Florida SMaSH Beer Festival Returns For 8th Year, Feat. Riverbend Malt & Yakima Quality Hops
The Florida SMaSH Beer Festival Returns in 2024 with thirty breweries serving single malt and single hop beers featuring Riverbend Malt and Yakima Quality Hops.
LONGWOOD, FL— The eighth annual Florida SMaSH Beer Festival is the official kick off event for 2024 Orlando Beer Week. Thirty breweries will serve single malt, single hop beers made with malt from Riverbend Malt and hops from Yakima Quality Hops on Saturday, February 17th at Reiter Park.
The 2024 beers on tap at Florida SMaSH were made with Riverbend Avalon Pilsner malt. “With subtle notes of melon, honeysuckle and a mouthfeel reminiscent of coconut water, Avalon Pilsner can excel in a wide range of styles from American Lager to Belgian Farmhouse ales,” says Riverbend Malt House Co-Founder Brent Manning. “Avalon barley is a new variety bred to support the needs of brewers and distillers. We’re beyond excited to sample what will undoubtedly be a full-color spectrum of expressions of Avalon from so many different brewhouses at Florida SMaSH.”
Last year, the Florida SMaSH Beer Festival raised $16.027.74 for A Spoon Full of Hope. These funds support Second Harvest’s no-cost 16-week Culinary Training program, which provides qualified, economically challenged adults with the culinary and life skills training to pursue a sustainable career in the food industry. ‘This donation was over 42% higher than our previous highest donation. We were thrilled, to say the least,” says Eric Garbarczyk of Hourglass Brewing Co. “We aim to top our donation to A Spoonful of Hope again in 2024!”
Florida SMaSH is presented by the Brewers Establishing Altruistic Regional Development (B.E.A.R.D.) nonprofit organization, Hourglass Brewing, and the City of Longwood. This festival was created to celebrate the creativity and camaraderie of breweries in the Sunshine State. Each year, a people’s choice beer wins the coveted, ever-evolving Florida SMaSH Festival Champions Lamp; and the Judge's Choice competition awards first, second, and third place medals.
Tickets to the festival are available via Eventbrite, and festival details can be found at www.flsmash.com.
ABOUT B.E.A.R.D.
Brewers Establishing Altruistic Regional Development (B.E.A.R.D.) is a non-profit organization created by brewing industry professionals with a mission to serve their communities. Over 7 years, B.E.A.R.D. has successfully donated more than $60,000 to local charitable organizations such as A Spoon Full of Hope.
ABOUT HOURGLASS BREWING
Hourglass Brewing is now serving their 11th year, producing Seminole County’s first small batch craft beer. With two locations in the Orlando area and no less than 30 beers on tap they continually push for innovation while holding on to nostalgia, with a thirst for good times. Visit Hourglass online at hourglassbrewing.com.
Contact Bill Murphy at bill@hourglassbrewing.com with media inquiries about Hourglass Brewing.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 square foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Riverbend Malt House.
ABOUT YAKIMA QUALITY HOPS
YQH is a family-owned business focused on quality and service. Founded in 2013, Yakima Quality Hops provides the highest quality hops to breweries throughout the United States and abroad. Based in Yakima, WA, we work directly with growers, allowing us to offer the best pricing and quality control. We work with breweries of all sizes and in all stages of growth. Whether you’ve been brewing for decades or are just getting started, let’s connect so we can get to know your hops needs. Learn more at yakhops.com.
Riverbend Malt House Publishes Record Numbers and Esteemed Recognitions in 2022 Year In Review
2022 was a monumental year for Riverbend Malt House that included a 50 percent capacity increase, a Malt Cup win, and deeper agricultural and environmental commitments than ever before.
ASHEVILLE, NC— 2022 was a monumental year for Riverbend Malt House that included a 50 percent capacity increase, and deeper agricultural and environmental commitments than ever before. The malthouse was honored with a prestigious Malt Cup award for malt quality, and named one of Inc. 5000’s fastest growing private companies— among many other milestones.
Here is the Riverbend Malt House 2022 Year In Review.
Production and Capacity
In 2022, Riverbend Malt House malted 3.3 million pounds of craft malt, which included mainstay styles as well as custom and smoked malt for specialty projects. This production level was 28 percent higher than in 2021.
In response to the growing demand for craft malt among breweries and distilleries throughout the Southeast, Riverbend Malt House added a 10 tonne steep tank and 10-tonne Germination Kiln Vessel (GKV) unit to its production facility in 2022. These equipment additions increased the malthouse’s overall craft malt production capacity by more than 50 percent.
Local Farmers and Customers
In 2022, Riverbend sourced grain from North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky Virginia, Georgia and even Florida— all from family-owned farms within 500 miles of the malthouse— and worked with agricultural researchers across the region on barley research and breeding. After ten years in the making, Riverbend was one of the first malthouses in the country to malt the new Avalon barley variety developed by Virginia Tech’s Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
Riverbend sold malt to more than 280 different breweries and distilleries in 2022. Nearly 100 of these are new to the malt house’s customer base. With the overall craft brewing market falling flat in 2022, craft brewers are increasingly seeking ways to differentiate themselves, and using locally sourced high quality craft malt is one strategy employed with increasing frequency.
Distillers continue to be an important and growing segment of Riverbend’s customer base, with almost a quarter of 2022 sales going to more than 30 customers in this exciting market. Three of Riverbend’s top 10 customers in 2022 were craft distillers.
Environmental Commitment
Over the course of the year, Riverbend reduced its carbon emissions per pound of malt produced by 2 percent. in partnership with the WNC Brewery Recycling Co-Op composted 85 tons of organic waste and diverted 16,216 pounds of polywoven plastic from the landfills through a new malt bag recycling program activated by the Asheville Brewers Alliance and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. In total, Riverbend redirected approximately 186,000 pounds of waste from landfill in 2022.
Events & Community
In 2022, Riverbend was proud to create custom malt blends for the Athens Pink Boots Society Women’s International Brew Day beer made at Terrapin Beer Co;, and for Fullsteam Brewery’s new base malt aptly named Plow To Pint Pilsner, among other projects.
As the largest and longest-standing malthouse in the Southeast, Riverbend was honored to share its expertise at several industry gatherings including the 2022 Craft Malt Conference and the 2022 North Carolina Craft Brewers Conference.
Riverbend was delighted to support Farm To Tap launched by the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture through a series of events and panel discussions. This initiative encourages Tennessee brewers to use Tennessee sourced ingredients in their beer, and the malthouse is thrilled to see it return in 2023.
Awards & Accolades
Riverbend maintained its Living Wage Certified Employer status from Just Economics, the largest voluntary Living Wage Certification in the nation. 100 percent of Riverbend’s employees are compensated at or above the living wage rate established by Just Economics for Buncombe County. Additionally, Riverbend pays for 100 percent of employee health insurance premiums.
In February 2022, Riverbend took home a bronze award in the Craft Maltsters Guild’s Malt Cup for the Chesapeake Pilsner style. 2022 was the fourth year of this prestigious awards program— often called the Great American Beer Festival® or the Oscars® of craft malt– that recognizes craft maltsters for the quality and consistency of their malt.
In August 2022, Riverbend was named number 2804 of the fastest growing private companies in the country on the Inc. 5000 list. The annual Inc. 5000 list is one of the most prestigious rankings of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, representing top tier independent small businesses in America. Inc. 5000 status is conferred based upon a company’s cumulative revenue growth over the preceding three years. Since 2018, amid the global COVID pandemic, Riverbend has attained a revenue growth rate of 198 percent.
Throughout the year, many of Riverbend’s customers were recognized with medals from multiple awards programs for beers made with Riverbend malt– including the Great American Beer Festival®, the World Beer Cup®, the U.S. Beer Open, the North Carolina Brewers Cup, and the Virginia Craft Beer Cup. Riverbend extends congratulations to these producers for their commitment to quality that begins with their investment in ingredients.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer with media inquiries about Riverbend Malt House.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malthouse east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
35 Brewers To Showcase Riverbend Malt and Yakima Quality Hops at 2023 Florida SMaSH Beer Festival
Participating breweries will craft beers made with Riverbend Chesapeake Pilsner malt and Yakima Quality Hops YQH-1320.
LONGWOOD, FLORIDA— The seventh annual Florida SMaSH Beer Festival will feature 35 breweries serving single malt, single hop beers made with Riverbend Malt and Yakima Quality Hops tapping Saturday, January 28 at Reiter Park.
Presented by the Brewers Establishing Altruistic Regional Development (B.E.A.R.D.) nonprofit organization, Hourglass Brewing, and the City of Longwood, the Florida SMaSH Beer Festival was created to celebrate the creativity and camaraderie of breweries in the Sunshine State. Participating breweries will craft beers made with Riverbend Chesapeake Pilsner malt and Yakima Quality Hops YQH-1320.
“Riverbend is honored and excited to be the malt selection of SMaSH Fest this year,” says Riverbend Malt House’s Georgia, Florida, and Alabama Territory Manager Tyler Adams. “This is a chance to taste how Southeastern malt really shines through in beer, and a celebration of the different flavors that Florida breweries have to offer.”
The winning beer is chosen by the attendees who vote on the S.M.a.S.H. beer that impresses them the most. The winner will receive the coveted, ever-evolving Florida SMaSH Festival Champions Lamp. Each winner takes this trophy home until the next SMaSH beer festival and garnishes it with their own additions each year.
Also during the festival, a Judge's Choice competition will take place to award first, second, and third place medals.
This year’s Florida SMaSH Beer Festival proceeds will be donated to A Spoonful of Hope, Second Harvest Food Bank’s signature product line. One hundred percent of the proceeds directly support Second Harvest’s no-cost 16-week Culinary Training program, which provides qualified, economically challenged adults with the culinary and life skills training to pursue a sustainable career in the food industry.
“Florida SMaSH Beer Festival has the ability to show you how the same ingredients dont always mean the same interpretation of a beer,” says Bill Murphy of Hourglass Brewing. “It’s also a great way to see what the state as a whole can bring to the table. The best part is, it all comes back to the community.”
Tickets to the festival are available via Eventbrite, and festival details can be found at www.flsmash.com.
ABOUT B.E.A.R.D.
Brewers Establishing Altruistic Regional Development (B.E.A.R.D.) is a non-profit organization created by brewing industry professionals with a mission to serve their communities. Over 7 years, B.E.A.R.D. has successfully donated more than $45,000 to local charitable organizations such as A Spoon Full of Hope.
ABOUT HOURGLASS BREWING
Hourglass Brewing is now serving their 10th year, producing Seminole County’s first small batch craft beer. With two locations in the Orlando area and no less than 30 beers on tap they continually push for innovation while holding on to nostalgia, with a thirst for good times. Visit Hourglass online at hourglassbrewing.com.
Contact Bill Murphy at bill@hourglassbrewing.com with media inquiries about Hourglass Brewing.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 square foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Riverbend Malt House.
ABOUT YAKIMA QUALITY HOPS
YQH is a family-owned business focused on quality and service. Founded in 2013, Yakima Quality Hops provides the highest quality hops to breweries throughout the United States and abroad. Based in Yakima, WA, we work directly with growers, allowing us to offer the best pricing and quality control. We work with breweries of all sizes and in all stages of growth. Whether you’ve been brewing for decades or are just getting started, let’s connect so we can get to know your hops needs. Learn more at yakhops.com.
Riverbend Malt House Publishes 2021 Craft Malt Production Numbers; Strengthens Environmental and Community Commitments in Year Ten of Business
Riverbend Malt House is coming off of a record year in business that included significant production and footprint expansion, increased recycling and waste reduction, and a celebration of their last decade in the craft malt business.
ASHEVILLE, NC— Riverbend Malt House is coming off of a record year in business that included significant production and footprint expansion, increased recycling and waste reduction, and a celebration of their last decade in the craft malt business, among other community milestones. Here is the Riverbend Malt House’s 2021 Year in Review.
Production
In 2021, Riverbend Malt House added a 10-tonne Germination Kiln Vessel (GKV) unit to its production facility in June. This state-of-the-art equipment increased the overall malthouse capacity by 40 percent, enabling Riverbend to meet growing demand for craft malt among breweries and distilleries throughout the Southeast.
Throughout the year, Riverbend malted 2.6 million pounds of 14 varieties of malt, which included 20 tons of malt with 12 different flavor combinations for specialty projects.
Development
In 2021, Riverbend proudly expanded its agricultural and sales footprints across its home state of North Carolina, as well as sourcing grain from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Washington DC to meet industry demand for high quality craft malt that adds value and locality to craft beer and spirits made across the region. 272 breweries and distilleries purchased Riverbend craft malt last year, of which more than a third are new to the malt house’s customer base.
Environmental Commitment
In August, Riverbend announced the achievement of a recycling milestone of 100,000 pounds of rootlet material repurposed for use by nearby cattle operations. This recycling effort is one of many sustainability initiatives that Riverbend supports. Additional environmental initiatives include electricity and natural gas consumption tracking, composting, and solid waste management.
Over the course of the year, Riverbend reduced its carbon emissions per pound of malt produced by 3.3%, composted eight tons of organic waste in partnership with the WNC Brewery Recycling Co-op, and redirected approximately 140,000 pounds of waste from landfill in 2021. “Now that the co-op is up and running, we hope to expand our efforts with customer pickup at select accounts during 2022,” says Riverbend Co-Founder Brent Manning. “We’ll work to increase efficiency with new equipment and expand our composting efforts as well.”
Events & Community
In partnership with Asheville Greenworks and French Broad Chocolate, Riverbend helped to collect 3,000 pounds of garbage from the Swannanoa River. This effort will continue in 2022.
Riverbend was excited to participate in the South by Northwest collaboration with Skagit Valley Malting. In this exploration of Washington and North Carolina malt terroir Riverbend created two SMaSH (single malt and single hop) malt-forward pale ales brewed identically at DSSOLR in Asheville, North Carolina and Terramar Brewstillery in Edison, Washington. Both craft beers featured the experimental hop HBC 586 with the only variable being the base malt— both 2-row winter barley varieties grown in North Carolina and in the Skagit Valley.
Awards & Accolades
Riverbend was proud to earn Living Wage Certified Employer status from Just Economics, the largest voluntary living wage certification in the nation. All 17 of Riverbend’s employees are compensated at or above the living wage rate established by Just Economics for Buncombe County.
Throughout the year, many of Riverbend’s customers were recognized with medals from multiple awards programs for beers made with Riverbend malt– including the Great American Beer Festival®, the U.S. Beer Open, the North Carolina Brewers Cup, and the National Honey Board Honey Beer Competition, among others. Congratulations to these producers for their commitment to quality that begins in the ground.
10 Year Harvest
Riverbend worked with family farms across the Southeast to produce its highest quality and highest yielding harvest yet. This 10 year harvest included the Sunset Wheat, a Munich-style offering developed to celebrate this milestone. Professional and homebrewers across the Southeast made specialty beers with this wheat variety in commemoration, and continue to do so into 2022.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer with media inquiries about Riverbend Malt House.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
Riverbend Malt House Hits Recycling Milestone: 100,000 Pounds of Rootlets Repurposed For Southeast Agriculture
Riverbend sends the remaining husks— or rootlets— from each batch of malt to nearby farms to be repurposed as animal feed.
ASHEVILLE, NC— Riverbend Malt House is proud to announce its milestone of 100,000 pounds of rootlets repurposed for the nearby ecosystem of local farmers.
While not usable in the malting process, Riverbend sends the remaining husks— or rootlets— from each batch of malt to nearby farms to be repurposed as animal feed.
“This process completely closes the loop in terms of sustainability,” says Riverbend Malt House CEO Scott Hickman. “Consistent with our Malt With A Mission philosophy, kindness to the environment is important. If we create waste we want to turn it into a byproduct, or reduce the amount of waste created.”
In this case, the byproduct makes for happy cows at North Carolina farms like J4 Cattle Company in Morganton. "Our herd of steer eat close to a ton of rootlets every week. The young calves enjoy it too," says owner Robin Jackson. “This has been a great partnership all the way around."
Rootlet repurposing is one of Riverbend’s many tactics for lessening their environmental impact, which includes the reduction of 1,064,030 pounds of CO2 in ten years through local sourcing within 500 miles of the malthouse.
Contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Riverbend Malt House.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malthouse east of the Mississippi, in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
Riverbend Malt House Adds 2-Row Pilsner Malt To Cumberland Series
Cumberland Pilsner joins the Riverbend Malt House Tennessee origin malt lineup.
ASHEVILLE, NC— Riverbend Malt House is expanding the Cumberland Series of Tennessee-grown malt offerings with a 2-Row Pilsner variety that is now available for purchase by breweries, distilleries, and homebrew supply shops in the Southeast.
The Cumberland Pilsner debut is the second malt in this series, following the Cumberland Corn Malt™ that Riverbend first released in 2019. This 2-Row Calypso selection was grown at Teeter Farm and Seed Co. in Clarksville, TN. When malted it weighs in at 2 SRM with high extract and superior diastatic powder, perfect for brewing Helles-style Lagers.
With the demand for locally grown and malted grains comes cravings for diversity of flavor, which Riverbend has been committed to exploring since its start. The addition of Cumberland Pilsner builds nuance into Riverbend’s breadth of 2 and 6-Row base malts sourced from family farms across the Southeast region.
"Our customers are interested in exploring the terroir of the South and Cumberland Pilsner offers the next step in our single origin series,” says Riverbend’s Co-Founder Brent Manning. “This variety delivers more biscuity, bread crumb flavors and sweeter aromatics when compared to our Chesapeake Pilsner released earlier this year."
For more information about the Cumberland Series, this new Pilsner variety, or any of Riverbend’s malts, contact orders@riverbendmalt.com. Please reach out to Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries.
ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE
Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malthouse east of the Mississippi, in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.