Field House Brewery starts growing its own grain, marking milestone for local brew industry

A local brewery harvested a new batch of locally grown barley in the fall, making it the first beer maker to also grow the key ingredient in the Lower Mainland.

But one big challenge lies ahead for those hoping for much more local beer made with completely local ingredients.

Barley – the largest single ingredient in beer – has been rarely, if ever, grown in the Fraser Valley. The cost of land and the amount of barley needed to produce large batches of beer have led local farmers to source the key grain from the prairies.