Columbus Grove, Ohio – In February of this year, Barley Five Malt House began malting and selling their first batches of pale malt to local breweries and homebrewers. Selling one of their first batches to the prize-winning homebrewer, Ben Martin, who used the malt in brews that would win him first place in both the Sour Ale and American Wild Ale categories at the 2018 Indiana Brewers’ Cup. Winning a state brewing competition is notable, not only for the brewer’s technical and creative brewing skills but also for a craft malt house to showcase the uniqueness and performance of their product.
Barley Five Malt House finished production on their malting facility in late January and got to work developing their first product―a base pale malt. “After speaking with local brewers, we realized our goal was to produce the lightest color base malt possible―I think we nailed it. Our light color, dry finish, and flavor profile work well in sour or Belgian style ale categories with brewers getting as high as 88% efficiencies,” said Ken Maag, co-founder, and maltster.
Martin’s River Rat Solera, a Lambic-style ale won first place in the sour ale category and Dusk, a mixed fermentation sour won first place in the American Wild Ale category. “Barley Five’s 2-Row provides a great base to build upon and is reliably able to convert the large wheat grain bills that I use regularly in my sour beers.” said Martin. “I’ve placed previously at the Indiana State Fair and in the National Homebrew Competition, but taking gold in both the European and American sours categories at the Indiana State Fair has been the most exciting wins to date!”
“Having a brewer win a state competition with our malt was validation for us and all of the hard work our family put into our product,” said Roger Recker, also co-founder and maltster. “By partnering with Martin, Barley Five Malt House has hit the craft brewing scene in a good stride by helping produce world-class beer.” Future collaborations are in the works to bring Barley Five’s pale and roasted malts selection into future ales.
For more information or to partner with Barley Five Malt House visit, www.barleyfivemalthouse.com or call 419-890-1416.
About Barley Five Malt House
Barley Five Malt House started operations in Columbus Grove, Ohio in early February of 2018 as a family business that malts estate barley. All of the grain comes from a single family farm in Columbus Grove within a few miles of the malting facility. Barley Five’s maltsters are involved with every stage of the farming and malting process, from seed selection, malting, and roasting. Their current product line is a winter two-row barley base pale malt and several specialty roasted barley malts.
About Ben Martin
Ben Martin is from Danville, Indiana and has been home brewing for 5 years and is a member of Circle City Zymurgy brewers club. Specializing in sour ales, Ben has won top prize awards in several brewing competitions.
Learn more about craft malt resources for homebrewers here.
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