A heritage variety of malting barley could open up a new export market in the US for British malt, as well as being a source of disease resistance.

Growing demand for specialist malt by US craft brewers has seen interest in British malt, which a John Innes Centre initiative hopes to exploit.

The move towards craft beer has seen considerable growth in this sector, says senior crop genetics scientist Chris Ridout, who adds that it is predicted to account for 30% of total US beer production next year.

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However, one key problem is that the US malting barley sector is mainly based on six-rows grown in the west, including the breeding programmes.

He says that six-row barley is higher in protein and has a lower fermentable sugar content. “This is suitable when brewing with adjuncts – sources of sugar, such as rice that have been used for mainstream beer production.”

Now, with emphasis of pure malt flavour for the craft sector, brewers are looking for premium two-row malt. There is a desire in the US to bring barley growing back to the east, with some states providing a tax incentive to grow locally, he explains.

But barley hasn’t been grown in the east for some time, where greater humidity could make fusarium head blight a problem. This is compounded by the large amount of maize being grown, which is a source of the inoculum.

To explore this export opportunity, the John Innes Centre has been working with Crisp Malting, establishing the start-up company, New Heritage Barley Ltd.

Dr Ridout recalls that it started a decade ago when securing a public engagement award from the BBSRC, to tell people about their work with a demonstration at a University of Sunderland event showing barley breeding advances through time.

The variety selected was Chevallier, the classic heritage barley from the Victorian period, which was being stored at the John Innes Centre’s genetic resources unit.

Company director Sarah de Vos adds that from a few handfuls of seed, it has built up to around 100ha crop last year, with the malt exported to the US.

“We see a potential market for Chevallier malt and are working with Crisp Maltings in the UK and the craft brewer Goose Island, based in Illinois,” he says.

New Heritage Barley is looking to build up the market, which could offer an opportunity for UK growers, as the British climate is more suitable for barley growing than in the US.

She says that they are looking at other heritage varieties in the genetic resource, bringing in their unique properties and flavours for specialist beer producers.

Resistance

However, it’s not just about finding a new market for British malt, Chevallier is also a potential source of disease resistance, as there is much more genetic diversity in UK barley.

Chevallier has been found to have good resistance to fusarium.

The company is, therefore, developing a breeding service to take these traits, identify them and bring forward in elite pre-breeding.

Other valuable traits include winter hardiness and malting quality.

He eventually sees the initiative producing elite pre-breeding lines, which UK and US breeders can use within their programmes.