Behind Brewer's Crackers, A Company Launched By Commack Bros.

COMMACK, NY — If you enjoy beer, you'll probably love the concept behind Brewer's Crackers. Matthew and Kyle Fiasconaro, ages 37 and 34, are two brothers originally from Commack who began work on the product just over a year ago.

The key ingredient? Spent grain leftover from the craft beer-brewing industry. When making beer, brewers steep super high-quality grains, like barley, in water, the company explained. Brewers then strain the mixture, keeping the liquid to make beer and discard the "spent" grains. The grains happen to sustain their flavor, as the steeping process unlocks nutrients. The brothers have sustainability in mind, as they recycle the grains into their crackers.

"[The spent grain] normally gets thrown out and ends up in a landfill or a farm, but a farm doesn’t need two tons of grain," Matthew Fiasconaro told Patch. "These breweries have to pay to get it carted away, and it ends up in a landfill, which is horrible for the environment. We’re just happy to be doing our part for the environment and finding another life for this product."

Today, Brewer's Crackers products are served in Whole Foods locations across the Northeast and North Atlantic regions, including the Fiasconaros' original backyard of Long Island. Cracker flavors include original, spicy peppercorn, sesame sea salt and honey graham. Flatbread crackers were recently launched in sea salt and everything. In addition to in-person stores, the products can be bought on the Brewer's Crackers website or Amazon.

Kyle is the chef and product developer behind the operation, while Matthew handles the accounting and a lot of the marketing. While Kyle has since moved to Boston and Matthew to Roslyn Heights, where he commutes to Syosset High School to teach business, they consider themselves Commack boys at heart. They consider Brewer's Crackers to be based in both Commack and Somerville, MA.

When trying to get their crackers stocked at the Commack Whole Foods on Veterans Memorial Highway, Matthew told the woman in charge of product approval that he and his brother grew up in Commack, played Little League ball there and attended Commack High School. Tugging the heartstrings worked, as the company was given the green light and Brewer's Crackers gained access to the entire New York City market.

"That was a huge win for us," Matthew said.

The cracker company's burst onto the Whole Foods scene happened around February. For the few months prior, the Fiasconaros' concept had much more humble beginnings.

Matthew said when Kyle was still living on Long Island, he would regularly drive past Greenport Harbor Brewing Company. Kyle, a chef by nature, realized how much grain the brewery was throwing away and thought to himself that he could create some type of product from it.

He began playing with some recipes in his own kitchen and came up with the Brewer's Cracker. At first, he was selling them to local cheese shops. As the demand for the crackers rose, Kyle's base of operations grew in size; he went from his kitchen to using a deli after hours before eventually renting out a communal kitchen once a week. That's when, in February, a buyer from Whole Foods saw his product in a cheese shop and contacted him.

The brothers have since co-operated with a co-packer, signed on with three distributors and hired a demo crew to help them showcase their product.

"We’re now spreading our wings," Matthew said. "Every quarter so far, we’ve doubled our revenue."

Brewer's Crackers has since enlisted the help of other breweries, including Zero Gravity Brewery in Vermont. Matthew added that the product relies on the mutually beneficial relationship between them and the breweries they get their grain from.

"The brewers have to be cool," he said. "Obviously they’re happy to be getting rid of some grain, but we’re kind of interrupting the process a little bit. We have to be there when they’re emptying the canisters. We have to try to be as non-intrusive as we can."

In return, the brothers bring participating breweries free crackers, as it also gives the brewers the chance to see what happens with the grain once it leaves their facility.

"We’re trying to bring more awareness to the issue of food waste," Matthew said. "We want to bring some light to the issue that there’s so much grain being wasted."

Matthew said another selling point of their crackers is the nutritional value. According to the label on the original Brewer's Crackers bag, there are 140 calories in one 12-cracker serving, along with six grams of protein, four grams of fiber, 21 grams of carbohydrates and four grams of total fat. He specifically pointed to the protein and fiber content.

"That’s unheard of if you look at any other cracker. That’s because we use really, really good ingredients. We can afford that because we’re getting our spent grain for free, so that’s a raw material we don’t have to pay for."

He described the general taste of the crackers as "earthy, sustainable and great for dipping."

"It’s not going to break on you or dissolve in your mouth," he said. "Honestly, the quality of the cracker is unmatched. I feel like with other companies, it’s like sawdust. You bite into it and you can see dust flying out."

Each bag of Brewer's Crackers goes for $5 on the website, while the flatbread box is $6. Given the initial success of the brand, it will be interesting to see where the local company goes from here.

More Photos