Entries by Brent Manning

Matt Thompson Joins Riverbend™ Malt House as Director of Sales

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,”

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Riverbend™ Malt House Introduces “Southern Select” 2-row Barley Malt

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.”

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Riverbend Malt House™ and Biltmore Company Announce Craft Collaboration

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.

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A long awaited harvest…Part 1

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.

 » Read more about: A long awaited harvest…Part 1  »

Riverbend Malt House™ Announces Expansion Plans

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.

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Made in the South Awards

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!

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,

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Harvest Report 2016 – R.I.P. Endeavor

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,

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Drinking is an Agricultural Act @ BevCon 2016

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.

bevcon

I’m honored to share the stage with my good friend Sean Wilson from Fullsteam Brewing,

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Farmhouse FEAST @ All Souls Pizza – May 23rd

all souls pizza

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,

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Collaboration Update Pt. 1 – Revelry Brewing+Jolly Pumpkin

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,

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