Eau Claire Distillery was connecting with their pioneer roots on the weekend.

The Turner Valley based business plants and harvests the barley for their whiskey by using horses at four different land plots in Southern Alberta, including the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site near Longview.

David Farran with Eau Claire Distillery, was driving one of the plow horse teams at the Bar U Saturday, May 19th, and said their product is a farm to glass concept.

"We produce enough, we think, for about 37,000 bottles, so it's about 40 acres of horse plowing that we do over the course of the year."

Farran's team of horses, named Rex and Roy, was one of the first teams to hit the field.

"They're six years old, and they're part of our plow horse team, and it's pretty soft dirt, so it's actually really easy for them."

After the teams plowed the land, they brought out the harrows to smooth the field, followed by an old seed drill to plant the barley.

Farran said, they'll be back with the horses in the fall to harvest the crop.

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