Each quarter, we round up notable mentions of maltsters, Craft Malt Certified™ producers, and craft malt industry mentions in the media. With meaningful conversations about the state of the industry and celebrations about the quality and growth of craft malt, the start of 2024 did not disappoint!
All-craft-malt beer lists sure do delight us
Long time friend of craft malt, Jimmy Carbone of the Beer Sessions podcast on Heritage Radio Network, cited our MaltCon2023 kickoff event at Novare Res Bier Cafe as one of the best moments in beer last year.
Craft Brewing Business covered another all-craft-malt beer list at the eighth annual Florida SMaSH Festival in February. All of the festival’s Single Malt beers were made with Pilsner malt malted from Avalon 2-row barley. It’s exciting to see this newly bred barley variety get public recognition!
Admiral Maltings went all-in on their San Francisco Beer Week and MaltCon2024 efforts with twelve craft maltster collaboration beers, made with malt from around the United States. Our conference welcome reception was one for the books! Participants, including media guests from Brewpublic and Hop Culture, sampled these beers and toured Admiral’s impressive floor malting operation.
If you have an all-craft malt beer list at your event, or you’re tapping a beer made with local malt from a Guild member malthouse, submit it to our events calendar here.
Conference topics in the wild
The alignment of trending media topics with our conference programming fell into place at the Kernza Unleashed: The Potential of Perennials with Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Brandon Schlautman of Sustain-A-Grain. These panelists spoke to their recent use of Kernza® in the brewing process— from field to mash tun to market— to which the conference audience responded with a wide range of questions and commentary. Don Tse, beer writer and MaltCon2024 scholarship recipient was in the audience, recently having publlshed the Forbes piece ‘Why Patagonia Is Getting Into The Beer Business’.
Tse has become an integral storyteller for the malting trade. Another of his recent pieces, this one in Good Beer Hunting, digs into local and regional malt’s ability to make change in supply chains— and ultimately rural communities. ‘How Craft Malt Is Central to Taking On Beer’s Industrial Complex’ is a thoughtful must-read for our community.
Press for the world’s only malt competition
Also in their lineup of malt industry coverage this quarter, Craft Brewing Business published the Guild’s MaltCon2024 recap and the 2024 Malt Cup results. Winners in this malt quality competition— the only one of its kind on the globe— came from all over Canada, Italy, California, Colorado, Maine, New York, North Carolina, and Washington State.
Celebrating the growth of craft
A fresh article on the Firkin Beer Blog by Ron Watt, ‘Expanding the “Craft” in Craft Beer’, uses data from our latest membership survey and anecdotes from the Craft Malt Certified™ seal program to show that the grassroots craft malt movement is growing! He cites a few of our certified seal members: Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company, Wheatland Spring Farm and Brewery, and Still Austin Whiskey Company.
Brewing in academia
Montana State University, home to the Barley, Malt and Brewing Quality Lab, was approved for an academic brewer license in February. This will allow for the team to extend their quality analysis through hands-on process and observation. “In addition to in-house barley and brewing research, the lab will extend its services to brewers or maltsters who want quality and chemical analyses done on their products,” says a press release. “Producers will be able to send samples to MSU’s team for analysis on everything from alcohol content and bitterness to gluten levels.”
Beer for the river
Modern Farmer is no stranger to the craft malt story. In their recent angle, craft beer writer Ruvani de Silva depicts a lovely snapshot of how craft malt, already sustainable by nature, can further augment environmental initiatives. ‘Barley to the rescue’ reads one of the subheads in this piece about the inception of Sinagua Malt: How Two Committed Conservationists Revitalized a River With Beer.
Nearly twelve years and counting
The Craft Maltsters Guild turns twelve in 2024! Some of our industry leaders at Riverbend Malt House, Root Shoot Malting, and Valley Malt sat down with the Master Brewer’s Podcast to talk about the Guild’s growth in its first decade— and why thoughtfully, locally sourced craft malt matters to the final flavor and community impact of beer.