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 Announces Expansion
New malthouse production equipment needed to meet accelerating demand for craft malt in the Southeast.
ASHEVILLE, NC– Riverbend Malt House today announced the successful completion of the first batch of barley malted on its new 10-tonne Germination Kiln Vessel (GKV) unit. This state-of-the-art equipment increases the overall malthouse capacity by 40 percent, enabling Riverbend to meet growing demand for craft malt among breweries and distilleries throughout the Southeast.
“Our new unit gives us even tighter control over quality, while at the same time increasing productivity,” noted Adam Demchak, Riverbend’s VP of Engineering and Production. “And our employees love it because the cleaning and maintenance procedures are more efficient.”
The new equipment comes in response to growing consumer demand over the past 12 months. “As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that local and quality factors are even more important in consumer decision making, and we need additional capacity to meet the resulting surge in demand for craft malt,” commented Riverbend Malt House CEO Scott Hickman.
An essential part of Riverbend’s mission is its commitment to its local partnerships with local farmers, craft brewers, and artisan spirits distillers. Consistent with this mission, Riverbend’s new equipment was designed, manufactured, and installed by American manufacturers, contractors and software developers.
For more information about Riverbend Malt House, contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
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 maltster 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 ever-competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.
Rustic Brew Farm Debuts Sprouted Grain Flours for Restaurants and Retail
Rustic Brew Farm’s new flour line features Sprouted Corn Flour, Sprouted Wheat Flour, and Diastatic Malt Powder.
MARYSVILLE, OH— Rustic Brew Farm is adding breadth to its offerings with Sprouted Grain Flours, now available to restaurants and retailers for purchase in Ohio and online.
Rustic Brew Farm’s new flour line features Sprouted Corn Flour, Sprouted Wheat Flour, and Diastatic Malt Powder— the secret ingredient savvy bakers use to promote volume, browning, and texture.
Rustic Brew Farm grows all of their own grains, non-GMO corn, and low-gluten wheat for flour-making so they can control quality throughout the entire growing process. After harvest, grain is cleaned, sprouted and stone ground on the farm, always without the addition of preservatives or any other chemicals. This flour is 100 percent whole grain, with unmatched flavor from freshness and terroir.
Naturally sweeter to taste and packed with nutrients from the sprouting process, Rustic Brew Farm sprouted grain flour is a great alternative to white flour in baking.
Born out of a family corn and soybean farm, Rustic Brew Farm continues to diversify its crops. “Now that we’ve established ourselves as a craft malt house and small batch hop grower for craft brewers, we wanted to expand from the beverage realm and connect our farm’s products full-circle with chefs and food purveyors, too,” says Rustic Brew Farm Founder Matt Cunningham.
Sprouted Corn Flour and Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour are available for purchase in five or 50 pound bags, and Diastatic Malt Powder is available in 1 pound bags. These sprouted grain flours can be purchased at Rustic Brew Farm and online. Contact Matt Cunningham at matt@rusticbrewfarm.com with sales inquiries.
Please direct all press inquiries about Rustic Brew Farm to Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT RUSTIC BREW FARM
Rustic Brew Farm sprouted out of a 4th generation family farm to specialize in growing craft brewing, distilling and baking ingredients. Utilizing an on-the-farm custom malthouse and stone flour mill, Rustic Brew Farm bridges the gap from farm to pint, dram, and now plate with quality brewing and cooking ingredients such as craft malt, premium hops, and stone ground flour. Learn more and shop online at rusticbrewfarm.com.
Support Local Agriculture this Colorado Gives Day through 100 Year Lease
Contribute to Root Shoot Malting’s campaign to save family farms one beer at a time.
LOVELAND, CO— Just in time for Colorado Gives Day 2020, Root Shoot Malting relaunches its Steward fundraiser to support the 100 Year Lease campaign to preserve local, time-honored agricultural land.
This fall, Root Shoot Malting debuted its short film 100 Year Lease. This documentary film, produced by Traverse Image, is dedicated to the education about and preservation of the American family farm. It tells the story of the 5th generation Olander Farm, the family farm that Root Shoot stems from.
“We're rooted in Colorado; that’s where the name Root Shoot came from,” says Root Shoot Malting co-owner Todd Olander. “This is where we want to be, and we'll do whatever we can to stay here.”
Along with the film premiere, Root Shoot launched a crowdfunding campaign through the agriculture-centric platform Steward to generate contributions toward a conservation easement on their farm. As of this week, Steward has streamlined the donation process to make contributing to 100 Year Lease that much easier.
Donate to Root Shoot Malting’s conservation easement here, and watch 100 Year Lease on Root Shoot’s YouTube channel. Please contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Root Shoot Malting and Olander Farms.
ABOUT ROOT SHOOT MALTING
Root Shoot Malting’s family of farmers grow, harvest and malt the finest grains to give brewers and distillers high-quality taste in every glass. Opened in 2016 on 1,500 acres of Olander Farms’ irrigated land in Loveland, Colorado, Root Shoot harvests alfalfa, wheat, corn, rye, and barley. Root Shoot gives breweries and distilleries the ability to procure local, consistent and high quality craft products. Find this craft maltster online at rootshootmalting.com.
ABOUT TRAVERSE IMAGE
Traverse Image is a Colorado digital film company with a focus on documentary films about the natural world. Traverse Image believes that films can inspire monumental change— the passionate company is tenacious in their pursuit of bringing powerful stories to life through film. Get inspired at traverseimage.com.
ABOUT STEWARD & THE STEWARD FOUNDATION
Steward is the fundraising platform for sustainable and regenerative agriculture, helping small farms to flourish by allowing anyone to invest and become stewards of the land. Steward’s charitable branch, The Steward Foundation Inc., is an IRC 501(c)(3) charitable organization created to manage contributions and fund grants to projects surrounding sustainable and regenerative agriculture. By making a donation to The Steward Foundation, donors will be contributing directly to Root Shoot Malting's conservation easement project. 100% of a donor's charitable donation will be distributed to the project, and the donation will be tax-deductible to the extent that no goods or services were provided to the donor in exchange. The Steward Foundation’s tax identification number is 37-1912757. Find Steward online at gosteward.com.
Root Shoot Malting and Traverse Image Encourage Craft Lovers to Save Family Farms One Beer at a Time
Colorado-based Root Shoot Malting and Traverse Image are asking craft beer and whiskey lovers for their support to preserve and regenerate Colorado agriculture.
Todd Olander of Root Shoot Malting, photo by Traverse Image
LOVELAND, CO— Colorado-based Root Shoot Malting and Traverse Image are asking craft beer and whiskey lovers for their support to preserve and regenerate Colorado agriculture, allowing Olander Farms to continue growing and producing local grains on their farmland, and to keep telling this story through the new film 100 Year Lease.
100 Year Lease is the product of three years in the making, all dedicated to the education about and preservation of the American family farm. The film was shot by Traverse Image and branded by Colorado-based MTN Creative. This new documentary film premieres on Root Shoot Malting’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, September 29.
Through the agriculture-centric crowd-farming platform Steward, Root Shoot is asking for contributions towards a conservation easement on their current land, and for the 100 Year Lease mission and documentary film. A contribution is an affirmation of your commitment to knowing your farmer, your maltster, and your breweries and distilleries who utilize craft malt. You’re pledging to seek out products made with local grains as an ambassador of craft.
Support the 100 Year Lease documentary via Steward here. Find a checklist of ways to demonstrate your commitment and advocacy on the Root Shoot Malting website.
During Craft Malt Week from September 27 to October 3, 100 Year Lease t-shirts are for sale on the Lake Hollow Homestead website, with 50 percent of the proceeds going back to Root Shoot’s Steward campaign.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Root Shoot Malting or their 100 Year Lease documentary project with Traverse Image.
ABOUT ROOT SHOOT MALTING
Root Shoot Malting’s family of farmers grow, harvest and malt the finest grains to give brewers and distillers high-quality taste in every glass. Opened in 2016 on 1,500 acres of Olander Farms’ irrigated land in Loveland, Colorado, Root Shoot harvests alfalfa, wheat, corn, rye, and barley. Root Shoot gives breweries and distilleries the ability to procure local, consistent and high quality craft products. Find this craft maltster online at rootshootmalting.com.
ABOUT TRAVERSE IMAGE
Traverse Image is a Colorado digital film company with a focus on documentary films about the natural world. Traverse Image believes that films can inspire monumental change— the passionate company is tenacious in their pursuit of bringing powerful stories to life through film. Get inspired at traverseimage.com.
ABOUT STEWARD & THE STEWARD FOUNDATION
Steward is the fundraising platform for sustainable and regenerative agriculture, helping small farms to flourish by allowing anyone to invest and become stewards of the land. Steward’s charitable branch, The Steward Foundation Inc., is an IRC 501(c)(3) charitable organization created to manage contributions and fund grants to projects surrounding sustainable and regenerative agriculture. By making a donation to The Steward Foundation, donors will be contributing directly to Root Shoot Malting's conservation easement project. 100% of a donor's charitable donation will be distributed to the project, and the donation will be tax-deductible to the extent that no goods or services were provided to the donor in exchange. The Steward Foundation’s tax identification number is 37-1912757. Find Steward online at gosteward.com.