Blue Ox Malthouse Adds Seven Roasted Floor Malts To Portfolio
Major expansion in 2024 established Blue Ox Malthouse as the world’s largest floor maltster in America and implemented a roaster to offer specialty roasted malt products rarely available from craft maltsters.
LISBON FALLS, ME– Blue Ox Malthouse has seven new roasted malt products in stock.
Major expansion in 2024 established Blue Ox Malthouse as the world’s largest floor maltster outside of Europe. It also implemented new equipment and processes to enable the malthouse to offer specialty roasted malt products rarely available from craft maltsters.
After rigorous research and development— which included experimentation with Blue Ox customers Maine Beer Co., Tributary Brewing, and Goodfire Brewing— Blue Ox is pleased to present seven new roasted malts: Chocolate Rye, Crystal 90, Crystal 120, Golden Triticale, Roasted Barley, Roasted Oats, and Roasted Wheat. Like all of Blue Ox’s offerings, these new malt styles are floor malted with premium grains sourced from family farms in the Northeast. Their specifications are as follows:
Chocolate Rye - Roasted pretzels and dark chocolate. Flavorful and black in color. 350 SRM.
Crystal 90 - Deeply nutty flavors with hints of molasses. 80-90 SRM.
Crystal 120 (Special Moxie) - Cooked raisins, roasted sugars, and maple syrup. 110-120 SRM.
Golden Triticale - Pure s’mores and granola. Put it on ice cream! 10-15 SRM.
Roasted Barley - Baking chocolate and dark-roasted coffee. Dark black color. 600 SRM.
Roasted Oats - Notes of sesame and sugar cookies with a glass of milk. 200 SRM.
Roasted Wheat - Huskless and roasted to perfection. Notes of coffee and chocolate. 550 SRM.
Browse these roasted malt styles and the entire Blue Ox malt portfolio at blueoxmalthouse.com. Brewers, distillers, and bakers interested in purchasing Blue Ox’s floor malted products can contact orders@blueoxmalthouse.com.
Media inquiring about Blue Ox Malthouse can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BLUE OX MALTHOUSE
Launched in 2013 by homebrewer and community organizer-turned-maltster Joel Alex, Blue Ox Malthouse is Maine's first malting operation. Blue Ox Malthouse seeks to push the possibilities of craft beer and spirits, and support Maine agriculture by connecting these two groups through world class quality Maine-made malt. Reinvigorating a centuries-old floor malting tradition, Blue Ox is committed to growing the connection between brewers and farmers while striving to grow more sustainable food systems and serve as a model for sustainable and rural economic development. Learn more at blueoxmalthouse.com.
Blue Ox Malthouse Wins Best Of Show and Double Gold at 2025 Malt Cup Awards
Blue Ox Malthouse earned top honors among international entries in the 2025 Malt Cup awards.
Image courtesy Gabe Toth
LISBON FALLS, ME– On the heels of an expansion that established Blue Ox Malthouse as the world’s largest floor maltster outside of Europe, this Maine malthouse was just awarded two gold medals and Best of Show at the 2025 Malt Cup Awards.
Malt Cup, the seven-year-old international malt quality competition hosted by the Craft Maltsters Guild in collaboration with the Montana State University Barley, Malt & Brewing Quality Lab, is the only competition of its kind. Entries undergo three vigorous, points-based rounds of blind judging in specific malt style categories. In 2025, 34 malthouses from seven countries submitted 112 malt samples to the Malt Cup– the most entries ever for the competition.
The judges awarded Blue Ox with gold medals in the Light Munich and Caramel Malt categories for the floor malted Light Munich and Caramel 60 malts, respectively. Light Munich, which won bronze at this competition in 2023, is a character building malt for many beer styles that yields notes of lightly toasted bread crust rounded by a deep biscuity sweetness. Caramel 60 is Blue Ox’s darkest kilned malt, with notes of molasses, tobacco, and raisins.
Among the gold medalists, the Light Munich malt went on to win the Best In Show title for 2025 after the points scored in judging rounds superseded all other gold medalists. The team returned home to Maine with the traveling Malt Cup that’s prominently displayed at the malthouse alongside their now six total Malt Cup awards. Blue Ox has won two Malt Cup awards each year for the past three years, also scoring medals for their floor malted Caramel 20, Pale Malt, and Yankee Pilsner.
“This recognition is validation that we can craft world-class ingredients with Maine-grown grains, which elevate our customers’ products, our farmers’ hard work, and our community at large,” says Joel Alex, Founder and CEO of Blue Ox Malthouse. “I am especially proud of the team at Blue Ox who kept our quality consistent amid a complex expansion. We look forward to competing again next year with new, innovative products!”
The Blue Ox team honors their partners at Porter Farms, Aurora Mills, & Farms, and other regional farmers for providing the foundation of their high quality products, and their hard working team whose commitment to consistent excellence makes these accolades possible.
Purchase Blue Ox’s award winning floor malted products by contacting orders@blueoxmalthouse.com.
Media inquiring about Blue Ox Malthouse can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BLUE OX MALTHOUSE
Launched in 2013 by homebrewer and community organizer-turned-maltster Joel Alex, Blue Ox Malthouse is Maine's first malting operation. Blue Ox Malthouse seeks to push the possibilities of craft beer and spirits, and support Maine agriculture by connecting these two groups through world class quality Maine-made malt. Reinvigorating a centuries-old floor malting tradition, Blue Ox is committed to growing the connection between brewers and farmers while striving to grow more sustainable food systems and serve as a model for sustainable and rural economic development. Learn more at blueoxmalthouse.com.
Maine's First Malthouse Expands To Become World’s Largest Traditional Floor Malting Facility Outside Of Europe
Blue Ox Malthouse celebrated the grand opening of its expanded facility in Lisbon, Maine, now the largest of its kind in the world outside of Europe.
Photo courtesy Ben Moore (@activebeergeek)
LISBON FALLS, ME— Last week, Blue Ox Malthouse celebrated the grand opening of its expanded facility, now the largest of its kind in the world outside of Europe.
At 20,000 square feet with quadrupled floor malting capacity, Blue Ox Malthouse is an entirely floor malting-dedicated company that produces malted grains for the Northeast’s brewing, distilling, and baking industries since its start in 2013. This expansion significantly bolsters the region’s grain economy— creating jobs, investing into family farms across Maine and the Northeast, and adding value to products made with Blue Ox malt. It also augments Blue Ox’s ability to create more malt made with a diversity of grains (such as barley, wheat, rye, triticale, and oats), as well as organic, smoked, custom, and soon roasted products, for craft breweries and distilleries across the region and beyond.
Commissioner Amanda Beal of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry was among the speakers at the event. She commended the expansion in her remarks, stating, “This development creates an opportunity for the growth of our grain sector, offering farmers access to new markets while also benefiting from working with grains as rotational and cover crops to enhance soil health. Additionally, this expansion provides high-quality ingredients for businesses to create value-added products, expanding opportunities for growth on many levels."
Town of Lisbon Council Chair Harry Moore Jr. also gave remarks, noting, “Projects like this one, which not only enhance traditional processes with modern equipment but also focus on sustainability and support for local farmers, are key to the development of communities throughout Maine.”
“This expansion matters because alcohol is an agricultural product, and alcoholic production can play a huge role in robust, resilient, vibrant local food systems,” added Blue Ox Malthouse Founder Joel Alex. “In order to realize this potential, we need value-added processes that build the infrastructure that connects this alcoholic production to high quality, local ingredients and farms. Food systems matter because people matter; and we all have such a personal, economic, and cultural connection to food. Food that is better for us is also almost always better for our community and the environment.”
Of more than 100 craft maltsters on the continent, Blue Ox is among a small fraction of them entirely dedicated to time-honored floor malting techniques— and now the largest of these committed producers. Floor malting is gentler on the grain, with less automation and more interaction with the process that beyond offering the market a more consistent, quality, and flavorful product, also builds good jobs in the state of Maine.
Brewers, distillers, and bakers can browse the Blue Ox malt portfolio at blueoxmalthouse.com. Contact collab@blueoxmalthouse.com to place an order or discuss custom projects.
Media inquiring about Blue Ox Malthouse can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BLUE OX MALTHOUSE
Launched in April 2013 by community organizer and homebrewer-turned-maltster Joel Alex, Blue Ox Malthouse is Maine's first malting operation that was founded with the mission of creating more robust, resilient, and equitable regional food systems. Blue Ox Malthouse seeks to push possibilities in craft beer and spirits by supporting shorter supply chains and thoughtful farming practices. Reinvigorating centuries-old floor malting techniques and tradition, Blue Ox is committed to these community-focused methods while constantly innovating to serve as a model for sustainable rural economic development. Learn more at blueoxmalthouse.com.