In the Yakima Valley, so often the makers are also the stewards of the land. This close connection between cultivation and craft means visitors can experience a sense of place rarely so distilled. Come to the source and experience a generation of producers putting Yakima agriculture in the glass and on the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Agriculture](\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/cdn.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23180006\/sip-savor-blog-images-beer-700x389.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAgriculture at Your Backdoor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Overlooking expansive views, Cowiche Creek Brewing Company<\/a> sits on a 40-acre farm run by third-generation farmers, the husband-and-wife team of Derrick and Maria Nordberg. What started as a post-harvest homebrewing lark \u2014 debuting at Yakima\u2019s iconic Fresh Hop Ale Festival<\/a> in 2016 \u2014 has grown into a thriving passion-led business, with the Nordberg\u2019s hard work earning them accolades among the best beermakers in the region. In 2025, for example, Cowiche Creek Brewing\u2019s wet-hop IPA GROWN4U \u2014 loaded with 400 pounds of fresh Simcoe hops from Loftus Ranches\u2019 Tributary Hop Farms<\/a> \u2014 took home first place in the competitive IPA category at Fresh Hop Ale Fest. \u201cWe feel so fortunate to live in the Yakima Valley and have these hops farms right out our backdoor,\u201d the Nordbergs say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more directly outside the brewery\u2019s backdoor is the taproom and restaurant\u2019s kitchen garden, where the team cultivates five kinds of tomatoes and six types of peppers for dishes such as blistered shishitos, tomato\u2013red pepper soup, and fresh salads topped with vibrant chimichurri dressing. Known especially for hearty in-house ground chuck and brisket burgers, Cowiche Creek Brewing attracts diners and drinkers looking for a taste of what connects Yakima\u2019s food and beverage scene to its farmland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs farmers first,\u201d says Tieton Cider Works<\/a> cidermaker and co-owner Marcus Robert, \u201cwe like to make cider that is reflective of [our] vocation.\u201d Tieton grows Washington\u2019s largest acreage of bittersharp and bittersweet apples along with other cider fruits, affectionately called Cider View. It\u2019s a scenic route of over 15 acres on volcanic, andesite rock cliffs overlooking the Tieton and Naches river confluences, with large foothills across the way providing picturesque views of the Naches Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, cider is part of the daily rhythm. \u201cWe\u2019re not making cider one time a year, we\u2019re making cider every day,\u201d explains Robert. A truckload of fresh-picked apples \u2014 all grown within a 30-mile radius \u2014 arrives each morning for processing. Before the production team starts fermentation, the fruit is sorted, ground, and pressed into juice. Leftover pomace \u2014 the pulpy remains of apple pressing \u2014 goes to nearby cattle farms for the animals to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The result of Tieton\u2019s laborious orchard-to-glass approach is a diverse range of ciders \u2014 from dry and tannic to sweet and acidic \u2014 that visitors can sample in the tasting room. Over the bar, cider awards and farm photos reflecting many years of history are hung with pride. Outside, guests can enjoy beautiful weather playing bocce or cornhole or watching local bands play on a stage crafted not from just any wooden planks but from surplus apple bins \u2014 after all, this is a farm first, and creative reuse is a given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe choices we make and how we care for this place is everything,\u201d says Patrick Rawn, a fourth-generation farmer who co-owns Two Mountain Winery<\/a> with his brother Matt. Their estate \u2014 named for Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, which overlook the vineyard \u2014 was the first in Washington to be Certified Green through LODI RULES Sustainable Winegrowing<\/a>, a science-based program based in Lodi, California. Likewise, the vineyard\u2019s first harvest was certified Salmon Safe<\/a> and certified by Sustainable WA<\/a>, a program built by multiple Washington wine organizations in partnership. During Sustainable WA\u2019s development, Rawn served on the Farmer\u2019s Committee, which was tasked with helping source funding and design a program that would stand the test of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rawn attests that low-input farming focused on soil health develops high-productivity vines and, ultimately, high-quality wine. This means eschewing herbicides in favor of techniques like cultivating cover crops to protect vine roots and retain moisture; fostering an ecosystem of diverse and native plants, insects, and animals as a method of pest control; and employing grazing sheep<\/a> to improve soil quality. This low-intervention, high-effort approach makes its way to Two Mountain\u2019s cellar as well, where Rawns says a relatively hands-off method of 100% estate winemaking allows the liquid\u2019s sense of place shine through. The result is ripe, integrated tannins, natural acidity, and elegant aromatics \u2014 Yakima Valley in a glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet the makers cultivating and crafting excellence from farm to glass By Stasia Brewczynski In the Yakima Valley, so often the makers are also the stewards of the land. This close connection between cultivation and craft means visitors can experience a sense of place rarely so distilled. Come to the source and experience a generation… View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27315,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27305\/revisions\/27315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n![\"Farmer-first](\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/cdn.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23180045\/sip-savor-blog-images-cider-700x389.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA Farmer-First Approach<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Cultivating](\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/cdn.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23180107\/sip-savor-blog-images-wine-700x389.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCultivating a Future of Farming<\/h3>\n\n\n\n