An On-Farm Brewery Pays Tribute to Orange Tractors
A new brew pays tribute to the family farm and the dependable equipment that did the heavy lifting.
By Diana Lambdin Meyer | Photos By Justin L’Arrivee
Chris and Lawrence Warwuruk
Most consumers of the Farmery premium lager simply enjoy a great beer. But there are a few who, as they grab a can or bottle of this brew, recognize a connection to the orange packaging and the tractor tire on the logo.
Yep, those are the folks who grew up with Allis-Chalmers on their farm, much like Chris and Lawrence Warwuruk in rural Manitoba.
Theirs was a 1,200-acre grain farm, a great place to grow up, according to Chris, but one that, like so many farms, experienced financial difficulties. Those troubles forced the two Warwuruks, along with their other two brothers, to find work off the farm and help out. While the family farm was eventually lost to a painful bankruptcy, it did lead the brothers to open a successful gastropub in Winnipeg, called Luxalune, in 2008. Still farmers at heart, Chris and Lawrence wanted to express their love of the land in the products they serve. So a couple of years later, they began an additional venture—the Farmery Estate Brewery. Somewhat similar to estate wineries that grow the grapes for their wine, the Farmery grows its own grain.
In the first few years, the Farmery lager was brewed elsewhere, but this spring on their farm, close to their former family farm near Neepawa, Manitoba, the Warwuruk brothers broke ground on an Allis-Chalmers-orange post-and-beam barn that will serve as the Farmery’s brewing facility and tasting room. When complete in 2015, the brothers believe theirs will be the first estate brewery in North America.
“There are hundreds of places where you can tour a brewery and see how beer is made,” says Chris, “but here, you’ll get to hold the barley and smell fresh hops in your hands while standing in the very field in which it is grown.”
Currently, Farmery lager is for sale in Manitoba, including at Luxalune Gastropub, as well as in Saskatchewan and Alberta. For more information on the Farmery Brewery and beer, visit farmery.ca; for more about Luxalune, see luxalune.com.
