The only competition for malt in the world
About The Malt Cup
The Craft Maltsters Guild established the Malt Cup in 2019 as an industry standard for malthouses of all sizes around the world. Put simply, everyone who enters this competition is a winner, some maltsters just also get to come away with some well-deserved hardware. This one-of-a-kind international event empowers maltsters with valuable analytical and sensory feedback on their malts.
Participating Malthouses Receive:
- A full report of Certificates of Analyses (COAs) for entries in each category participated in. Entries are blind coded so maltsters can ID the data for their own malt, while getting a comparison to the malts across the full entry field. Malt COAs are provided by the competition’s official partner, Montana State University’s Barley, Malt, & Brewing Quality Lab. The COA data is valued at over $100 alone, while the ability to review the data from the full competition field is priceless. Note: All entries remain anonymous.
- Sensory feedback report (for malts passing the scrutiny of the analytical round). Entries which advance are sent around the country to judge panels made up of industry professionals, including maltsters, brewers, distillers, researchers, journalists, and Cicerones. The Malt Cup is proud to partner with the Beer Judge Certification Program to source high quality judges for the competition. A comprehensive sensory report is generated for each malt and provided back to participants.
- Sensory and COA feedback (for malts advancing to the Best of Show judging). Entries which advance to the final round will receive additional feedback including evaluations of the malt COAs, raw malt, and wort.
- Winning malts (Gold, Silver, Bronze), in each category will receive a beautiful hand made medal. The competition has partnered with Aaron Maki of Old Hand Design to provide these hand crafted awards.
- Best of Show trophy. Of the Gold winning malts, the single highest scoring entry will take home the traveling Malt Cup. Each year this trophy represents bragging rights for the top malt and malthouse.
Details for entering this year’s competition can be found on Beer Awards Platform.
The Judging Process
Built akin to a beer competition, the Malt Cup has a similar structure – but for one key difference. Malt not only needs to taste good and represent the best qualities of a malt style – it also needs to perform! As the backbone of the brewing process, providing sugars, enzymes, nutrients and other aspects that are key to the process of brewing, malt must also adhere to strict quality parameters to function. For this reason our competition evaluates malts from both an analytical and sensory perspective.
The general judging flow:
Round 1:
Malts are evaluated for analytical quality. Malts most closely hitting targets set for their style category move forward to round 2. Blinded COA data is provided back to participating malthouses.
Round 2:
Where the first round is purely analytical, this round is purely sensory. Judges at select locations around the country perform hot steep evaluations of malts. Judges provide feedback for the malthouses and rank the malts on quality.
Round 3:
The final evaluation – our Best of Show – is held live prior to the annual Craft Malt Conference. At this time judges are provided the COA data as well as hot steep worts in order to consider the full analytical/sensory scope of each malt. Judges select the top three malts to receive Bronce, Silver & Gold Medals.
Our Amazing Partner Judge Locations:
We strive to include feedback from highly qualified judges from across the country and representing varied perspectives from the industry!
Malt Judge Resources and Certification Program:
BA/ASBC Hot Steep Video: https://youtu.be/5Xl_6m1E1mQ
Montana State Universities Hot Steep Guide:
The Craft Maltsters Guild Sensory information center:
https://craftmalting.com/malt-flavor/
BeerSmith Podcast: Malt Sensory Analysis with Andrea Stanley and Lindsay Barr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2PKFSJKcRA
Traveling Trophy:
Each year the ultimate prize, the Malt Cup traveling trophy, goes home with the competitions Best of Show winner. This malt represents the best of the best, scoring the highest points of all the Gold medal winning malts. Check out where the Trophy has resided over the years:
2019: Root Shoot Malting – Colorado
2020: 1886 Malt House – New York
2021: Gold Rush Malt – Oregon
2022: Rabbit Hill Malthouse – New Jersey
2023: Root Shoot Malting – Colorado
2024: Hogarth Malt – Alberta, Canada
Past Winners
| Category | Medal | Malthouse | State or Country |
| 2019 | |||
| Pale | Gold | Root Shoot | Colorado |
| Silver | Mainstem Malt | Washington | |
| Bronze | Carolina Malt | North Carolina | |
| 2020 | |||
| Pale | Gold | 1886 Malt House | New York |
| Silver | Linc Malt | Washington | |
| Bronze | Admiral Maltings | California | |
| Light Munich | Gold | Blacklands Malt | Texas |
| Silver | Briess Malt & Ingredients | Wisconsin | |
| Bronze | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado | |
| 2021 | |||
| Pale | Gold | Gold Rush Malt | Oregon |
| Silver | Troubadour Maltings | Colorado | |
| Bronze | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado | |
| Pilsen | Gold | Gold Rush Malt | Oregon |
| Silver | Malteria Italiana Artigianale | Italy | |
| Bronze | Admiral Maltings | California | |
| 2022 | |||
| Pale | Gold | Wyoming Malting Company | Wyoming |
| Silver | Gallatin Valley Malt | Montana | |
| Bronze | Gold Rush Malt | Oregon | |
| Pilsen | Gold | Rabbit Hill Malt | New Jersey |
| Silver | Admiral Maltings | California | |
| Bronze | Riverbend Malt House | North Carolina | |
| Pale Ale | Gold | Voyager Craft Malt | Australia |
| Silver | Wyoming Malting Company | Wyoming | |
| Bronze | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado | |
| 2023 | |||
| Pale | Gold | Admiral Maltings | California |
| Silver | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado | |
| Bronze | Blue Ox Malthouse | Maine | |
| Pilsen | Gold | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado |
| Silver | Hogarth Malt | Alberta | |
| Bronze | Field Five Farm | British Columbia | |
| Vienna | Gold | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado |
| Silver | Gallatin Valley Malt | Montana | |
| Bronze | Wyoming Malting Company | Wyoming | |
| Light Munich | Gold | Root Shoot Malt | Colorado |
| Silver | Miller Malting Company | Iowa | |
| Bronze | Blue Ox Malthouse | Maine | |
| 2024 | |||
| Pale | Gold | Malteria Italiana Artigianale | Italy |
| Silver | Field Five Farm | British Columbia | |
| Bronze | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado | |
| Pilsen | Gold | Hogarth Malt | Alberta |
| Silver | Blue Ox Malt | Maine | |
| Bronze | 3D Malt | Alberta | |
| Vienna | Gold | 3D Malt | Alberta |
| Silver | Murmuration Malt | New York | |
| Bronze | Admiral Maltings | California | |
| Light Munich | Gold | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado |
| Silver | Hagarth Malt | Alberta | |
| Bronze | Field Five Farm | British Columbia | |
| Caramel | Gold | Troubadour Malt | Colorado |
| Silver | Red Shet Malt | Alberta | |
| Bronze | Blue Ox Malt | Maine | |
| Wheat | Gold | Root Shoot Malting | Colorado |
| Silver | Riverbend Malt | North Carolina | |
| Bronze | Linc Malt | Washington
|
Malt Cup Stats
This growing competition boasts some pretty cool stats – such as international participation, a wide scope of industry judges – and the fact that each year we see nearly as many grain varieties submitted as the number of malthouses participating! Maltsters are clearly finding ways to differentiate their unique products!
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
| Total Entries | 86 | 90 | 58 | 46 | 36 | 21 |
| Malthouses Participating | 26 | 34 | 25 | 28 | 24 | 21 |
| Countries | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| States | 10 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 14 |
| Grain Varieties | 32 | 27 | 23 | 29 | 14 | 13 |
| Judges | 70 | 189 | 112 | 94 | 19 | 16 |
Malt Categories:
Pilsen
Pale Malt
Pale Ale
Vienna
Light Munich
Wheat Malt
Caramel Malt
Unique & Interesting
| Pale Ale | |||
| Quality Criteria | |||
| Parameter | Value Range | Score | Ineligible to win |
| Color (SRM) | 2.7-3.8 | 2 | |
| 3.7-4.2 | 1 | >4.2 | |
| AA | >40 | ||
| B. Glucan | <120 | 1 | |
| 0 | >200 | ||
| Extract | >81 | ||
| S/T | 38-45 | ||
| FAN | >130 | ||
| DP | 90-120 | <80 | |
| Moisture | <5% | 1 | >6% |
| Description | |||
| Pale Ale malt is a base malt produced specifically for use in English-style pale ales. The are well-to-highly modified, tend to be darker than standard pale malts, and are optimized for use in single temperature infusion mashes. They have an evident, but not excessively pronounced malty flavor, with notes of biscuit or toast. The higher kilning temperatures used to produce these malts results in low DMS/DMSO potential. | |||
| Color: 2.7-3.8 SRM | |||
| Entries will be evaluated based on the following guidelines: | |||
| -Malts should represent full modification with low B-glucan and promoting ease of processability. | |||
| -Diastatic Power will be moderately high, and extract will be moderately high | |||
| -Moisture shall not exceed 6%. | |||
| Sensory Notes | |||
| Pale Ale malt is a base malt produced specifically for use in English-style pale ales. The are well-to-highly modified, tend to be darker than standard pale malts, and are optimized for use in single temperature infusion mashes. They have an evident, but not excessively pronounced malty flavor, with notes of biscuit or toast. The higher kilning temperatures used to produce these malts results in low DMS/DMSO potential. | |||
| Visual: | |||
| Dark yellow to light amber in color, no to low particulate and no to low haze | |||
| Aroma: | |||
| Moderate bready (toast, biscuit), sweet aromatic (toffee, caramel) and nutty aromas present; slight grainy and cracker aroma are acceptable if in balance; stale, medicinal, or vegetal aromas should be absent | |||
| Taste: | |||
| Moderate sweetness should be present; very light bitterness is acceptable if in balance; sourness/umami should be absent | |||
| Mouthfeel & Body | |||
| Light to medium body; slightly sweet linger and very light astringent finish | |||
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