Tasting Notes:

Riverbend Malt House exemplified its Malt With A Mission ethos in 2025 with strong relationships across the supply chain, research and development on innovative products, and continued commitment to their environmental initiatives.  

Here is the Riverbend Malt House 2025 Year In Review.

Production & Team

Last year, Riverbend produced nearly 4 million pounds of malt. In October, Riverbend’s production crew filled the GKV with the malt house’s 1000th batch. 

The malt house installed a hammer mill to achieve a finer, distiller’s crush on malt. 

2025 marked Riverbend’s fourth consecutive year of zero injuries or incidents. 

The growing team at Riverbend now includes Customer Success Representative Tina Hoffert, who comes to the malt house after years of professional brewing experience. She is now one of 14 Riverbend employees. 

Riverbend Malt Innovation

After becoming the world’s first Certified Regenified™ malt house in 2024, Riverbend produced the first certified malt this year. Fullsteam Brewery became the first-ever certified brewery in the Regenified program this year, crafting two beers in their Reset series with Regenified Southern Select malt. 

Riverbend introduced Honey Malt, Crystal 20, and Crystal 50 malts to its portfolio last year. The production team also refreshed Speakeasy Distillers Malt with the new Vivar barley variety, which is negative for glycosidic nitrile and high in enzymatic activity— making it the perfect choice for distillers exploring export to the EU and Canada.

As Avalon 2-Row barley acreage continues to expand, Riverbend is purchasing this varietal from four states and incorporating it into its Cumberland Pilsner malt style. “This is exciting news, as this represents a big step forward for regionally-adapted varieties,” says Riverbend Malt House Co-Founder Brent Manning. 

Local Farmers and Customers 

In 2025, Riverbend sourced grain from family-owned farms across the Southeast region, including North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, and  Virginia—  all within 500 miles of the malthouse. 

Riverbend sold malt to more than 300 breweries and distilleries in 2025.

Because most brewhouses are fueled by coffee and not nut rolls, Riverbend partnered up with Asheville’s Coffee Library last year to give their pallet orders a boost. Now customers who order full pallets get a custom coffee blend selected by the Riverbend and Coffee Library teams. 

Many of Riverbend’s customers were recognized with prestigious quality awards, including medals at the Great American Beer Festival, the North Carolina Brewers Cup, the South Carolina Brewers Cup, and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Events & Community

Riverbend was thrilled to bring its annual celebration of Southern Lager to the malt house in 2025. Riverbend customers are invited to serve their expressions of Southern Lager at this event again slated for May 1-2, this year with added technical and sensory training before the beer celebration. 

Last year, the malt house made a donation to BeLoved Asheville for each of the annual customer surveys they received. 

Throughout 2025, breweries across the Southeast collaborated on fundraiser beers made with Riverbend malt for causes they cared about. The team at Riverbend was delighted to support at brew days and with malt donations for beers crafted to support hurricane relief efforts, Veterans, and regenerative agriculture. Read about them here. 

Environmental Stewardship

2025 was a year of incremental improvements in malthouse efficiency, with carbon emissions per pound falling by 0.1 percent. The rootlet recycling program recorded more than 190,000 pounds of material diverted from landfills, approximately 2,000 more than 2024. Riverbend’s polywoven recycling program also marked increases in overall volume.