Malt Preferences of the Craft Brewing Industry - Agricultural ...

The type of malt barley, six-row or two-row, has an effect on the malt. Theproduction of six-row barley varieties is better suited to areas of high rainfall. Six-rowbarley is a dryland crop grown primarily close to grain processing centers in theMidwestern portion of the United States. Two-row varieties perform better in cool, aridclimates with plentiful irrigation. They flourish in the western states. Two-row malt hastwo major advantages over six-row malt for craft brewers. It has both a more consistentkernel size and a higher extract yield for the brewer than six-row malt. Thesecharacteristics alone suggest a possible preference by craft brewers for malt barleyproduced in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region. More information is needed,however, before malt barley producers and or maltsters can successfully capitalize onthese characteristics.Study designInformation to address study objectives was obtained through secondary research,focus group sessions, and a mail survey. Data collected from the mail survey wereanalyzed using simple descriptive statistics including frequencies, means, and crosstabulations.Secondary researchSecondary research provided necessary background information used throughoutthe project. Brewers’ journals (New Brewer, Malt Advocate, etc.), previous studies, theInternet, government publications and other sources of literature were reviewed.Questions asked during the focus group sessions largely were developed from secondaryresearch.5