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FARMERY BREWERY Brothers Lawrence and Chris Warwaruk are the Martha Stewarts of the beer word, making craft brews from hops and barley they grow themselves. Photo courtesy of Farmery Brewing Farmery estate brewery takes beer production from field to fridge By Bob Armstrong I f you've ever visited or sought out wine from an estate winery where vintners carefully craft their product with their own grapes, Chris Warwaruk would like to introduce you to the concept of an estate brewery. He and his brothers Lawrence and Eric – founders of Farmery Brewing – have created just that in Neepawa, where the family grows their own barley and hops and now brews beer in a brand-new facility in the scenic Yellowhead Highway town. "Since 2011 we've talked about the vision of starting an estate brewery," he says. Though they've been producing Farmery beer for several years using their own barley and hops, originally they had their beer brewed for them by others – the lager in Ontario and the India Pale Ale in Alberta. But since they first got into the food and beverage business to create a market for the products grown on the family farm, they always had a strong desire to carry out all aspects of production themselves. So last spring and summer they took the plunge. They bought and renovated a former agricultural equipment dealership in Neepawa and brought in all the equipment needed for a brew house, including brewing and fermentation tanks, canning line and pasteurization equipment. Not only do they produce the beer on site; they also offer tastings and sell beer directly to customers. From Neepawa, they ship beer across Manitoba and into Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Warwaruk hopes to turn his sights on the American market next. At the same time as they were developing the brewery – the first in rural Manitoba – they expanded the hop yard from two to 10 acres, producing the fragrant vine-grown herbs used in flavouring beer. To expand their hop production, they bought a hops-picking machine from Poland, spent a couple of months assembling it, and used it to harvest this year's hops. "It harvested more in two or three hours than we did all last year," he says. "Now we can brew beer in our own brewery using our own ingredients." They use those ingredients to make a premium lager and what they call a Canadian Pale Ale, or CPA. The CPA is a "SMASH" beer, meaning it's made from a single malt and a single kind of hops. In their hop yard, they grow 10 different kinds of hops, giving them plenty of flavour options. They've also started producing flavoured beers. The first of three is Prairie Berry, a beer infused with raspberry, sour cherry and Saskatoon berries. The Warwaruk brothers believe that the unique status of their estate brewery will open doors in the craft beer market. "Clearly hundreds of years ago there were concepts like ours, farmers who grew their own grain and made their own beer. Now we've come full circle." Because they produce the barley and hops themselves, they know exactly what's going into each can. And they can grow specialized barley to provide just the right flavour profile. In fact, Warwaruk suspects that using special barleys could be an important trend in the beer business. In developing their brewery, they worked with seed growers and Manitoba Agriculture to identify heritage varieties of barley to grow on the family farm. ALE in the family

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