“Do you guys prefer skinny or fat? Wild or tamed?”
I check my phone to see a text from Matt Richardson, co-owner and brewer at Tilted Barn Brewery in Exeter, Rhode Island. The questions aren’t as odd as they sound: it’s just that Matt wants to find us the perfect Christmas tree.
Long before the brewery opened in 2014, the property was a Christmas tree farm. Originally purchased by co-owner Kara Richardson’s grandparents in 1954, the farm is still active today—during the holiday season, you can traipse out into the fields clutching a Tilted Barn beer in one hand (today the Altbier feels like the right choice) and a handsaw in the other.
Tagging along with us on today’s adventure is three-year-old Milo, one of Matt and Kara's four children. Sporting a red, overall snowsuit; a Tilted Barn winter hat; and brown, Toy Story cowboy boots, Milo accompanies us through the fields, later showing us how to feed the donkeys and sheep—all the while keeping his hands comfortably tucked into the top of his snowsuit. Matt doesn't know where he picked up the habit, but in terms of looking like a seasoned farmer, Milo's a natural.
