Your New Favorite Base Malt: Riverbend Vienna Malt

Riverbend Vienna Malt Base Malt

This time of year, especially, y’all are telling us that our Vienna malt makes a great base malt. 

A member of our Munich family of malts that also includes Light Munich, Dark Munich, Double Kilned Munich, Munich Rye, and soon Munich Wheat, Riverbend Vienna Malt is produced using a proprietary blend of regionally grown 2-row barley varieties. We kiln similar to our Light Munich, with a cooler curing temperature to minimize color development. Flavors like fresh biscuits and honey make this malt a great addition to classic German Lager recipes, or American Single Malt grain bills. 

 

What Makes Vienna A Great Base Malt?


Tina Hoffert, Riverbend Malt House Customer Success Representative says that Vienna has a remarkable balance, providing a medium mouthfeel with a smooth, crisp finish. Kilned at slightly higher temperatures than standard pale malt, it introduces a flavor profile with notes of toasted grain, fresh-baked bread with a beautiful golden to light orange hue. Yet it still retains enough enzymatic power to be used as the base malt in the grain bill. “In general, Vienna malt is celebrated for its ability to infuse beer with rich, complex malt character without overpowering the palate,” she says. “This versatility allows brewers to create beers that are deeply flavorful, smooth, and exceptionally crisp.”

Vienna is, naturally, a great base for its namesake, Vienna Lager, and even more beer styles like Altbier, Kellerbier, Kölsch, or Märzen. In this BYO article, Thomas J. Miller says, “Vienna malt offers a grainy, malty flavor, but is much less pronounced than that of Munich malt. It works very well with the heavily-hopped beers because it adds a great degree of malt character without overshadowing the highlighted hops. Due to its light color offering, Vienna is a versatile malt. You can sneak 25% into a Bohemian-style Pilsner for additional malt chewiness or use 90% in an amber.” He closes it down by stating, “I think that Vienna has a place in many more beer styles than you may have first thought,”— and we couldn’t agree more.

 

Design Your Next Vienna-Based Lager

Maybe it’s for Oktoberfest, or maybe it’s just for fun: Try Vienna as the base of your next recipe and let us know what you think. Our Oktoberfest planning guide has sample grain bills and more details about our Munich Malt family.

If you’ve got questions about designing your next grain bill with a Vienna malt base, we’re here to help!