their process does not require any ​specific malting equipment. Despite the process itself being rather simple, it is still a labor intensive and time ​consuming one, taking upwards of 8 days from start to finish.

CATSKILL, NY, 5 November 2020 - Ocean uses a rake to distribute the wet barley onto the floor evenly so ​that it can finish germinating and begin drying over the next two days.

The process begins by steeping the grain in water, allowing the barley to begin sprouting. This process is known as ​germination. Ocean shovels heaps of barley into a 1000 gallon water tank, where it steeps for 16 hours in total. The ​tank is emptied and refilled with cold water three times per batch during the soak. After the grain has soaked for 16 ​hours, Ocean transfers the grain to the floor, where he rakes the barley into a thin layer across the floor. The barley ​will continue to germinate, eventually producing enzymes that break down proteins and lock in states that the ​brewers will use. The barley remains on the floor for two full days, before being transferred into a kiln to be ​completely dried for another two or three days. There are different levels of drying the grain, resulting in different ​flavors and colors from the malt.

CATSKILL, NY, 5 November 2020- The germinated barley continues to create enzymes and begins to dry out ​over the two days that it is left on the floor.

After the malting process is complete, Coffey uses the malt to brew the different selection of beer that Subversive ​offers to their customers. Subversive has a relatively simple brewing setup, following the English brewing tradition, ​the less technical approach with fewer steps than the more complicated German brewing tradition. Both Ocean and ​Coffey started out home brewing back in college, stating that Subversive Brewing is, “a scaled up home brew ​system”. There is just the one “HLT” - hot liquor tank - or in other words, the tank that keeps water hot that will ​later be added to the brew. There are two boil kettles and two mash guns, which is notably less efficient than having ​just one larger one; by only having the two smaller ones, Coffey must brew two different batches of the same beer at ​the same time, fully aware that each batch will differ slightly in taste.

CATSKILL, NY, 4 November 2020 - Coffey stands at the mash guns to observe the brew. The two boil kettles ​are heating up on either side of the mash guns.

Each beer will differ in taste slightly due to the amount of sugar in each batch. Ideally, every batch will contain ​between 12-14 Degrees Plato, measured by a tool called a refractionator. Similar to a camera, the refractionator ​observes how much light is refracted and reflected through the machine to measure the sugar amount within that ​liquid. Any major difference in the amount of sugar in the two tanks would be noticeable to the naked eye, however ​the refractionator can measure up to the single degree difference between batches. Ideally, the two batches would ​be within 2 Degrees Plato of one another. Brews that are between 12-14 Degrees Plato are diluted down further and, ​after the fermentation process, result in a brew that is only one Degree Pluto; if a batch contains more than 14 ​Degrees Plato, it is diluted even more with hot water before the fermentation process so that the final product does ​not exceed one Degree Pluto. The more a brew is diluted, the more quantity there will be at the end because of the ​extra hot water that is added to that tank.

CATSKILL, NY, 4 November 2020 - Coffey measures the Degrees Pluto of sugar in each batch. The glass on ​the left measured 17 Degrees Pluto, while the glass on the right measured 14. Coffey ex- plains that the ​batch measuring 17 Degrees Pluto will be further diluted than the other batch.

After the brew is diluted, it is moved into larger tanks where fermentation occurs. At this point, Coffey must decide ​whether he wants to make an ale or a lager: the difference is in the yeast added to the brews. For ales, the yeast ​that is used sticks together and produces CO2 that pushes this yeast to the top of the tank after the fermentation ​is complete. Ales are, therefore, harvested from the top of the tanks, while lagers are harvested from the bottom; for ​both ales and lagers, fermentation happens in the middle of the tank. For IPAs, hops must be added to the tanks at ​some point during the fermentation process. The amount of time that each brew ferments will differ, Subversive ​typically aims for one and a half weeks before bottling the product. After the brew has been transferred to the ​larger tanks, Coffey cleans out the two boil kettles and mesh gun tanks, including shoveling out the barley itself. ​Because the enzymes have been extracted already, the barley is no longer useful to Coffey. Subversive uses this ​opportunity to give back to local farmers by giving them this barley for their pigs, a great source of fat and energy ​for them.

CATSKILL, NY, 4 November 2020 - Coffey scoops out the old barley from the tanks for farmers to take for ​their farm animals.

The next and final step of the process is bottling and labeling the beer for distribution. While the majority of beer ​brewed is on tap at the actual brewery, a small portion is bottled for “to-go” sales and gifts. The bottle process is ​rather quick and efficient in comparison to malting and brewing, typically only taking one day to bottle and label ​two full batches of beer. Not surprisingly, a local artist and designer creates all of the labels for the bottles, with ​Ocean and Coffey bottling and labeling all of the bottles themselves. In some cases, such as special batches for the ​holidays, the bottles are even wax dipped and stamped to complete the final product look.

CATSKILL, NY, 10 November 2020 - Ocean fills four bottles at a time using an automatic fill- er. This method ​is not only more efficient, but also saves Ocean and Coffey manual labor from filling each bottle individually, ​like they did previously.

What was once a small college dream is now a great reality for both Ocean and Coffey. Subversive is a thriving and ​successful malthouse and brewery, with a clear set of core values: to utilize local farmers and really turn barley-to-​beer all in-house. When asked about the business model, Ocean summarizes,

“We make beer the way it has been made throughout most of history — with 100% locally ​sourced and grown ingredients.”

If you ever find yourself in The Catskills, stop by Subversive Brewing and Malting for a drink - you won’t regret it, ​and you’ll be supporting a small, local business! A special thanks to Ocean and Coffey for all of their expertise and ​time dedicated to this project.

This body of work examines the isolating and anxious reality of the year 2020 caused by the pandemic. As the ​entire world started to shift in ways previously unimaginable, the world started looking, and feeling, completely ​different. This body of work was shot on medium format color negative film and crossed processed in E6 to create a ​color shift that is representational of the world we are currently living in.

*Select images from a larger body of work. Entire series is 23 pieces and compiled into a zine.