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Hop Culture: Craft Beer That Tastes Like Beer (made with craft malt) in 2022

Hop Culture rounded up eight 2022 trend predictions, including craft beer that tastes like beerโ€” beer made with high quality, locally sourced craft malt to be specific.

โ€œFor 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 Belgiumโ€™s Old Tuffy light lager, for example, uses craft malt from Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, NC.โ€

Thanks Grace for including us! Read the full article here.

Hillary Barile

Wine Enthusiast: Diversified Malt as a Focus for 2022

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.โ€ฏ”

Thanks Wine Enthusiast for the Riverbend shout out, and props to Hillary on this important industry commentary. Read more here.

Appalachian Grains Partnership Yields 3 Ranges Appalachian Ale by Michael Waltrip Brewing Co.

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 weโ€™re excited to expand to include more growers in the years ahead.

โ€œItโ€™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 canโ€™t be a traditional farm in terms of storage,โ€ Manning said. โ€œWe also love that this is a new revenue stream for growers in the area. With winter grains, typically October to June, weโ€™re not competing for space with soybeans, corn or whatever. This is a nice opportunity for growers to incorporate this into their crop rotation.โ€

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!

Imbibe Magazine: Breweries Embrace the Burgeoning Craft Malt Industry

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!

Read it here.