A couple of weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Applied Malting and Malt Sensory Seminar at in Durham, North Carolina.
I have visited many breweries in my time; however I had never visited a malt house, so I was very excited. The evening kicked off with a meet and greet, featuring homemade bratwurst and local craft beer, all of which was brewed with Epiphany Craft Malt.
Dr. Udo Kattein delivered the presentation of the evening where he discussed the basics of malt and the process of converting barley to malt, killing base malts, and roasting specialty malts.
After that, the Mistress of Malt herself, Lea Woodard conducted a sensory analysis presentation. During the interactive presentation, we tried several different types of wort, all of which had been produced via the hot steep method. In sampling the wort, we were able to discern the various flavors present in the different types of malt.
One of the main takeaways from this was the fact that sensory and taste profiles of malt can differ even if they have near identical or slightly different specs.
The evening concluded with a tour of the Malting facility and additional meet and greet time.
Being a beer-geek, I had a blast simply learning more about the Craft and meeting some great people in the industry. I really enjoyed the tour of the malt house as well, as I was able to see first hand the various steps which are taken to produce malt, one of the most defining elements of beer.
Cheers to Epiphany Craft Malt on a great evening filled with beer and beer education and for their commitment to providing quality craft malt to the craft beer industry! #BeerEvents #Malt #CraftBeer
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