Malted barley

I didn't write a word of the following myself, I unashamedly stole it from Dennis Nesel at Hudson Valley Malt, our malted barley source. Malted barley plays a critical, yet relatively unknown part, in the beer and whiskey production process. Read Dennis' explanation below for a start, and check out his website out at www.hudsonvalleymalt.net. Come visit us for a cocktail, a tour, and an in depth discussion.

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You can’t make beer or malt whiskey from just raw grains. You need to convert the grain to malt. Raw grains lack the natural enzymes necessary to convert starches to sugars. These are the sugars that are consumed by the brewer’s and whiskey maker’s yeast to make alcohol… Alcohol makes people happy but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Our job at Hudson Valley Malt is to make malt…. So we trick the raw grain into thinking it is spring time. We get it growing and allow the development of the plant to a certain desirable point where all the enzymes needed to convert starch to simple sugars are developed. ( I bet you wish I was still talking about alcohol) Anyway…..We then halt the growth process by drying the kernel. Then we kiln it in a bunch of ways to make a variety of possible malts each with a different flavor profile. We deliver that fresh, finished Malt to local brewers and distillers where they create their magic.

We’re small but potent in our power to make the freshest finest local malt. We’re like your Grandma’s Apple pie vs a frozen one from the super market or like Farmer Migliorelli’s fresh tomatoes vs the ones in the can on the store shelf or your mom’s cookies fresh out of the oven vs……. You see my point right?

One more thing that’s very important…The wine folks use the word “terroir”‘to describe a sense of place for their wines. The sunshine, the rain, the minerals in the soil all contribute to this. We call it “the flavor of our fields.”

There are many fine craft breweries and distilleries across our Hudson Valley and our great State of New York. We are proud to be part of their amazing success stories. Stop by and taste what they are creating and enjoy the Flavors of Our Fields.