There is no playbook, there is no map, and there is no net. We have been growing this business steadily since 2011 while navigating tumultuous seas of shifting market demands, agricultural infrastructure development, and crop failures. 2018 brought us face-to-face with the challenges of scaling each of these simultaneously and we did what we always do, make the road by walking.
The 2018 harvest was the most painful we have experienced to date.
New craft malt broadens Riverbend specialty product line
Asheville, NC – Nov 29, 2018. Riverbend Malt House today announced the immediate availability of its new malted oats product. Sourced from North Carolina family-owned farms, these oats add a new grain category to Riverbend’s broad line of premium quality 6-row barley, 2-row barley, wheat and rye malts.
“This is a significant addition to our product line,” noted Brent Manning, founder and head of product development for Riverbend.
» Read more about: Riverbend Malt House Announces Malted Oats »
Expedited delivery times for craft malt products
Asheville, NC – Oct 3, 2018. Riverbend Malt House today announced improved delivery times for its entire line of malt products. Effective immediately, eligibleorders which are received by noon, Monday through Thursday, will be shipped on the same day the order is received. Orders received at any time on Friday, Saturday or Sunday will ship the following Monday.
“Many of our customers experience variable demand and have flexible production schedules,
» Read more about: Riverbend Malt House Announces Same Day Shipping »
Industry veteran “key addition” for emerging leader in craft malting
Asheville, NC – July 2, 2018. Riverbend Malt House today announced that Matt Thompson has joined the company as Director of Sales. Thompson will have responsibility for selling Riverbend’s entire product line of two- and six-row barley, wheat and rye malts into the craft brewing and craft distilling markets. He will also play a leading role in marketing and strategy development.
“We are delighted to have someone with Matt’s broad industry experience join Riverbend,”
» Read more about: Matt Thompson Joins Riverbend™ Malt House as Director of Sales »
New product to be available September 1st
Asheville, NC – August 15th, 2017. Riverbend Malt House today announced the availability of its new “Southern Select” malt product, utilizing locally sourced 2-row barley.
“There has been a persistent myth that 2-row barley couldn’t be viably grown in the South,” stated Brent Manning, Riverbend Founder/Head Maltster. “Working closely with our farming partners, we are now able to source locally grown, high quality 2-row barley from which we are able to make spectacular malt.”
» Read more about: Riverbend™ Malt House Introduces “Southern Select” 2-row Barley Malt »
Estate grown barley to be craft malted for Cedric’s craft beers
Asheville, NC – July 13th, 2017. Riverbend Malt House and The Biltmore Company today announced a craft beer and malt collaboration under which Biltmore will provide Biltmore Estate grown grain for Riverbend to malt as a primary ingredient in Biltmore’s “Cedric’s” line of craft beers.
Biltmore planted 10 acres of two- and six-row barley last fall on the estate as a pilot research project and independent testing has now confirmed that high quality malting grain can be grown.
» Read more about: Riverbend Malt House™ and Biltmore Company Announce Craft Collaboration »
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,