Should we care more about malt?

Should we care more about malt? As a maltster, I am bound to answer that question in the affirmative. Of course, all maltsters care a lot about malt. And so do a lot of brewers. But, in my experience, there are a number of the new generation of brewers who appear to think that malt is ...just malt!

What makes me think that? Well, if you ask these brewers to name the varieties of hops they use, they will reel them off, just like that. Ask them the variety of barley they use, unless it is Maris Otter, some will hesitate, they do not know! Why is this, and does it really matter?

Malt matters

As malt is the main ingredient of beer, some say ‘the body of beer’, surely it does matter. So how is it, we in the malting industry appear to have collectively failed to ensure that in all cases our customers not only know the specifications of the malts they buy, but also know, and fully understand, the variety, or varieties, we are supplying to them? So that they know their malts intimately, like they know their hops? Sadly, the answer lies in the commoditisation of malt which has needed to overlook this detail, enabling the blending of different varieties according to availability and price. We are talking about malt production driven by economics, another victim of the industrialisation of food and drink.

Who was it who first assumed that all barley varieties are mostly the same, taste the same, and that barleys from all regions are more or less the same? Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when Sales Maltsters were busy persuading family brewing companies to close their on-site maltings, and, instead, buy from the Sales Maltsters, all the malting barley across the UK was a single variety named Proctor. So, I can understand why maltsters then may have avoided talking about individual barleys, or where they came from. But today, with our constant change in varieties, and with what we now know, I think this subject requires closer interrogation. I will try to explain why.

Flavour

When it comes to flavour, barley varieties present a wide spectrum, from the very malty, biscuity Maris Otter, backwards across to milder flavours, and on to some varieties that are almost totally bland. The malting process enhances the flavours that exist, but the finished malts coming out are only as good as the raw material going in.

What now appears to be happening, our new varieties of barley are declining in flavour. Our modern-day barley breeders are not breeding for maltsters and brewers, they are breeding for farmers, because it is the farmers who reward them with Royalties, when they buy new seed. So new varieties are selected, first and foremost, for their agronomic performance. Malting and brewing qualities are secondary, if not by chance. Even then, breeders dwell on physical and chemical attributes; I observe no mention of flavour profiling!

My concern is, the selection of new barleys is now coming from a relatively small pool of former successful varieties, and this selection continues to exaggerate agronomic performance, and in the process dilutes other virtues, such as flavour. If we are not careful, before very long, we could easily get back to a point where, once again, the malt variety will not matter. But for all the wrong reasons, surely totally unacceptable to brewers!

Off flavours

There is one thing far worse than barley varieties lacking in flavour, that is a barley which does not taste very nice. We had this back in 2007; the then new Spring malting barley ‘Tipple’ presented flavours that were described by professional tasting panels as “astringent and bitter, not very nice at all”! These flavours were found to transmit right through to the beer. Could this happen again? The malting industry screens new barley varieties for distinct ‘off flavours’, but only after it has been malted and made into beer. They missed ‘Tipple’, so perhaps they should screen raw barley, or malt, for ‘off flavours’, or even establish flavour profiles for comparison. No Craft Brewer wants to be handicapped by something like that again.

Climate

Climate change is beginning to impact our domestic barley crop. Forever, East Anglia has been dubbed the source of the finest malting barleys, and that is why the malting industry is concentrated all along our Eastern seaboard. But this area is now becoming much drier, and despite parts of this region being blessed with the preferred barley soil type, the Icknield Series, grain size is shrinking. For the best barleys it is now necessary to follow the Icknield soils south, to where they spill across the counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, where there is currently a bit more rain across the summer months.

Local

Is ‘local’ not part of the mantra that is craft beer? Whilst it may not be possible for every brewer to have malt made from barley grown just down the road from the brewery, is there not some merit in being able to claim the origin of the malt? To at least be able to refer to the region where the barley was grown will, almost certainly, have some resonance with the younger members of our society. We are constantly reminded that these people are far more concerned than their parents ever were about the origins and ingredients of their food and drink. Part of their satisfaction, and their enjoyment, is understanding and appreciating this, and we are told they will probably pay more in return!

Process

Of course, I am bound to round-up with this - the malting process can definitely make a difference. We are back to the economics again, pneumatic malting (the modern factory method) versus the very traditional method of ‘floor malting’, which we still retain at Warminster.

Pneumatic malting was first invented in the mid 19th century, and it was always promoted as more economical - less labour, reduced space - it was never claimed to produce a superior product. But it could not immediately be taken up in Britain because our industry was governed, and restricted, by the rigorous rules and regulations of The Malt Tax. However, this tax was repealed in 1880, and the doors to the new technology were finally opened. But the first projects did not impress! In fact it was widely reported that this new method “could not produce the quality of malt that brewers demand”. So maltsters, and brewers, went back to building even bigger and more grand ‘floor maltings’. Witness the Bass investment at Sleaford, in Lincolnshire: eight blocks of malt floors, each six stories high, with a 1,000 ft frontage, which opened in 1906. The last ‘floor maltings’ to be built in this country, in Grantham, began production in 1952 (now closed).

I cannot speak for others, but at Warminster there is no ‘blueprint’ for our ‘floor malting’ process. Our interventions on the germination floors are 7 or 8 times per every 24 hours, and are always determined by the progress of the ‘green malt’ in order to maximise the extract for our customers. We are advised when we get it exactly right, which we mostly do, the pay back, compared to pneumatic malt, can be up to 5 firkins of extra beer from a single tonne of our malt. A rich reward indeed!

So there you have it. All the way up to the millennium, Marstons Brewery insisted on all it’s malt being ‘floor made’, and today ‘floor malting’ is the choice of brewers all around the world who really do care about their barley and their malt. But, sadly, the UK has little ‘floor’ capacity left now, to meet this growing demand. Even so, I am concerned about brewers who say to me the price of malt is what matters most. To them I say, think again. After all, each £100 per tonne of the malt price is equal to just one penny of the price of a pint of beer. It cannot possibly be a limiting factor. And I am certain Craft Beer enthusiasts would be far happier to know that brewers care as much about their malt as they do about their hops. They are both magical ingredients, and both should share the same status and provenance. Neither of them should ever be taken for granted.

Find out more at www.warminster-malt.co.uk