Field To Bench: Asking Grain Scientists About Terroir

While it’s generally understood— and celebrated— that the place in which ingredients are grown impacts flavor, skeptics of terroir in malt-based beverages seem to focus on the etymology of the word; especially because of its origins in winemaking.  Terroir as Webster defines it is “the combination of factors including soil, climate, and sunlight that gives…

Koji Buzz: Unique Malt Research Underway at Montana State University

By Hannah Turner, Montana State University Barley, Malt & Brewing Quality Lab An old tradition that is starting to be adopted in a new way by forward-thinking American brewers is koji processing, a practice widely found in Asian cultures. Utilized for centuries (originally discovered in Japan’s Muromachi Period of 1136-1573), koji is commonly used to…