Supporting local is a frame of mind for the owners of Farmery Estate Brewery, Chris and Lawrence Warwaruk.
The story of their craft brewery begins when their family farm goes bankrupt, so the two brothers team up and open Lux Solé on Osborne St. With the restaurant’s success, they were able to buy back their family farm. Their goal with the farm was to make it sustainable, so to make it make sense, they decided on adding value to their crop by selling a finished product.
“Our reason for buying back the farm was all about having a low carbon footprint, sustainability and diversifying and supplying local channels to secure a value chain” says Chris Warwaruk. “We wanted to put a spin on it and show what we can do.”
The pair had since opened a gastropub, Luxalune, and both enjoyed craft beer, so their best option was to sell a craft beer.
“There were two goals we wanted to accomplish: going back to our farming roots and solving how to make it sustainable, and making a really great craft beer in the local scene.”
In 2012, Farmery Estate Brewery made its first appearance at a beer show: Flatlanders Beer Festival in Winnipeg.
But, Chris and Lawrence had bigger ideas. They wanted to create North America’s first estate brewery. But to make that dream happen, they needed a little help. The two made an appearance on Dragon’s Den and struck a deal with Arlene Dickenson and David Chilton.
Farmery has been working with Crafted Box Co for about three years now. Chris says that it’s important to practice supporting local when we urge our consumers to do the same with our craft beer.
“Farmery has the same core values now as we did on our small family farm. Why go too far from home base if we can get everything we need locally?” says Chris Warwaruk. “We source local ingredients and supplies, and also provide the best possible products to the consumer, which is local products.
Manitoba is the barley and hop belt of the world. Farmery grows barley and wheat and uses that crop in their functioning brewery to make their assortment of craft beer. Some of the best barley in the world is grown on the prairies. Farmery is an active farm that grows the ingredients.
Chris says it makes even more sense today than ever to support local. With the high cost of freight, and the exploding costs of fossil fuels, they feel like Farmery is in a great position to accomplish its goal of making great craft beer and keeping the core values of being sustainable now, and in the future.
“What makes us feel good is that we don’t have to change too much of our model to be relevant to today’s consumer,” says Chris Warwaruk.
Farmery will stay interested in sustainability practices, supporting local suppliers, and making eco-friendly choices.
“Tyler and the team at Crafted Box Co. have made it very easy to do business with. They are easy to get ahold of and understand our timelines, which is critical for us,” says Chris Warwaruk. “Pre-planning is crucial and we find the team very easy to work with. We are a local brewery that practices being local.”
Learn about the benefits of working with our team, like setting your products apart from the competition and the Crafter Box Co advantage, when you contact our team at .
You can watch their video on Dragon’s Den here.