Grainswest - Fall 2021

Fall 2021 Grains West 40 Saskatoon and Regina, SK, with a small amount shipped to Winnipeg. “My customers talk to me, the grower, the maltster, the delivery guy who is also the problem solver,” he said. “Traceability is important to many people and our supply chain is very simple.” Malty National Brewing of Regina was one of Maker’s Malt’s first clients. The business was the first western Canadian brewery to be designated Craft Malt Certified by the Craft Maltsters Guild. This certification flags the brewer’s use of craft malt to beer consumers. Owner Adam Smith said he values working with the small maltster and appreciates that Maker’s delivers malt tailored to the needs of his brewery. “Unlike the big guys, we deal in small batches and are constantly rotating what we sell, so we are open to discussing new and different things. Visitors to our taproom and stores ultimately dictate what they want, but through Matt we can easily adapt based on that local supply.” INTRODUCING CDC BOW The Rosthern area is known for its favourable barley growing conditions and also happens to be near the University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre (CDC) with its world-class barley breeding program. Certified in 1999, CDC Copeland was developed here and became one of Canada’s longstanding top varieties. It remained the nation’s most widely grown barley in 2020. SeCan, the distributor of CDC Bow, contacted Enns in early 2018 to see if he would malt a quantity of the new variety and distribute it to his brewer connections. Enns envisioned the creation of a more ambitious initiative, and the Bow Project was born. “We contacted every craft brewer we knew and said we would send them enough malt barley made from CDC Bow to make a batch of beer,” said Enns. “They could choose the recipe they wanted to make. All they had to do was give us enough beer for two events we were hosting and provide us with performance metrics for evaluation.” CDC Bow hadn’t previously been commercially malted, and the Bow Project provided researchers with brewing information derived from the making of 14 craft beers. This accelerated the testing process for the variety. Once all the participants produced a batch of beer, Maker’s, the CDC and SeCan hosted events in Regina and Saskatoon to which they invited farmers, the breeding team, ag industry professionals, brewers and members of the public. “CDC Bow looked really good on paper,” said Aaron Beattie, CDC plant breeder, University of Saskatchewan associate professor and lead breeder of CDC Bow. “It had great agronomics. One of the big issues barley growers on the Prairies have is lodging, especially in rainy or irrigated areas. The lodging resistance was much better with Bow. It had a better disease package and The Maker's Malt malthouse is located in the town of Rosthern, SK. The business primarily serves Saskatoon and Regina while it also ships a small amount of malt to Winnipeg. Most of its malt is produced from grain grown within eight kilometres of the malthouse. FEATURE