Why are brewers and distillers, and their fans, prioritizing products made with craft malt? That’s what the Choose Craft Malt series is all about!
Reason #3: Craft malt creates explicitly traceable supply chains, connecting consumers with agriculture along the way.
When craft maltsters market their products as traceable, they really mean it. More often than not, they know the specific field at the family farm where their grain was grown. In some cases, they’re even growing it themselves.
“Getting to know the people who provide you with what you need reinforces a sense of community, while further educating people on where their products come from,” Matt Cunningham of Rustic Brew Farm told Authority Magazine in 2021. Cunningham grows, harvests, malts, and mills wheat, barley, rye, and corn on his family farm in Marysville, Ohio. Most recently, they’ve begun distilling and aging their malt into spirits— completing the ‘grain to class’ circle in their fully integrated operation.
Commodity systems are built to standardize and obscure the stories behind the products we enjoy, in an effort to maximize scale and minimize cost. Craft systems like Rustic Brew Farm’s and all of our member malthouses are built to do the opposite. Craft maltsters are allowing a high degree of visibility into the work that makes their malts so special, inviting brewers, distillers, and bakers to experience the unique ways that value is being created throughout the supply chain. This transparency is marketable to consumers, who care more than ever before where their foods and beverages are sourced.
“We noticed that people were paying attention to terroir in wine, but not in spirits,” Samantha Blatteis of Craft Malt Certified™ Home Base Spirits told us in this member highlight. “So, we decided to start talking about our ingredients and our process with the hope of getting people excited about something they didn’t know or hadn’t tried before.”
We see time and time again that local malt encourages beer and spirits lovers to see and explore their malt supply chains. Typically, those who choose “craft” beer and spirits care about supporting local businesses; Ingredients that are truly local are that much more appetizing. It’s these customers who are inclined to go on malthouse tours, visit grain farms, and attend field days. The Guild encourages all of its members to engage in these kinds of sales-promoting education activities to increase the demand for authentically local, transparently sourced products that inspire their customers.