Craft Malt Makes Craft Beer

This past week, we proudly participated in the Craft Maltsters Guild first annual Craft Malt Week. Here at Lantern, we feel strongly that brewing with craft malt is the key to brewing beer that maintains its integrity to craft ideals, which is at its essence is beer brewed for the needs of people, not the need for profit. We wanted to combine our thoughts from this week here and offer one brewery’s perspective on what Craft Malt means in the larger context.

Though the attention given to other ingredients sometimes overshadows malt’s role, malt is and always will be the most important ingredient in beer. Learning where the malt comes from tells you almost everything you need to know about where the beer comes from. Great tasting beer starts with great tasting malt, but if that malt lacks integrity, the resulting beer will lack integrity as well. 

Craft malt is the key to bringing integrity back to craft brewing, not only restoring honesty in claims to the craft ideal but also allowing for local character and flavor to be brought to the glass. The craft brewing industry is on the brink of becoming irrelevant, producing more and more commodified and homogenized “craft” beer brewed with no character, no sense of place, no meaning, and no purpose. Craft malt can set craft brewing on a better path. 

Malt is Fundamental to Beer 

What is malt? What does ‘malt’ mean? Malt is the magic that allows brewers and distillers to create delicious liquids from the hard seeds of grain. Malt is the link between farm and glass. Malt serves as the fabric and substance of beer; without malt, there would be no beer.

Malt, in material terms, is the main ingredient that is combined with water to make the base of all beer. More technically, it is grain that is harvested, stored, then taken through the natural ‘malting’ process to prepare it for use in brewing. The basic malting process begins with moistening the grain to allow for the onset of germination; before the grain seeds fully germinate and sprout, however, the process is halted by drying and cleaning the grains back to a seed-like form. From that point, the new malt may be further dried, kilned, or roasted to bring out texture, color, and flavor. Malt is the most important source of nutrition in beer: first for the brewer’s yeast that synthesize flavor, aroma, carbonation, and alcohol; and only then for the humans who enjoy the final result.

Barley is the most widely used grain in brewing beer, to the extent that a plain reference to ‘malt’ almost always means ‘barley malt.’ Wheat, rye, oats, spelt, and numerous other seeds and grains can be malted and used in brewing as well. The use of these other grain sources sometimes typifies beer brewed in a particular place or region, and each can bring its own unique character to beer.

Barley itself has thousands of varieties, developed across the globe and over thousands of years, with different qualities and characters. Across those varieties, some are better suited to particular growing regions or seasonal conditions and many express unique coloration, flavor, or other character.

Of the thousands of barley varieties known around the globe, only a few dozen have been developed for industrial-scale agriculture and approved for industrial-scale malting and brewing. These varieties are grown each year on a massive scale; selected because of their ability to sustain massive yearly harvests and to meet standards of uniformity and biochemical composition. These standards are focused on efficacy in the malting process and on cost and technical criteria set for the brewing of industrial-scale light lagers; they hardly relate to flavor and aroma, and leave no room for place, connection, terroir, or other humanistic qualities.

So if malt is the foundation for all beer, yet most malt is made on an industrial scale for industrial brewers who require a uniformity and commodification of that malt, stripping away a sense of place, of character, or of integrity to craft ideals, how could that malt be used to create ‘craft’ beverages?  

Is there any reason for a grower to plant and harvest grain varieties other than those being sold into the mass market? In a globalized, consolidated, industrially-scaled world, is there any need for small-scale farms, mills, and maltsters, and by extension small-scale bakers, distillers, and brewers? Is there an alternative to the use of industrial ingredients by craft producers?  

Yes, there are still reasons for growers to plant and harvest non-industrial varieties; yes, there still is a deep need for small-scale farms, mills, maltsters who can supply the small-scale bakers, brewers, and distillers with quality non-industrial malts, flours, and other grain products; and yes, there is an alternative to mass-produced industrial malt to be found through the use of craft malt.

Craft Malt is Essential

Craft malt is malt that retains a tangible link between the land, the farm, and the maltster. Craft malt is made from barley and other grains from farms that choose to grow varieties not approved for industrial use (for example, heirloom or newly developed varieties); or that farm in smaller lots; or that farm in regions where the infrastructure needed to grow and harvest grains at an industrial scale is undeveloped or undesired.

Those farms are often small and independently owned, and are worked by people with deep attachment to the land and who often follow practices directed more toward ecological sustainability than toward maximizing the yield of each acre. Their grain is seeded, tended, and harvested with expertise and care, is delicious, healthy, and full of flavor and character--yet this is not what interests industrial-scale producers.  

Craft maltsters purchase these grains, often dealing directly with the farm or a local cooperative, and then utilize their own skill with a unique set of processes and small-scale equipment to create malt that meets technical brewing specification, meets goals for flavor and character, and retains a sense of locality and uniqueness.

This means that a craft maltster can label their malt not only with their own brand and product information, but can also give the brewer information on where, when, and by whom that grain was brought to harvest, and from which variety of barley, wheat, or other grain that malt was made. This in turn allows a brewery to develop a deeper connection with the people, places, and ways in which their chosen malts were made and to bring those connections to the glass in a meaningful way..

In retaining this close connection with farms and their lands, in having an independent and small-scale production that returns value more fully back to those who create it, and in producing flavorful products that allow for local expression, craft maltsters fulfill craft ideals and in that way imbue craft malt with the integrity that craft beer needs to remain authentic and honest.

Following Craft Ideals through Craft Malt

We constantly strive to uphold the ideals of craft production throughout the many choices we make in bringing Lantern Brewing beer to light, and craft malt plays a central role in realizing those ideals.

We work to maintain the integrity of our beer through the use of craft malts and other local ingredients whose value is returned most directly back to the people and communities in which they were grown and processed. We emphasize local ingredients for our beer not only because of that direct social and economic impact, and not only because of the reduced ecological impact of using locally grown and sourced ingredients, but also because local ingredients are the way in which we develop truly local character, local flavors, and an authentic sense of place for our beer.   

We have supported the craft malt movement for several years, and have welcomed the introduction of new craft malt suppliers each year. Craft malt has now become more widely available and can be supplied in quantities to meet the needs of all but the largest users. Craft malt is produced in just about every type of base, color, flavor, texture, and specialty malt known, and represents many locally-important varietal grains that have helped to maintain viability of local and specialty grain harvests. The options for selecting and using craft malt are plentiful and available to all craft brewers and distillers.

This year, we earned certification as the first Certified Craft Malt Brewery in Washington, and we are proud to have received this recognition for our use of craft malt in each batch of beer we brew.  We encourage other breweries to work toward qualification and certification for their beer and their brewery through their own use of craft malt. Using craft malt is our way of saying we honor and respect the people that grow and make our ingredients and those who drink our beer as well, and we expect nothing less from other craft breweries.

We support the Craft Maltsters Guild and believe in craft malt because we believe in the mission of the Guild to promote and sustain the tradition of craft malting in North America. We stand in support of all Craft Maltsters and of all breweries who continue to pursue craft ideals.

In embracing craft malt, we're enabled to create characterful, meaningful, locally-focused libations with delicious flavor. This work directly strengthens the network of local food and ingredient producers, keeping the balance of power closer to the people, growers, and producers of our area. We are able to make the greatest impact we can with every penny spent making our beer and know that producing and using craft malt is an important part of sustaining a healthy regional ecosystem and economy. Craft malt producers, partner farms, breweries, and beer drinkers alike all play critical roles in keeping local food systems healthy and strong. 

Supporting Craft Malt and Craft Beer

If you enjoy craft beer and want to maintain the honesty and integrity of the craft beer movement, we urge you to show that support through your choice of beer!

Ask your favorite craft breweries which malts they use, and how much of that malt is craft malt. Ask those breweries why they choose the different malts and grains for each beer, and how they reflect local flavors and character. Ask them what those choices represent toward supporting craft ideals and local production.

Encourage them to use more locally grown and locally malted grain by choosing to drink beer brewed with craft malt. Look for a “Certified Craft Malt” logo or sign the next time you look at a label or menu board, and look for the origins of the malt and grain that goes into your beer.

Discover flavor and character differences for yourself by tasting craft malt-brewed versus non craft malt-brewed beer. How does the grain and malt character support other flavors in the beer? Even if the malt is not up front, does it contribute to the color, texture, and body of that beer? Does the beer hold your interest and does it express local character in some way?

We believe that every beer lover can taste the differences that craft malt brings to craft beer, and we hope you’ll come away from this first Craft Malt Week with a love of all things malt as deeply rooted as ours!