Over the past decade or so, many countries have seen an explosive growth of local beer brewers. Often born out of frustration over the mass-produced beer made from cheap ingredients, thousands of local entrepreneurs decided to enter into the competition with global brewery giants and are showcasing their independent craftsmanship. The brewery giants did not sit idle, and they also started introducing many different styles and flavours into their product line. As a result, we’re seeing changing flavours, recipes, and stories and drinking beer became less about the alcoholic content and more about the quality and experience. Barley is at the start of most beer production and barley breeders are constantly improving the crop and coming up with better varieties, both for feed and for malting. But are these new varieties reaching the brewers? European Seedinterviewed several large, small and home breweries to get their take on the craft beer explosion, what makes a barley variety good for brewing, and if improvements are in order.
Barley varieties
“We currently have a couple of barley varieties in circulation. We have malt from Germany that’s malted from different varieties than in the UK and coloured malts (caramel malts), which are being produced from different varieties as base (pale ale malt) malts,” says Leanne Edmonds, Customer Service Crew of the Brewdog company, UK. “And for the speciality malts, barley varieties with a thicker husk and higher protein are being used as they handle the additional roasting better.”
The spokesperson of the St Sixtus Abbey, in Westvleteren, Belgium, said: “Traditionally for the brewing of Westvleteren beer, the monks are using two varieties of barley malt and the brewery solely depends on the advice of its malt distributor.”
Koos de Korte is brewer at the Brasserie Artisanale de Grilly which is a microbrewery in the Ain department in France. “It is a small company, run by three passionate brewers. Our first beer was brewed in September 2017, and our current annual production is 400 hectoliter. On average we brew one 10 hl brew per week, and our current product range consists of Pale Ale, Coffee Stout, American Wheat Beer, Extra Special Bitter, IPA, Berliner Weisse and Red Ale,” he says.
Until recently, De Korte didn’t really know the barley varieties in their malts, apart from the Maris Otter they use in the Extra Special Bitter. “Most of our malts come from Weyermann in Bamberg, Germany. They offer a wide range of (organic) malts of high quality. While we know exactly what malt characteristics we need for which beer, the specific barley variety behind the malt is of less importance to us. The important characteristics for us are not in the barley variety, but in the malt made with that barley. We trust the maltsters to select the appropriate varieties to produce the malt we need,” he adds.
[tweetshare tweet=”While we know exactly what malt characteristics we need for which beer, the specific barley variety behind the malt is of less importance to us.” username=”EuropeanSeed”]
Ricardo Zanatta Machado, homebrewer in Brasília, Brazil concurs. “Normally, in a homebrew level, we don´t know the name of the variety of the barley malt. There are a few exceptions, for example the ‘Maris Otter’ and ‘Propino’ varieties that are well known for their quality. Almost all my beer recipes are made with ‘Maris Otter’. I love this base malt. Regarding base malts, a good variety for brewing should have a good diastatic power, a low protein content, a good extract yield and a good flavour profile.”
“Just this week (1 October 2019), we have started brewing with organic malts from a new maltster in the region, Malt’in Pott in Allonzier-la-Caille,” says De Korte. “This fits with our efforts to decrease our environmental footprint. Ideally, over time, we will take all our malts from local producers. For now, they only offer a Pale Malt, made from Planet 2-row barley, and a Pilsner made from Amistar 6-row.”
Genetic improvements
“For base malts, a high extract is important, and protein should be around 9 to 10% of dry matter, but also a decent enzymatic potential is important,” says Edmonds. “But, in addition to the above, availability on the market is an important criterion too, as brewers like to use the same barley over a longer period of time.”
Zanatta Machado indicates: “Undoubtedly, the boost in craft and homebrewing in several countries has been increasing the demand for barley malts. This way, I hope that this scenario can stimulate more efforts on barley breeding with more investments in research and variety development from existing and new companies. If that happens, it´s surely a matter of time to have better and more productive barley varieties.”
[tweetshare tweet=”I hope the boost in craft & home brewing can stimulate more efforts on barley breeding, i.e. more investments in research & variety development. ” username=”EuropeanSeed”]
“Since the monks of Westvleteren have been brewing with the same types of barley malt for a long time, there is no wish to make any changes,” says their spokesperson. He adds that in contrast, craft brewers with various and changing recipes would be more interested in changing the genetics of current barley varieties.
“Modern malts are much better than older ones in the sense of modification of the starch,” says De Korte. “They give a higher yield in fermentable sugars even in single infusion mashes. The better-quality malts are a result of better malting technology, but also of better barley varieties. These improvements have been going on for quite some time, but I’m convinced that the demands of the craft brewers have played a role in further improvements,” he adds.
Edmonds has not seen the craft brewers influencing the barley breeders too much in the UK yet, but in the U.S. it has. “Traditionally, the U.S. barley breeders bred for high enzymatic potential as the brewers used a lot of corn/rice and that doesn’t have enzymes. With craft brewers only using malt (and no corn or rice) the high enzyme levels made all malt beers a little difficult. So nowadays the enzyme levels for barley destined for craft brewers are a little lower than what it used to be.”
Wish list
“Last month, we were in the UK visiting a brewery roadshow organised by our hop suppliers. There was a presentation by Crisp Maltings on the re-introduction of ancient barley varieties that were brought back to life from a few grains out of a seed bank,” says De Korte. “They showed the result of one of those projects, the Cavalier malt from 1830, and even offered a beer brewed with Cavalier. Craft brewers always look for new flavours and styles. These new flavours may very well come from old varieties that have been forgotten. The interesting thing about revitalising old varieties is that they may contain a resistance to specific diseases or pests that can be ‘built’ into modern varieties, thus reducing the need for pesticides. We would be highly interested in trying old varieties with interesting flavour profiles and a natural resistance to modern pests and diseases.”
[tweetshare tweet=”Craft brewers always look for new flavours and styles which may very well come from old barley varieties that have been forgotten.” username=”EuropeanSeed”]
“Barley quality is always welcome, but of course price matters,” says Zanatta Machado. “I wish I could have a good malt with a reasonable price. In this way, barley breeders have a lot to contribute considering that one of the main focal points of barley breeding is yield. Adaptation of barley to different environments, such as tropical areas, is another point that I wish to make.” he says. “Let me give you one example: I live in Brazil and the barley production in Brazil is concentrated in the southern part of the country. I think that a good barley variety that is well adapted to the ‘cerrado’ area, could be great for growers, so they would have one more crop option. And consumers would benefit from cheaper and fresher malts,” he says.
Edmonds shares that in new barley varieties she would like to see more extract and better colloidal/haze properties “Oh, and can you make it blue or green?” she adds jokingly.
