Born from two apartment kitchens, one in Alabama (AL) and one in Georgia (GA), Alga Beer Company (get it?) resides in Pensacola, Florida. The brewery recently hit its second anniversary, and we took the time to sit down with owner Brett Reid to talk malt, learn why Riverbend is the top choice for their House Lagger, why it was featured in several of their two-year anniversary beers, and most importantly, why they’re proud to be Craft Malt Converts.

Why the switch to craft malt? 

About six months after opening, they started seeing beers from other breweries around them that featured Riverbend malt. In Owner Brett Reid’s words, “We were, in essence, blown away by the flavor of the product itself, in comparison to anything else we tried.” Once they started working with Riverbend, he says they also found they were “spending less money than we were with other malts but were getting a higher quality product.” Making the switch a win-win for Alga. 

Flavor Nuance 

“Other mass-produced malts tend to come out neutral in flavor,” says Reid. “We want to have an option to really showcase the flavor of every single ingredient we’re putting into our beers.”

With malt being the backbone of the beer and its primary flavor-contributing ingredient, Reid and his team found themselves asking, Why would you cut corners there?  

Their first foray into working with Riverbend was a collaboration between Alga Beer Company, another Pensacola, Florida brewery, Odd Colony Brewing Company, and Ferrus Artisan Ales in Alabama. Together, they created a smoked farmhouse Lager using 100 percent Riverbend malt, and the brew quickly became a fan favorite. 

More Corn Malt Please

Reid’s favorite Riverbend malt styles are both malted corn varieties: the Bloody Butcher and the Cumberland Corn. “I feel like I have more of a connection to the corn because I had a granddad who used to grow corn in his backyard,” he remembers. “I can remember the aroma of the dried corn and how he would make grits, and so it’s kind of a nostalgic thing for me.”

The Bloody Butcher Corn malt, he adds, “is wacky”— in a good way, of course. “I love that it can be super funky. You can add too much of it; but if you get the balance right, it adds this delicate earthiness and a mild sweetness– which I think is incredible.”

“I remember the first time I stopped to see Brett and his team, we became fast friends, we got each other’s jokes and enjoyed a few pints like we’d know each other for years.” says Brent Manning, founder of Riverbend. “That is what it is all about for me, building relationships and helping to create great craft beer.”

Learn more about Alga Beer Company’s amazing beers at www.algabeerco.com. Don’t miss their stellar reels on Instagram, either! 

We know you have many options, and we aim to make you proud with your choice of malt provider. Here are seven ways you can really make your investment in craft malt count in 2024.

1. Put Your Craft Malt Manual To Work

Use our Craft Malt User Manual to gain a deeper understanding of how your investment leads to innovative products, supports local, family-owned farms, and protects the environment. You’ll also find out how the use of high-quality, locally sourced malt can enable you to sell more beer and spirits at a higher price.

2. Use the #madewithRiverbend hashtag

We love to hear about beers and spirits #madewithRiverbend malt! Use the hashtag to be featured on our Instagram account, and fill out this form to land your products on our website.

3. Get Creative With Custom Malt

We love custom and smoked malt projects! Last year we worked with our customers to create signature base malt, estate malt, fig wood smoked Pilsner, and malt steeped in custom water profile designed to mimic the hard water from Belgium– among other exciting flavor and process explorations. Let us know how we can turn your vision for a special beer or spirit into a reality.

4. Craft A Truly Southern Lager

We’re inspired by and hope to propel the Southern Lager movement! We love to help our customers build recipes that are “true to style,” but still with a touch of Southern terroir.

5. Dust Off The Homebrew Equipment

Hey homebrewers! Finding that forgotten equipment might just be a good New Years Resolution, especially now that so many homebrew supply shops sell Riverbend malt… just sayin’.

6. Join The Craft Malt Certified™ Seal

If 10% of the malt you purchase or the malt you use in at least one recipe comes from craft maltsters, you’re eligible to join the Craft Malt Certified™ seal. Usage of the seal on products and in other marketing helps bridge the “grain to glass” divide, connecting your customers with family farmers.

Become a craft malt convert! Apply and learn more here.

7. See You At #MaltCon2024

Join us at the world’s only craft malt conference in Davis, California (or virtually) next month! MaltCon2024 takes place February 22-24. It’s a great opportunity for our brewery and distillery customers to learn more about malting, malt usage, flavor, and so much more.

We’ve seen lager styles gaining popularity across the Southeast over the last few years. During that time, we developed several different products, like Czech-style Pilsner, to help our customers build recipes that were “true to style”, but still with a touch of Southern terroir.

We’re thrilled to see more and more producers with mindfulness around expressing a sense of place in their beers, especially in malt-forward lager recipes. As 2023 comes to a close, we’re pleased about the momentum that the Southern Lager movement gained this year and excited for what’s to come in the New Year. Here are some of our 2023 highlights—

The Inaugural Southern Lager Invitational

We got an early start on the year when our friends from Bootleg Biology invited us to co-sponsor the inaugural Southern Lager Invitational late in 2022. The idea of pouring locally-sourced lagers for a large audience at the Craft Brewers Conference seemed like a perfect fit.

In the ramp up to CBC, we helped pull together close to two dozen beers from around the South. The folks at Harding House Brewing Company were incredible hosts, taking great care of everyone in attendance. The event was incredibly successful, and we’re grateful to everyone who attended.

Exciting news! We’re bringing the Southern Lager Invitational to Asheville in 2024. Stay tuned.

State-Level Lager Collaborations

Tampa Beer Week generated another opportunity to showcase our expanding catalog of Pilsner malts. I found myself chatting with Jason from Gulfport Brewing Company about the recently released Avalon variety from Virginia Tech. Specifically, the Pilsner batches Riverbend had released that featured a rich mouthfeel (think coconut water!) while keeping color low. The conversation turned to the Florida Brewers Conference beer collaboration that was currently underway. They were kicking around the idea of a Vienna Lager and I jumped at the chance to get involved in the project. Our Vienna Malt is one of my favorite products that doesn’t often get a chance to shine. In short, I couldn’t wait to see how this beer would turn out. 

We packed our bags and headed back to Florida for their conference in July. Randy Mosher gave a great keynote address on his latest book that dives deep into the world of beer sensory. We also got a chance to sit in on a presentation about thiolized yeast strains that helped me understand how to balance that ingredient in a recipe… very cool stuff! We also got a chance to share the Avalon story with several brewers in attendance while enjoying the Vienna Lager. It’s always helpful to have an example of a finished beer that features the ingredient you are talking about!

Next up, was another collaboration with our friends from Bootleg Biology. This time we partnered with Atrium Brewing to create a Southern Lager recipe for the Beer CANvention that was happening in Louisville. Turns out there is a fervent group of beer can collectors from around the world that get together every year to talk shop and trade memorabilia. Old school pull tab cans, coolers, t-shirts, basically anything you can think of from breweries large and small was on display at this event. 

This Southern Lager recipe featured our Cumberland Pilsner, Cumberland Corn Malt, and Great Chit. Zuper Saazer hops from Hop Head Farms that deliver a nice herbal punch and the ARL strain from Bootleg that was propagated from a site in Virginia, round out this beautiful beer. It was poured as part of the pre-conference beer festival that kicked off the festivities. A majority of the breweries in Louisville were also in attendance, so it was a great opportunity to check out their beer scene.

For our final collaboration of the year, we joined the NC Brewers Guild and Southern Pines Brewing Company to create a beer that would honor our veterans and serve as the official beer of the 10th annual NC Craft Brewers Conference. We decided on an Italian Pilsner that would feature Chesapeake Pilsner, Southern Select, Vienna, and Great Chit. Idaho Gem and Triumph hops were provided by Mill 95. Southern Pines hosted a brew day for all veteran-owned breweries in NC. The beer made its debut at the NC State Fair in October and took center stage at the awards ceremony during the conference.

Each of these projects took great strides towards establishing a place for local malt in recipes that were previously walled off for European ingredients. Our sincere hope is that fresher malt grown just a few hundred miles from the brewery will support continued innovation, elevating the idea of Southern Lager as a unique style in the years ahead.

Many thanks to everyone for supporting us this year— it means the world to us!

– Brent Manning, Co-Founder

For Southern proud LaGrange, Georgia-based Beacon Brewing Company, the choice to switch to Southern malt to brew Southern beer was essential to their brand. The decision fell perfectly in line with their desire to provide patrons with a fusion of local flavors accompanied by local lore.

Why the Switch?

According to Dave Hash, Head Brewer at Craft Malt Certified™ Beacon Brewing, “For us, it was a combination of the efficiency and flavor we get from the malt as well as the mission of supporting our local southeastern beer economy. That, coupled with the bulk grain pricing we were able to get, made the switch very enticing.”  

Beyond flavor and price, Beacon strives to “be a part of the community, not apart from the community.” Hash went further to say, “Applying this philosophy on a macro scale makes perfect sense for us and gives us a chance to support our local southeastern farmers and maltsters. Switching to Riverbend is the perfect way for us to do that.” 

Malt Selection

Of Riverbend’s available standard malts, Beacon Brewing uses a whopping eleven. Their base malts are created exclusively with Chesapeake Pilsner and Southern Select.  For their specialty malts, Beacon incorporates Light and Dark Munich, Vienna, Great Chit, Appalachian Wheat, Munich Rye, Carolina Rye, and Cumberland Corn. Their Sweetland Light uses exclusively Chesapeake Pilsner and Great Chit and the Vienna, and according to Dave, “The Vienna Malt and Cumberland Corn really shine in our Mexican Lager.”

But Hash says he does have a favorite. The head brewer goes on to say that by far, his favorite usage of Riverbend malts is “the Munich Rye and Carolina Rye malts in our Red Rye DIPA. The spicy rye characteristics pair really well with English crystal malt and citrusy hop bitterness, and you can really get that tingling, slightly cooling mouthfeel that you’d get from a rye whiskey.” 

A Sense of Place

Beacon Brewing Company lives by a local first motto. “In an industry that relies so much on homogeneity in its raw ingredients, it’s refreshing to be able to use an ingredient that allows us to maintain and exceed operational integrity while supporting our local farmers,” Hash adds. “I’m just proud to be using Southern malt to brew Southern beer.” 

Learn more about Beacon Brewing Company’s Southern pride at beaconbeer.com.