After over ten years of service as an environmental scientist, master maltster, and Certified Cicerone, Brent Manning has spent the past decade immersing himself in the world of craft malt. He is the co-founder of Riverbend Malt House, a company committed to making great malt for distillers and craft breweries. As the brains behind Riverbend Malt House, Brent has pretty much worn every hat in the business—from production and bookkeeping to research and sales. In addition to his work at Riverbend Malt House, Brent has assisted in the co-founding of the North American Craft Maltsters Guild, where he currently serves as President.

In this episode, Brent and I discuss how Riverbend Malt House is exploring and making innovations in malting. We describe how looking at the southern brewing heritage helped Riverbend figure out the corn-malting process. We consider whether leaving the root of the material in the grain can add complexity to whiskey. We also discuss what it takes to create great chit malt and reveal what’s new and exciting at Riverbend Malt House.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●     Single malt studies and launching single origin pilsners with the Riverbend Malt House

●     Cumberland corn and its origins

●     How to trick corn into germination

●     Hickory king and other recent releases from Riverbend

●     Tracing the history of corn in America and the pathways they went into

●     Booze Clues: We should probably mix some water in this

●     How we turned kilos upon kilos of corn into delicious bourbon

●     The secret bar at the Consuming the Craft podcast studio

●     The Farmland Trust and how they’re driving a rye project in Kentucky

●     The genesis of Riverbend’s chit malt

●     Brent’s thoughts on opening a malt house

●     Malt’s opportunity to play a more educational and vibrant role

●     Getting over the lack of distiller’s malt and interacting with the distilling community

●     Exploring the world of corn varieties

●     Stories behind the seashore black rye

Connect with Brent Manning:

●     Riverbend Malt House

●     Riverbend Malt House on LinkedIn

●     Riverbend Malt House on Instagram

●     Riverbend Malt House on Facebook

●     Riverbend Malt House on Twitter

●     Brent Manning on LinkedIn

Consuming the Craft

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Consuming the Craft Podcast, brought to you by AB Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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