Swifty Beer is made with the world’s best barley, grown at Royalburn Station.

We’ve been farming for the last five years here at Royalburn Station, a regenerative farm high up on the Crown Range Road above Arrowtown. In my time here on the farm, I’ve found it to be less of a job and more of a lifestyle. I’m as likely to engage in a spontaneous rain dance as to steer a tractor. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, each season bringing its brand of drama, comedy, and the occasional plot twist.

Now, Royalburn Station isn’t just a blip on the map. Since the 1880s, we’ve been cultivating grains that were once the toast of the colonies. Fast forward to today, and we’re like modern-day underground chefs. Blending biological fertilisers, crop rotations and livestock to help create a soil banquet with all the organic trimmings for our earthy friends—the worms and microbes that exist under the soil’s surface. These little critters help keep our soils healthy and our plants strong and full of vigour.

Spending a good chunk of my time quality-testing the amber brew (a noble task, indeed). I’ve pondered life’s deep mysteries, such as, can humble grain from a spray-free field ascend to a higher calling? I wanted nothing more than to create an easy-drinking, approachable beer. Beer that refreshers and doesn’t A-bomb my taste buds to smithereens.