We love Arches Bohemian Riot! Uproxx recently asked us about our favorite easy-sippers, and this craft lager made the cut among some other world-class craft beers like Bibo Pils by Creature Comforts and La Petite Prince by Jester King.
This Pilsner first crafted by Arches Brewing in Hapeville, Georgia in 2019 has grown in popularity and availability over the years, reported Beer Street Journal. Great news for Georgia craft beer lovers: This spring seasonal is sticking around through August.
It’s not every day you find a functioning brewery in a museum; no less one that utilizes craft malt.
Brew Your Own Magazine just profiled our customers The Carillon Brewing Company at the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio. Carillon uses our base malt to produce their own toasted and crystal malts in-house.
Click here to read about their toasting regimen, and so much more.
New Belgium’s Old Tuffy Premium Lager made in collaboration with North Carolina State University continues to make headlines. A portion of sales of this light lager supports the university’s fermentation sciences program. According to New Belgium’s COO Joe Davis, using our malt in this beer deepens the “connection with the university and the state.”
Read on about Old Tuffy and more craft beer and university collaborations in this Vine Pair article by our friend Joshua Bernstein.
In episode 95 of the Good Beer Matters podcast, our very own Brent and Jesse Bussard of the Craft Maltsters Guild had the opportunity to dive into the importance of craft malt in craft beer production with host Jeremy Storton.
Jesse and Brent touched on how important community and connection were in getting interested in craft. Brent described that “ethos” as key in his decision to get started.
“We’re really looking back to the roots of beer production,’ Brent explained.”In the early days, the malthouse was inside of the brewery, it was all a part of the process chain. We’re unlocking a lot of those old historical scales and flavors when we talk about this.”
Brent and Jesse went on to explain the Guild’s Craft Malt Certified Seal program. Jesse described how the seal itself is a vehicle to tell the story of local craft malt. With so many breweries throughout the country, the seal is a differentiation point, even for larger breweries like New Belgium. It was intentionally designed to key people in to the fact that beer is an agricultural product.
“Drinking is an agricultural act. We want people to make that connection.” — Brent
The Guild and craft malt have expanded, both literally and in the craft beer consciousness. From Denver to Asheville, to Belize (where maybe the Craft Malt Conference can take place one day, just sayin’) the Guild has connected customers to their products in an authentic and delicious way.
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.
We caught up with Joshua Bernstein via SevenFifty Daily to make predictions for craft malt 2022.
The big takeaway: supply chain snafus continue to turn the industry toward adding value to their products via craft malt. Props to our friends at Mainstem Malt in Walla Walla, Washington who also weighed in, and cheers to shorter supply chains going forward!
Hop Culture rounded up eight 2022 trend predictions, including craft beer that tastes like beer— beer made with high quality, locally sourced craft malt to be specific.
“For too long, lagers have been associated with mass-produced American light beers such as Bud Light, Miller Light, and Coors Light,” Grace Weitz says in the article. “But craft brewers have been reclaiming the space, producing excellent versions of the lighter, usually lower-ABV, beer style while often using local, craft ingredients. New Belgium’s Old Tuffy light lager, for example, uses craft malt from Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, NC.”
Thanks Grace for including us! Read the full article here.
As part of a series of interviews with brewery pros, Wine Enthusiast asked what they thought 2022 was going to look like in the ever-changing landscape of craft beer. From inclusion to an awareness of Big Beer, there were plenty of suggestions. The on-going pandemic supply chain issue was also brought up, and the question of how to address it. One answer: diversified malt.
Hillary Barile, a member of the Board of Directors for the Craft Maltsters Guild, emphasized the realization that a diversified malt supply can alleviate some those supply chain strains. She stressed that remains true, even for larger companies like New Belgium, whose Old Tuffy light lager uses Light Munich craft malt from Riverbend.
“I think that the way that these two things intersect is interesting,” said Barile. “Barley and malt shortages in the traditional supply chain will make the craft supply chain more appealing and some regional malthouses have a good crop of barley to work with. ”
Thanks Wine Enthusiast for the Riverbend shout out, and props to Hillary on this important industry commentary. Read more here.
Michael Waltrip Brewing Co. just tapped the 3 Ranges Appalachian Ale. This beer featured a custom pilsner malt that we produced in collaboration with Appalachian Grains.
Here’s Brent in the Bristol Herald Courier on the Appalachian Grains regional economic development project, which we’re excited to expand to include more growers in the years ahead.
“It’s important for us to continue to build the local network of grain growers. We focus on the hub and spoke model, and the hub is the conditioning, cleaning and packaging. We can’t be a traditional farm in terms of storage,” Manning said. “We also love that this is a new revenue stream for growers in the area. With winter grains, typically October to June, we’re not competing for space with soybeans, corn or whatever. This is a nice opportunity for growers to incorporate this into their crop rotation.”
Building a robust, local supply chain has always been a cornerstone of our malt on a mission philosophy. Thanks to David Crigger for helping us tell the story!
We are honored to be included in Joshua Bernstein’s exploration of craft malt in the Nov/Dec issue of Imbibe Magazine! Root Shoot Malting, also featured, called it a “powerhouse craft malt article”. We agree!