Florida Beer Podcast: Craft Malt Collaborations in the Sunshine State
We’ve been busy in The Sunshine State! From recipe development around our #Riverbend10 Sunset Wheat malt to beer projects that involve full cake additions to the mash, we’ve been collaborating with some super creative breweries and people!
In Episode #92 of the Florida Beer Podcast, Brent chatted with host David Butler to talk about some of these projects. They also dove into a masterclass on craft malt, the malting process, and what’s new at Riverbend.
The podcast kicks off with the Riverbend odyssey to answer “the question of whether or not people care about where their malt comes from,” says Brent. We found the answer to that question in our early partners; craft breweries and distillers who cared about the terroir and regionality of their beer.
With that mission in mind, Brent went on to break down the malting process from farm to glass, ie: steeping, germinating, and kilning, and how all of it center’s on our locality and commitment to sourcing from within 500 miles.
That local sourcing was brought into the spotlight during the pandemic, and coupled with recent droughts, maltsters all over the country had to think creatively to get their products sourced, produced, and distributed. Brent explained how we had to shift to longer lead times to ensure loads were picked up and delivered on schedule, but that the malthouse is currently stocked up with quality, local malt, and things are in great shape for us to continue bringing quality, craft malt to our partners.
It’s that closeness with our partners that has cemented Riverbend in the craft malt world. David touched on that closeness, noting it’s something unusual in the industry, but a major benefit. Branching off of that, they talked about our recent trip to Pensacola, Florida to visit Perfect Plain Brewing and brew an oyster Saison brewed in part with Sunset Wheat, our celebratory 10 year harvest variety.
Brent closed it down with some big picture thoughts about the industry. He’s excited about the where malt is going, and gets great joy from seeing different people from different backgrounds all collaborating to create a maltier world.
