Locally Grown Barley Means Truly Local Beer
Kendall Jones raises a glass to the new, micro-local terroir of Washington beer
By Kendall Jones September 16, 2015
This article originally appeared in the October 2015 issue of Seattle magazine.
The terms “small” and “local” are pervasive in conversations about the virtues of craft beer, but until recently, no craft beer was entirely small or local. It burns the ears of craft beer aficionados to hear that the primary ingredient in the suds they love was developed at the behest of the mega breweries they despise, but in reality, the malted barley that serves as the backbone of most craft beer is the same stuff used by the largest breweries on earth.
But now, Skagit Valley Malting in Mount Vernon is working in conjunction with Washington State University’s Bread Lab to provide a truly small and local alternative, doing something that makes craft brewers giddy: producing small-batch, locally grown malted barley.
