Fields & Ivy Brewery to celebrate the re-opening of Lawrence’s 23rd Street on Dec. 11
Fields & Ivy. // photo by Nick Spacek
Sitting with Cory Johnston, owner of Lawrence brewery Fields & Ivy, and general manager Derrick Broeckelman earlier this year, we spoke about the brewery and restaurant’s connection to the land in and around Lawrence over drinks one afternoon. What was unspoken during our hour-long chat was the fact that not 50 yards from where we were sitting was the road construction on 23rd Street, which had been going on since the summer prior.
Thankfully, after 18 months, that’s all set to end later this month, according to a press release from The Chamber of Lawrence with “the anticipated opening of all lanes of traffic on E 23rd Street by Tuesday, December 19.” Ahead of that, on Monday, December 11, from 4-6 p.m. at Fields & Ivy Brewery, there will be a party to celebrate the completion of the East 23rd Street corridor road construction and renewal project.
The “comprehensive road, sidewalk, and underground utility replacement project […] has transformed the eastern entrance to [Lawrence],” and the finished result includes “more than 41,500 square yards of new concrete pavement, more than three miles of new curbs and gutters, more than 11,000 square yards of shared-use paths, six new Lawrence Transit stops and more than 150 new trees.”
Fields & Ivy beer menu. // photo by Nick Spacek
That said, when revisiting the topic with Johnston, it hasn’t been an easy time.
“They say calm seas never made a great sailor,” says Johnston of the construction. “But, if that’s the case I have a feeling there’s a fine line between great sailors and being washed up on the beach. Tenacity and passion may be the difference.”
The brewery owner doesn’t want to be melodramatic, though, as he thinks most of the other business owners on East 23rd Street would agree that the last four years have been some rough sailing.
“We did have several glorious months between COVID restrictions and road construction, but it’s really been four years since things have been normal at this location,” Johnston says, explaining that the actual road construction has been ongoing for 18 months and basically reduced the amount of traffic that can drive down 23rd Street by about 75% from what had originally been something like 25,000 cars a day as its traffic count.
“I will never forget the first week of construction in July 2022,” says Johnston. “On a Friday night, people started calling in canceling reservations because they were stuck in traffic. Our GM and I just looked at each other like, ‘Oh shit.’ I mean, we knew it was a year and a half project, and there it was, how it was going to be.”
Johnston is quick to point out his appreciation of the “really great days” Fields & Ivy Brewery has had through all that, thanks to tons of support from the local and the craft beer community at large, and says the brewery is thankful for the passion people show for good beer and good food.
Pulling pints at Fields & Ivy. // photo by Nick Spacek
“I think I’m most thankful for the staff that came to work every day over these past 18 months and the 18 months before that,” says Johnston. “The brewery will probably never be this clean again. Knowing things weren’t great, they still made great beer and great food and provided great service to our customers. A lot of those employees have moved on, but I’d like them all to know how much we appreciate their hard work.”
The new and improved street and pathways will definitely enhance the experience of coming into Lawrence on the East 23rd Street corridor. That side of town needed some love, and the city came through with this project, Johnston says.
“It would be really nice to see continued re-development in East Lawrence, and a lot of the infrastructure is already in place and brand spanking new,” Johnston says. “We’re just super glad the project is so close to being done, and things get a little more lively around here.”
Fields & Ivy. // photo by Nick Spacek
Johnston opened the Fields & Ivy brewery and restaurant in May of 2019 but opened a farm in Wellsville all the way back in 2012, experimenting with growing wheat and barley for spirits production.
“We started by growing wheat for Lifted Spirits distillery down in the Crossroads,” Johnston says over beers at Fields & Ivy. “One of the things that they wanted to do was to have a base spirit made with from local wheat.”
Johnston and the Lifted Spirits crew settled in on soft red winter wheat, which is lower protein wheat as opposed to the hard red winter wheat normally grown in Kansas, with the rationale being that the spirit’s yield would be higher and less protein, making it easier to work with.
“I think it was a second brand we ever tried,” says Johnston. “Turned out to be really good for spirits production and then, also getting it malted to use for beer production. That has been going on for almost 10 years now to develop that the way we want it.”
In the intervening years, Lifted Spirits stopped using the wheat, but Johnston and the brewery have scaled up how much they’re getting malted every year. In addition to what Fields & Ivy use themselves, they also supply Topeka’s Blind Tiger.
“Blind Tiger’s a really good partner as far as using local ingredients,” Johnston continues. “They’ve been a supporter of our efforts to make malt from day one. They really get into it.”
Johnston says the whole vision behind Fields & Ivy Brewery was, from day one, to celebrate what’s wonderful about the state of Kansas and what local talent can produce both in the restaurant and in the brewery.
“Everything from the branding to the marketing and the accessibility here in this tap room ties into our desire to be someplace that people can take pride in working here,” says the founder. “People can take pride in the fact that it’s made with Kansas ingredients—a celebration of what’s possible here in our state.”
Dinner on the Fields & Ivy patio. // photo by Nick Spacek
The Fields & Ivy ethos continues out of the brewhouse and into the kitchen. GM Broeckelman runs down the list of local producers with whom they work: “We work with Two Sisters Farms with a few different produce items. We also work with a couple different bakeries—M&M Bakery here out of Lawrence, and then Farm to Market bakery in Kansas City who also sources a lot of their flour and stuff like that locally.”
Additionally, all the flour they use for our pizza dough is Kansas-grown wheat out of Stafford County. This is not an inconsiderable amount, given the number of pizzas sold by the brewery kitchen in a given week, Broeckelman continues.
“You’re talking anywhere from 200-300 pounds of Kansas flower every week,” Broeckelman says. “It’s a pretty good number.”
Working with local producers involves a lot of communication, with them letting Broeckelman know what they have and Broeckelman letting them know what he needs. It’s a big difference from the majority of their ordering comes from bigger companies wherein he gets online, punches his order in, and sends it off.
A perfect pint. // photo by Nick Spacek
“Honestly, my favorite relationships are with our local producers, and they are the same people you see every week,” says Broeckelman. “It’s not a sales rep; it’s Two Sisters Farms. Ryan [Eddinger] is hands down, my favorite vendor. The guy shows up in his farm truck, has mud on his boots, and he comes in with the biggest smile, shakes my hand, and says, ‘Thank you for your business.’ He’s just a really fun and happy guy, you can tell. And then you look at the produce he brings you, and you can tell how much joy and effort he puts into his product, too, because his greens are just beautiful every week.”
Broeckelman continues on to explain that springtime is a particularly exciting time because all those producers have a whole list of stuff they’ll be rolling out, whether at a farmer’s market or if it will be available for them to purchase through the restaurant.
“You get to play around with some new items, you get to let your kitchen crew get creative with some of the new produce and the new items, and get to try to make something that’s delicious and eye-appealing and something you can be proud of,” Broeckelman says.
Field & Ivy Brewery, along with sponsors the City of Lawrence, The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, and eXplore Lawrence, is co-hosting a construction wrap party on December 11 from 4-6 p.m. to celebrate the completion of road construction on East 23rd Street in Lawrence, Kansas. The party features comments from the sponsors and complimentary appetizers from Fields & Ivy Brewery’s kitchen. Attendees can nosh, network, and enjoy the enthusiastic holiday-themed decorations in the brewery taproom.
