This year, the Craft Maltsters Guild announced they would be expanding Craft Malt Week into a month-long celebration, and we understand why: an article shared by the Craft Maltsters Guild in 2022 reported a 60% growth in pounds of craft malt produced by small, independent growers between 2019 and 2022, and those numbers have only climbed from there. The community has grown and needs a little more space to showcase its positive impact on the agricultural and brewing/distilling communities.

To honor the exciting growth in our craft malt community, we reached out to a couple of the wonderful people we’ve been working in partnership with for years. Here are two insightful conversations about some of the hard work that goes into the farm-to-glass process.

First up, Brian Estes of LINC Malt. We’ve been working with Brian since 2016 to source and malt our small batch, single-farm, single-growing-year barley, as well as for larger projects such as our Five Malt Recipe we use for Maltsmith American Single Malt Whiskey.

The ethos behind our Farmsmith American Single Malt Whiskey is deeply aligned with Craft Malt Month: exploring the impact of single-variety, single-farm, and single-growing-year barley. Our initial batch of Farmsmith used Baronesse barley malted through LINC. So, we made a point to ask a couple questions about that.

Can you tell us a bit about the history of your malthouse and how it got started?
We produced our first batch of malt in the spring of 2016, putting us at eight years making malt and counting. The malt enterprise is part of the Local Inland Northwest Cooperative – a farmer-and-worker-owned business working to build a more robust and vital regional food and ag economy. 

Are there any traditional or innovative techniques you use that you’re particularly proud of?
We operate using two small-scale pneumatic malting systems. While the fundamentals of each are similar, and would be familiar to most maltsters, each system has its own quirks and requires its own special ‘human touch’ to make quality malt batch after batch. While this can be exhausting and frustrating at times, I think it makes us better maltsters to have to pay such close attention to what we are doing.

Is there anything you would like to share about what being dedicated to craft malt means to you?
To be craft malt certified is to demonstrate your commitment to careful, relationship based sourcing of grain as a key raw material in what you do. To work with craft malt is at once artful and innovative. I think it represents the potential in connecting world-class grain to world-class spirits.

What role does your malthouse play with the local community or the craft brewing/distilling community?
While we are fortunate to be based in the Pacific Northwest, I think we are especially fortunate to be producing malt in Spokane. It’s the urban center of a truly world-class grain growing region (the Palouse). It is home to the first distillery in WA post-prohibition, and to an especially collaborative and caring brewing community. We couldn’t ask to be in a better place doing what we do.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in the craft malt industry?
Making consistently great malt, crop year to crop year, batch to batch, within a commodity supply chain that has sold itself on being consistent to a level that approaches boringness and blankness of character. It can be hard to do character and flavor in balance with consistency. Striking that balance internally and in the work we do with brewers and distillers is still a work in progress.

How do you see the craft malt industry evolving in the next few years?
Continued growth. Plenty of frustration and disappointment, but if we keep at it, a ton of innovation in how grain is considered as an agricultural product that is characterful, quality, and capable of building connections.

Can you tell us about the Baronesse barley variety and what makes it special?
Baronesse has nearly legendary status amongst growers in our region – it is beloved. But it is also functionally forgotten, as the forces that drive barley growing and grain growing generally demand forward progress. That is understandable, but we are so grateful Bill Myers has stuck with Baronesse. It is amazing that after a few decades and a ton of chance, the partnership between Bill and LINC discovered that the barley makes phenomenal, delicious malt, rich and soulful. He’s the only guy growing the stuff, and we’ve really lucked out.

Can you share any insights or stories from the process of malting the Baronesse barley that went into our whiskey?
We’ve malted Baronesse since day one, literally the first batch of malt produced in our facility was with Baronesse. It’s the barley we’ve used the most of, and we love it for its familiarity and the delightfulness of its character. Despite its familiarity, we still get excited every time a batch comes off kiln – excited to smell and taste the product, to see how it performs technically, to introduce it to another distillery, another brewer, another lover of craft beer or whiskey. It is a deeply satisfying barley to malt. Copperworks has worked with some of the earlier lots of Baronesse we ever produced – probably the batches where we first started to get our chops as a malthouse.

Our next conversation was with Phil Neumann, Co-Founder and CEO of Mainstem Malt, a malt chain supply management company we’ve been working in partnership with since 2015 to source wonderful craft malt. Our most recent Single Cask release, Release No. 322, was made using Salmon-Safe Certified  Genie barley which was sourced through Mainstem. Phil provides us with some engaging insights on their business journey as well as some exciting news for their future. Learn more by following along with us below:

Can you tell us a bit about the history of Mainstem Malt?
I studied environmental science in college but was always drawn toward agriculture. After getting my Master’s degree in Water Resources at Oregon State in 2012, my wife Alyssa and I moved to Walla Walla for my job with a unique river restoration effort that was authorized by the Washington State legislature and led by local stakeholders. That gig had me working closely with farmers and fisheries managers on conservation projects, and Alyssa was working for the organic certifier Oregon Tilth. By 2015, we had started Mainstem as this exciting confluence of a bunch of different things we cared about. The goal was to build a malt company as a way to connect conservation-minded farmers with conscientious brewers and distillers, and make it possible for consumers to fun meaningful change at a landscape scale with their drinking money. 

What role does Mainstem play within the local community or the craft brewing/distilling community?
Mainstem has worked over the years as a malt supply chain manager and became the world’s first B Corp maltster in 2018. We’ve purchased millions of pounds of Salmon-Safe Certified grains from Ryland family farms in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, malted it at a few different craft malt houses over the years (LINC, Skagit Valley, Montana Craft Malt), and managed the distribution of identity-preserved malt to brewers and distillers. Our primary market is the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, but we’ve sold malt coast to coast for various special projects. 

Starting in early 2023, we’ve been on a campaign to plan and develop our own malt house in Dayton, Washington, which has really reinvigorated Mainstem as a project. We were able to think big with our local Port of Columbia and will be using the malt house as an anchor for a broader cluster of regional grain businesses, and the public-private partnership we’ve built has already attracted millions of dollars in public food systems funding from state and federal sources. The current target for launching the facility is by June 2026.

Is there anything you would like to share about what being dedicated to craft malt means to you?
I think that for so many people, there’s a disconnect between food systems and alcohol. There’s a big push to understand where the things we’re eating come from and to support more local, sustainable options, but that ethic seems to get lost when it comes to spirits and beer. To me, craft malt is about making that connection clear, compelling, and fun. When you enjoy products made with craft malt, you’re supporting small-scale maltsters who are working hard in your region to turn local grains into a product that keeps more value closer to home. Just like any other agricultural commodity, if you don’t know where the malt is coming from, its most likely from a source you wouldn’t be so excited to support.

How do you see the craft malt industry evolving in the next few years?
We’re at a time in craft beer and spirits where the investments we make will set the stage for what’s possible 10 years from now in brewing, distilling, and farming. Do we want to keep riding a cheap, globalized supply as the sole force in malt for all of these industries? I think that as long as the answer is no, craft malt will remain the solution. In the next few years specifically, I see a continued movement away from import malts and toward craft malt as a way for brewers and distillers to invest in more interesting and flavorful grain bills. Any movement in that direction offers a significant boost to the resources craft maltsters have to keep building a more interesting and flavorful future for malt in the regions they call home.

What do you most enjoy about working in the craft malt industry?
The most enjoyable part of the craft malt industry is without a doubt the community. These are real people who are not in it to get rich, but because they’re passionate about their work and the difference it can make for their families, friends, towns, regions, and the craft as a whole.