that host at least one maltster! Let’s take a closer look at some of the standouts: Admiral Maltings, California In fact, in researching this article, I was surprised to learn that there are currently over thirty states in the U.S. New malting houses have sprung up in the U.S. But today, there are a number of very high quality maltsters across the US, and specific heirloom variety grains being released from major maltsters too. It used to be that as an American homebrewer, for certain styles of beer such as a Helles, you would have to source your ingredients from European suppliers or sacrifice quality. (And sure, there are some smaller, lesser known maltsters in Europe and elsewhere, like maltsters in the Czech Republic, that I look forward to covering in future articles!) Have Your Malt and Eat it Too Conversely, North America, and the United States specifically, has undergone an ingredient supply transformation over the last half dozen years, going from a country where malt and hops were produced only at industrial scale, to a renaissance where local craft maltsters and hopyards are blossoming. From Franco-Belges to Crisp and from Best Malz to Simpson’s. From Weyermann’s home in Bamberg, Germany, Weyermann malt can reach France in that eight hours!Īnother contrast is that Europe has an array of traditional, high quality maltsters that many homebrewers are already familiar with. To give an idea of this scale, it’s possible to start in one corner of my home state of Colorado and drive across the state without even reaching the border on the other side! Contrast that to Europe, where an eight-hour overland journey can easily whisk you across multiple national borders. is a massive country, and what is local in one part of the country isn’t considered local to another. I live in the United States and I’m familiar with the market, so my focus is on U.S.-based ingredients, but the principles of “brewing local” apply anywhere that brewing is big. While these concerns may prove to be temporary, going local has longer lasting advantages too: lower shipping (energy) costs, freshness, the chance to find unique ingredients that might reflect your local “terroir”, and supporting your local economy. With pandemic related supply shortages and a shipping crisis taking place, there has never been a better time to source brewing ingredients from your own backyard. Sourcing Quality Homebrew Ingredients Closer to Home Fresh Malt
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