The Great Recession showed us just how “real” a job in finance was and sent us and our three daughters back to the family farm in Kansas, where my business partner came on board and we started custom growing grain for a local craft distillery. Our family farm was already exploring sustainable agricultural practices and working with a local distiller who cared deeply about their product showed us that farm-to-table works in Kansas in a big way.
Those old dreams of combining art and science to turn locally grown produce into compelling beverages came roaring back. And I thought, beer isn’t about image. It’s about what’s in the glass. It’s about craftsmanship, about authenticity, and excellence. And, why can’t we make beers that are also about sustainable, world class, wheat and barley grown on our own farm, where excellence matters most?
We’ve been working non-stop to realize our vision of Fields & Ivy at 706 E 23rd Street in Lawrence, Kansas. The old hardware store and lumberyard hasn’t been an easy transformation, but now it’s a 5,000 square-foot, steam-powered production brewery, 190-seat pizza restaurant, and live music venue.
We think it’s the perfect place to brew our wheat beer, using wheat grown on our farm in Wellsville, Kansas, and our flagship Pilsner, using authentic heirloom Silver Mine corn developed by Ernest W. Young in 1907, right here in Lawrence.
Kansas has long been the breadbasket of America, and we think it can be the beer barrel too.
Cory Johnston
Founder, Fields & Ivy Brewery
Copyright 2023© Fields & Ivy. Call Us: 785-274-84289
Web Design & Photography by The PixNinja