New Malt House Offers Locally Sourced Ingredient for N.B. Alcohol Makers
PETIT-PAQUETVILLE– A new malt house opening in the Acadian Peninsula will provide New Brunswick craft alcohol producers a locally sourced option for their key ingredient.
Maison Fils Du Roy Inc. announced the opening of its new malt house in Petit-Paquetville on Feb. 8.
Chief of operations Josée Boudreau told Huddle the approximately 4,500-square-foot facility is producing two types of barley-based malt: a Pilsner malt and a Vienna malt.
A New-Brunswick-based source of malt, a crucial ingredient of fermentable sugars in the production of beers and spirits like whiskey, comes at a time when the province boasts most breweries per capita in Canada.
So far, the malt house is providing product to Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault in Edmundston; Fredericton-based Graystone Brewing, Microbrasserie Houblon-Pêcheur in Village-des-Poirier; Saint-Quentin-based Novum Boreas Microbrasserie, and Crooked River Distillery in Memramcook.
“There’s a high demand for craft beer and brewers are delivering–a lot of them are interested in making local products so the timing is good,” said Boudreau.
Although Boudreau was mum on who else may start buying from the malt house, she said there’s “more and more interest every week” and she’s expecting more customers to come on board.
Malt Down To A Science
Boudreau, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, has malt-making down to a literal science, taking account of pressure, moisture levels, and temperatures to ensure a healthy malt.
To make malt, cleaned and dried barley is soaked in a large tank with agitators to mix and aerate the grain for 48 hours.
“We get in two or three soaks, depending on the batch and we want to get the moisture content up to 45 percent,” said Boudreau.
From them, the germination process kicks in – something that carries on for three to five days. The barley is then blow-dried to remove moisture, resulting in a friable dried malt.
A typical five-ton batch of malt requires six tons of barley. Maison Fils Du Roy plans to turn 100 tons of barley into malt this year.
A More Robust Supply Chain
In addition to the satisfaction of supplying local, the malt house allows New Brunswick brewers to source malts more cheaply.
“Some smaller breweries like to purchase just a couple of bags at a time, rather than many pallets – and if they order it from out west they have to order and store larger quantities for it to be cost-efficient,” said Boudreau.
“This gives them the opportunity to purchase just what they need.”
Further, malts are more expensive to import, owing to extreme climate lowering yields and quality of crops in Western Canada,
Maison Fils Du Roy sources its barley locally, from five different farms in the Chaleur and Acadian Peninsula regions.
“We’re looking to expand further because sometimes [in New Brunswick], the weather can be appropriate for growing barley in one place but maybe less so in another,” said Boudreau.
“Having farms in different areas of the province would help us to have a good-quality supply every year. Brewers and distillers will have access to fresh malt that will give what they’re brewing a unique taste they can proudly call local.”
Maison Fils du Roy’s mandate includes substituting products that have to be imported, with environmentally friendly alternatives from New Brunswick. Maison Fils du Roy also runs a research and development lab, where it develops local yeasts and other products and collaborates with Distillerie Fils du Roy Inc.