We have direct relationships with the farmers who grow our grains. Further to that we like knowing that the grains they grow do good things for the soil, livestock, other wildlife and our own health. 

Whether heritage barley or cross composite population wheat, we get grain that is far more genetically diverse than the modern varieties  (usually owned by large seed merchants/agrochemical companies) that are developed for conventional farming.

Luke Wilson grows Plumage Archer, a heritage barley whose seed has been home saved ever since Luke’s father, David reintroduced it to brewers over twenty years ago.

Over the last few years he has turned Lower Dean Farm in the Cotswolds from a conventional farm into a flourishing organic ecosystem whereby he rotates Plumage Archer with winter heritage population wheats, herbal leys and livestock.

After harvest the barley is then dried before being traditionally floor malted 16 miles up the road at Warminster Maltings. 

We also use raw YQ wheat in our beers which we source directly from Fred Price at Gothelney Farm. Fred has been championing agro-ecological systems for some time now. This wheat can’t be malted at the scale required by Malsters so we have decided to skip the process and use it regardless. 

Fred has turned what was a conventional farm into a flourishing landscape dotted with pigs by slowly reducing chemical inputs to zero whilst simultaneously leveraging greater sovereignty by positioning their produce outside the commodities market. He has been instrumental in the growing and sharing seeds of heritage and modern composite cross population grains such as YQ wheat and is a key figure within the South West Grain Network.