Meat&Poultry - August 2012 - 35

“There were a lot of hoops he had to jump through to get it done,” reflects his daughter Sophie, who serves as manager for the family business. “For those who think getting meat inspection is tough, trying to start the first micro-brewery in North Carolina was a formidable task. After a law was finally on the books, there were more than a dozen federal and state agencies he had to clear before he could start up. This included the Central Intelligence Agency; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Internal Revenue Service; OSHA and many other trade, tax and regulatory agencies.” Once the Weeping Radish Brewery was opened in nearby Manteo, Bennewitz opened a restaurant, as was required under the micro-brewery law, to serve local food with local beer.

laws that reign in Germany for both beer and meats. “His farm concept was that spent mash from the beer making could help feed the animals,” Sophie recalls. “Water could be used for irrigation. Everything could be recycled and reused in some way for greater efficiency and be environmentally friendly.”

the pub. An organic garden is used to provide fresh herbs and vegetables for the restaurant as well. Bennewitz embellished his concept by establishing a joint venture with German Master Butcher Gunther Kuhle. They imported equipment from the homeland and set up a product ion facilit y in t he same

“There were a lot of hoops he had to jump through to get it done.”
—Sophie Bennewitz

This part of his dream was realized in 2000 when he bought 24 acres of farmland along the busy Caratoke Highway (Route 168) to establish an all-organic Weeping Radish Farm. The road daily ushers thousands of tourists and “snowbirds” to the beach and fishing mecca known as the Outer Banks. By 2006, the brewery and butchery began operating at that location. The colorfully mural-painted pole building fronting the roadway now houses the brewery, the restaurant and

building as the brewery to create the German-style meat products. This department is operated under Talmadge-Aiken meat inspection, through which state inspectors are supervised by federal management and the products are allowed into interstate commerce. Once it was up and running, the Weeping Radish Butchery was allowed to become the fi rst non-German company to enter the prestigious Bavarian Master Butcher’s Guild competition, where it took home awards for excellence in bratwurst and sweet potato liverwurst. Recognizing the efficiencies of scale, Bennewitz moved to establish business relationships with local farmers who could provide naturally raised livestock, including grass-fed beef and free-range pork. These area farms provide a meat source that can be monitored and provide both meats for the butchery and restaurant and are also returned to the farmers as gourmet processed meats that can be sold under their own labels. It is ironic that much of the original farm is currently being left fallow because of the rapid growth of the brewery and butchery.

Forward thinking
Bennewitz, who is known by many for thinking 10 years ahead, decided to establish an ecological farming program and raise his own livestock to produce meats kindred to the “purity”

Frank Meusel, a 34-year meat craftsman from Kassel, Germany, makes the specialty products for the Weeping Radish.

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Meat&Poultry - August 2012

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