Riverbend Malt House Appalachian Wheat Malt Wins 2024 Malt Cup
Riverbend malted wheat wins silver for Appalachian Wheat in new category in global malt competition.
ASHEVILLE, NC– Riverbend Malt House came home from MaltCon2024 with new hardware last month. The Craft Maltsters Guild awarded silver to Riverbend’s malted wheat in the new Wheat category of the Malt Cup, a prestigious malt quality competition that rigorously judges entries from all over the world.
2024 is the seventh year of the Malt Cup, which recognized craft maltsters for the quality and consistency in six malt varieties. Entries were submitted from 26 malthouses in five countries, and evaluated in three rounds by 70 industry judges.
Riverbend’s Appalachian Wheat malt, popular among both brewing and distilling customers, received the silver medal in a brand new Wheat category. This malt is produced using soft red winter wheat and kilned with elevated temperatures to enhance aromas of freshly baked bread and toast. It’s a versatile style that augments grain bills across categories— from Lager to IPA to Wheated Whiskey.
“Appalachian Wheat is like fresh baked bread,” says South Main Brewing Co-Owner and Head Brewer Nic Farley. “We use it in many of our beers for which we want a good haze, or to improve head retention.”
South Main and many other producers such as End Of Days Distillery, Fullsteam Brewery, Lookout Brewing, and Weldon Mills use Appalachian Wheat to craft their mainstay products.
“This product has been a part of our lineup since the early days and we are excited to take home a medal for it,” says Riverbend Malt House Co-Founder Brent Manning. “We initially experimented with several heirloom varieties, but after several years of testing and trials we recognized that our process was driving more of the flavor than the variety itself. Definitely a surprise to both us and our customers!”
The flavor and performance of this malt have helped Appalachian Wheat take part in numerous trends over the years. From Hefeweizen to Gosé to NEIPA, this malt has stood the test of time.
Order Appalachian Wheat or any other of Riverbend’s malts for brewers and distillers, email orders@riverbendmalt.com.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@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 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.
From Seed To Glass: Root Shoot Malting Releases Malted Heritage Oland Wheat
Ölandsvete malted wheat is available to commercial brewers and distillers in limited quantities.
LOVELAND, CO— Root Shoot Malting announced today the release of a rare malted heritage grain, Ölandsvete, or Oland Wheat. This passion project has been more than two years in the making and resulted from a cross-sector collaboration inspired by family history.
This history of farming Oland Wheat goes back for centuries, and today there are only a few farmers in the world who grow the variety. Now, one is Olander Farms in Loveland, Colorado, home base for Root Shoot Malting— quite possibly the only malthouse in the world to malt this variety.
Oland Wheat is named after a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea where this variety was first grown over 6,000 years ago, and from where the Olander's ancestors migrated in the 1800's. The grain nearly disappeared from Swedish fields in 1960 until 1995, when it was reintroduced to encourage the rediscovery of sourdough bread making.
The Olanders’ ties to Oland and thirst for innovation ignited their pursuit to bring a rare heritage grain to Colorado’s craft brewing and distilling community. Finnriver Grainery in Chimacum, Washington, who provided the seed via the Washington State University’s Bread Lab breeding program, made that possible. Olander Farms grew ten acres of the grain in 2019, another twenty acres in 2020, and plans to grow another twenty acres in 2021.
“I’m excited to taste these craft beverages, and wouldn’t be surprised if they have a hint of coastal wind-swept-Sweden in their flavor profile,” jokes Keith Kisler, Founder of Finnriver Grainery. “Heritage grains can thrive in low input organic environments, so farmers can go lighter on fertilizers and herbicides and still grow a viable crop full of flavor and nutrition. The way heritage grains adapt and survive tells us so much about the landscape and people.”
At The Family Jones Spirit House in Denver, Colorado, Head Distiller Rob Masters uses this heritage wheat for his single-estate Annika Jones Vodka, crafted with 60% Oland Wheat. He describes the flavor profile as sweet, with a hint of honeydew melon. "Utilizing heirloom grains was especially important to the flavor development for this vodka,” says Masters. “The fact that this variety came from Scandinavia, grown by farmers with Scandinavian ancestors, for a distiller with Scandinavian ancestors in a Scandinavian style vodka was a win all around.”
Root Shoot Malting has lastly partnered with Lake Hollow Homestead, a garlic farm in Berthoud, Colorado that sells Root Shoot grains to homebrewers, to also make Oland Wheat available in flour form to use in baking. Three-pound bags of fresh-milled Oland Wheat flour are now available for purchase through Lake Hollow Homestead’s Online Store.
Ölandsvete malted wheat is available to commercial brewers and distillers in limited quantities. To order, please contact Emily Olander by email at emily@rootshootmalting.com.
For more information about Root Shoot Malting or this radical seed-to-glass collaboration, contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT ROOT SHOOT MALTING
Root Shoot Malting is a 5th generation family farm and craft malthouse that supplies the Rocky Mountain region with craft malt and grains. Founded by the Olander family in 2016, Root Shoot harvests barley, wheat, rye and corn to give craft brewers and distillers high-quality taste in every glass. Located on the Olander Farms’ 112-acre farm in Loveland, Colorado, and approximately 1500 leased acres, Root Shoot is working to ensure that farmland remains available to grow grains for the beers and spirits of tomorrow. Find this craft maltster online at rootshootmalting.com.