A large part of what makes Pacific Northwest beer and spirits so distinctive is the grain that forms the base of these products. Skagit Valley Malting, based in Burlington, Washington, produces malted grain — mostly, but not limited to, barley — raised by local farmers that brewers, distillers and even bakers across the region employ as the foundation of their offerings.
For brewers to be able to use larger quantities of Kernza in a grain bill, the grain would need to be malted, but its small kernel size can make it hard to work with in the malthouse. “Some of these perennials that have been shown to us simply don’t have the kernel size that’s adequate to even perform inside our machines,” says Dave Green, CEO at Skagit Valley Malting.
Skagit Valley Malting is proud to announce their Bronze at The 2022 RMI Brewing Supply Awards. These awards recognize excellence in the supply of malt products to the brewing industry through transformative innovations, sustainability initiatives and supply chain agility.
The award was given for Category B:
Maltsters who have an operational plant capable of outputting less than 50KT of malt annually and who have implemented over the past 3 years projects and/or programs which have either essentially transformed the agricultural, manufacturing and/or sales & distribution characteristics of the malting industry as recognized by their customers & industry peers.
Highlighting increased diversity in product line-up by offering Gluten Free Malts while working towards full Gluten Free certification, along with a deepend commitment to sustainability. By adding on-farm anaerobic digesters, increasing the number of Salmon Safe, Organic, and other third party certified growers, Skagit Valley Malting generated very positive feedback from the panel of judges.
Combining new processes and diversified sustainability practices, Skagit Valley Malting was the only American malthouse and only member of the Craft Maltsters Guild, to be honored at the awards gala that took place March 30th, 2022 in Antwerp Belgium. Other award winners included - Category A: Muntons, Bairds, Malteurop; Category B: Castle Malting, The Swaen/Birdies.
Dave Green, CEO of Skagit Valley Malting on the award, “It means a lot to our team to be recognized for the work they’ve put in over the past couple of years, as we’ve made changes to our company and moved toward a more sustainable supply chain. We’re also proud to be held up alongside these other companies who are helping to move our industry in a great direction.”
Media Contact: Eric Buist - eric@skagitvalleymalting.com
Seattle’s Copperworks Distilling continues to innovate and take American single malt whiskey to the next level.
Recently, the whiskey maker unveiled its third release of Washington Peated American Single Malt and they will continue to do a batch every year.
This is significant, because it’s among the first domestic peated, malted barley produced entirely from ingredients sourced in Washington state, as this whiskey category is still in its infancy.
Copperworks opened its doors in 2013 and has since won numerous local, national and international awards.
Co-owners Jason Parker and Jeff Kanof recently visited with The Whiskey Wash about their eco-friendly distillery, about peated whiskey, and about the future of American single malt.
NESTLED BETWEEN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS and the Salish Sea, the Skagit Valley is blessed with some of the most fertile land on the planet and a wide range of microclimates, supporting an equally wide range of agricultural products from grain to fruit to hops.
“Skagit Valley developed technology that splits the difference. Starting with a small prototype that can malt 400 pounds, they devised a system that does all three steps in one drum-shaped vessel (excluding roasting). Once they confirmed it worked, they built a much larger version capable of malting 20,000 pounds of barley at once. In the years since selling their first grain sack in 2014, they have added seven of these, and each one acts independently of the others, giving them great flexibility. (They even designed one to malt solely gluten-free grains.) Other companies have systems that can do two of the three steps in one, but as far as Dave Green knows, Skagit Valley’s are the only vessels that can do the entire process.”
If there’s anything we’ve become known for over our first ten years, it’s our indignation over the whiskey industry’s disregard for barley. We’ve been outspoken and have undoubtedly ruffled a few feathers. But it’s important to prompt the debate. Single malt whiskey, globally, is at an important crossroads. While whiskey has humble roots as an agricultural product that was made and consumed near its source, industrialization and globalization gave rise to a new model where stocks of spirit were distilled at the lowest price, then bought and sold on the open market for blends. Malt whiskey became a commodity and along the way something meaningful was lost. But now we live in times where once again single malt is revered and we can make choices based on new standard. In today’s world, we can confidently step away from the commodity mindset and return to a reverence for raw materials and a pursuit of flavor.
As one of the largest independent craft maltsters in the United States, we are highly dependent on the bountiful agricultural region in which we reside. We were happy to read the editorial “Environmental wins and two that need protection: Bristol Bay, Skagit River headwaters” opposing a proposed mining permit in the Canadian headwaters of the Skagit River.
Skagit Valley Malting might be the biggest thing in the local craft beer scene since Redhook.
