The last few weeks have been an exciting time at the malt house. In addition to our expansion announcement, we’ve been working with our network of farmers and researchers to coordinate this year’s long awaited harvest. Several key regions received torrential rains, making harvest challenging. A few farmers were able to harvest and gently dry the grain in the bins to preserve germination…. others dodged storm clouds to cut the crop at the appropriate moisture.
Move to 74,000 square foot facility will increase capacity by 5x
Asheville, NC – May 17th, 2017. Riverbend Malt House today unveiled its strategic expansion plans to meet surging craft malt demand from craft brewers and distillers. These plans include a recently signed long term lease on a 74,000 square foot facility in Asheville and the placement of orders for capital equipment which will lead to a 500% increase in production capacity by January 2018.
» Read more about: Riverbend Malt House™ Announces Expansion Plans »
Our good friends at French Broad Chocolates received some great news from Garden and Gun Magazine a few weeks back. Their panel of judges selected the Malted Milk Chocolate Bar as a runner-up in the Annual Made in the South Awards!
Beautifully packaged local chocolate! (courtesy Garden and Gun)
As you might have guessed, our malt is part of this lovely creation. Specifically, our unique Heritage Malt. Once we’ve cleaned the malt,
Our assistant maltster, Sam, has spent the last several months analyzing the various grain samples from this year’s harvest. We received two dozen samples from growers in four states. This year was by far the largest pool of applicants we had to choose from…really exciting to see the market for high-quality malting barley expanding in Southeast!
Our in house testing procedures include germination energy, germination capacity, sieve analysis, and visual inspection for mold/blackpoint,
I must confess, I’ve reworked the classic quote from Wendell Berry more than a few times in my quest to connect our clients to agricultural side of malt. So I had to laugh when I got the invite to speak on a panel with the same title at the inaugural BevCon in Charleston.
I’m honored to share the stage with my good friend Sean Wilson from Fullsteam Brewing,
» Read more about: Drinking is an Agricultural Act @ BevCon 2016 »
We are excited to announce a charity beer dinner with our good friends at All Souls Pizza on Monday, May 23rd!
The Dinner:
The event will feature locally-raised pork from Austin Farms in Old Fort along with several local beers. We are planning to dine on the outdoor patio to enjoy the spring weather.
Monday, May 23rd 6-9PM
Vegetarian option available
$50/pp + applicable service charges
The Menu:
Antipasta – cured meats,
» Read more about: Farmhouse FEAST @ All Souls Pizza – May 23rd »
This year’s Brewvival brought together some of craft beer’s finest to Charleston for an epic weekend of tastings, dinners, and boozy brunches. If you weren’t able to make it down, don’t despair. Several of the visiting rock star breweries joined forces with the local talent to create something special and uniquely southern!
The first collaboration features our new friends at Revelry Brewing Company who teamed up with Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales out of Ann Arbor,
» Read more about: Collaboration Update Pt. 1 – Revelry Brewing+Jolly Pumpkin »
We got an opportunity to meet up with several legislators, board members from the NC Brewers Guild, and our local brewing community this week for a “State of the State” meeting. New Belgium hosted the event and served up Citradelic, Blue Paddle, and some other favorites for the crowd. Green Opportunity’s Kitchen Ready Program prepared some great food as well!
Needless to say, I love the fact that this constitutes a work day!
A brief break in production here at the malt house has provided a minute to share a few of my favorite beers of 2015. Not necessarily new beers, just new to me. Presented in the order they were consumed and noted.
ECLIPTIC / WICKED WEED / STONE – POINTS UNKNOWN IPA
A lot of brewing fire power went into this one! 25% Barrel aged Belgian Tripel and 75% West Coast IPA blend.
As summer fades into fall, we shift our energies from analyzing crop samples to planning for the future. Winter grains are planted in October and harvested in May or early June throughout the south. Orchestrating the harvest, cleaning, and planting of these grains requires a tremendous amount of communication between the malt house and our network of growers. Working on a contract model helps us secure our raw materials for the upcoming year and gives the farmer peace of mind that he will adequately compensated for his harvest.