Most grains being farmed in the Midwest are destined, directly or not, for dinner plates across the world. Adam Wagner’s grains, however, fill pint glasses across Minnesota and North Dakota through his craft malting company, Vertical Malt. Located in Crookston, a small college/ag town on the eastern edge of the Red River Valley, Wagner works … [ Read more]
U of M paving the way toward better barley, stronger hops
January 17, 2018 by
It’s not a question of if, but when an invasive species will threaten Minnesota hop crops. That’s not meant to scare local hop growers or breweries that use them. It’s just something University of Minnesota professor Gary Muehlbauer is trying to prevent with his research. Luckily, he and two other U of M professors have … [ Read more]
Schell’s is on a mission to use more local barley
March 9, 2017 by Leave a Comment
August Schell Brewing Company will release a new helles in early April made entirely from locally grown barley. It’s the result of an encounter between brewmaster Jace Marti and two University of Minnesota researchers about three years ago. “By chance, one of the lead researchers of the University of Minnesota [Dr. Jochum J. Wiersma, a … [ Read more]
Idaho research suggests barley growers can reduce water usage without reducing yields
March 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
More news on the water conservation front: research at the University of Idaho Extension suggests that barely growers can judiciously cut their irrigation at certain phases of the crop’s growth without affecting their overall yield or quality. This is the first year of barley agronomist Chris Rogers’ research with the popular MillerCoors barley variety Moravian 69. … [ Read more]
Climate change’s impact on beer: What you need to know
November 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Jenn Orgolini, sustainability director for Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery, proclaimed in 2011 that beer drinkers should worry about the climate. “If you drink beer now, the issue of climate change is impacting you right now,” she warned. We often think of climate change as simply dialing up the global thermostat. But it also changes which … [ Read more]
Climate Change: The Good, The Bad, and The Barley
June 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Minnesota of the future will look very different from today. So, too, will the future of Minnesota beer. Photos by David Hansen, University of Minnesota In January 2015, the United Kingdom’s Hadley Center for Climate, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) held press conferences—all in the same week—to declare 2014 the … [ Read more]
A Growing Community at Brau Brothers
March 27, 2013 by 1 Comment
Estate-Grown Hops & a New Estate Photo by Mark Neuzil, MinnPost Brewing and farms go together like beers and bikes, like summer and beer fests, like winter and beer fests. Many breweries are supporting local farms with their spent grain, feeding it to cattle, sometimes in exchange for tasty, tasty meat, but no one is doing … [ Read more]
A Visit To: Rahr Malting
June 10, 2012 by 1 Comment
The largest single-site malt producer in the world is in our own backyard. Water, hops, yeast, and malt—which one of these do you hear the most about? Though not necessarily neglected, malt is not a widely discussed ingredient among most craft beer enthusiasts. Usually, people talk about the hop variety, or the crazy yeast that … [ Read more]
