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THE FARMERS BREWING CO.
STORY
Farmers Brewing Company was founded by Bill and Kristin Weller, both fifth-generation farmers. Located in sprawling Princeton, CA, with a population of 407, the family farm has been in operation since the 1800s, currently producing rice, almonds, walnuts, and wheat. GPS-guided tractors have since replaced the mule-driven machinery used to till the same soil a century ago, but much remains the same.
Bill started helping on the farm when he was about 8 years old. Chores included mowing roads, cleaning shops, repairing combines, and driving tractors after school. He later earned a BS in Agricultural Engineering Technology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and realized living in a big city or working a desk job was not for him. In 2001, he met his wife, Kristin, who also had a farming background spanning five generations, and the rest is history.
Farming requires a tireless work ethic, attention to detail, organization, patience, and balance between tradition and innovation. Those same qualities transfer to brewing beer. It started out as a casual hobby, brewed in the garage, partly on his pick-up tailgate.
After that first successful batch of home-brew (a planned Hefeweizen, boiled down too much, creating a Dunkelweizen instead), he was hooked and the seeds were sown to create a great family-owned brewery.
Kids learning the Farmers Work Ethic by helping build the original brewery.
Daughter cleaning the floors!
First tractor purchased on the current farm. A 1947 Caterpillar Dozer.
Same Dozer working on construction of the new brewery!
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