PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2022

D I S H A N D D R I N K

FROM GROUND TO GROWLER Metamora residents open brewery on the family farm

BY PHIL LUCIANO PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

M ETAMORA — After five generations, the Sommer farm has switched its agricultural focus. For more than a century, the emphasis was corn. Now it’s hops. That’s the vision of Adam Sommer, an electrician who wanted to become a math teacher but instead became a brewer. He and his family have turned the Sommer homestead into Evergreen Farm Brewing. “This wasn’t really planned at all,” said Sommer, 40. Alas, his change in careers not only is keeping the family’s farming legacy alive but allowing him to still follow his passion for teaching. He hopes

George Sommer – Adam Sommer’s great-great grandfather – started farming about two miles south of Metamora in 1858, the same year Abraham Lincoln did his last legal work at what is now known as the Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site. The Sommer farm’s precise address is 1179 Douglas Road, along what is more commonly known as the Metamora Washington Blacktop. George planted on what would eventually grow to become a 225 acre operation, mostly corn. The family always tried to stay apace with innovations. The farm was one of the first in the area with indoor plumbing and electric lights, the equipment for which is still evident today.

that by offering innovative beers, he can connect customers to the farming process involved in brewing, an educational but tasty lesson underscored by Evergreen’s motto, “From Ground to Growler.”

Adam Sommer, Evergreen brewmaster

30 MAY 2022 P EORIA MAGAZINE