Consuming The Craft

 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 wh