THE Corrigin Farm Improvement Group (CFIG), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021, has used the barley from last year's community crop to create a limited edition beer.
Three hundred kilograms of Spartacus malt barley was sent to Lucky Bay Brewery at Esperance to be transformed into 1100 litres of liquid gold - and last week locals had the chance to put the taste to the test.
CFIG executive officer Veronika Crouch said it was a great community effort with various members of the committee seeding, spraying, spreading and harvesting the crop.
"We've had a lot of help from our committee and our members - some donated inputs, including seed and chemicals, while others did fire breaks throughout the year," Ms Crouch said.
"It's given the group and its members the chance to own a beer and celebrate something with something they've actually grown themselves."
The beer was named Firestorm, in recognition of the recent disaster to strike the area in February, while the logo represents CFIG's history and recent events.
"If you look at the CFIG logo, the wheat that is in part of our label is used, then there's the yellow and the green that are part of our colouring, plus the red for the fire," she said.
"The logo and the name came about through a little bit of community consultation and probably has more to do with what's happened recently as opposed to last year's crop.
"However, I think it's a really nice way to bring something positive out of the fire as well."
Through an arrangement with the Corrigin Hotel, Firestorm is currently available on tap, however with only four kegs, it won't last long.
CFIG members are also able to get their hands on some cans of the brew through a donation.
In terms of taste, CFIG asked Lucky Bay to create something reminiscent of a mid-strength Great Northern - something easy drinking and classically Australian.
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