Having the founder of a brewery waiting at the other end of the field with a cold one for you, well, that just doesn’t happen.

Except it does, at the Stutrud family farm east of Barton, which is northwest of Rugby in Pierce County.

Last week, Mark Stutrud and his wife, Sue, were at the farm visiting and watching his cousins harvest the first of 750 acres of Moravian 37 barley, which goes into Summit Brewing Co.’s prized pilsner beer.

Mark Stutrud, founder and president of Summit, was raised in Wahpeton; his father grew up near Watford City.

Kent Olson/MDN Mark Stutrud, founder and president of Summit Brewing Co., wades through a field of Moravian 37 barley near Barton while his cousin Josh Stutrud runs the combine in the distance.

The Stutrud farm near Barton is run by Jim Stutrud, whose father was a first cousin to Mark’s dad.

Also part of the Stutrud farm family are Jim’s son, Todd, and grandson Josh, who was running the combine last Tuesday when the whole family got together for the harvest.

“Jim and his family have been small grain farmers for a century, that’s where their heart and soul is, not in corn,” said Mark Stutrud.

He started Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul, Minn., beginning his research into brewing techniques and practices in 1982. The company sold its first keg of beer in 1986.

“We were one of the sodbusters, so to speak, in this craft brewing industry. We were the first microbrewery to start up in the Upper Midwest, back in ’86,” he said.

Today Summit employs 100 people and sells 130,000 barrels a year with a brewing capacity of 200,000 barrels.

They make seven different styles of beer year-round and have four seasonal beers – plus makes special batches at various times throughout the year.

Stutruds on both sides of the family are thrilled about the connection they have developed over the years. Mark first spoke with Jim about producing barley for Summit beers about 10 years ago; this year’s is the eighth harvest of two-row Moravian 37 barley being combined ultimately for Summit’s pilsner.

“It’s very rewarding to drink a (Summit) pilsner after combining” knowing where it came from, said Josh Stutrud. It is also very beneficial to him as a farmer to have a brewer and maltster in the field to see firsthand how his crop is grown and harvested. It is a learning experience most farmers don’t have the benefit of.

All of the Stutruds assembled that day were visibly proud of harvesting the barley that in a year or so would be available to everyone in cans and bottles.

“It’s a true North Dakota product,” said Mark Stutrud, specimen of his own beer in-hand, wading through a wide open field of barley while Josh’s combine hummed off in the distance.

Not bad for a “sodbuster.”