Since 1870 we’ve lived and breathed malting. With this passion and expertise, and by combining traditional and modern techniques, we create an impressive range of malted and non-malted products, including several unique and exclusive barley malts.
We have a wide range of malts suitable for brewing and distilling to provide you with the foundations for creating your next beer or whisky.
There is nothing more we love than talking to brewers and distillers so if you have any questions, or would like to arrange a call with a member of our team, please feel free to get in touch – we would love to hear from you!
Crisp Malt, one of Europe’s finest specialty maltsters, has been crafting malted barley in Norfolk, England, since 1870. This October, we joined forces in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, to co-create The Royal Oak, a bold new barleywine for our small-batch Lab Series. We thought it was time to give malt its moment in the limelight. Barley may not be as sexy as hops, but without it, there is no beer. So let’s take a moment to celebrate the unsung hero of brewing.
During the first week of October, Robert Crane of Crisp Malt entered our laboratory of mischief in Haarlem to collaborate on The Royal Oak, a barleywine brewed for our small-batch Lab Series. Usually at Uiltje, we geek out on hops, but our collab with Crisp gave us the rare opportunity to geek out on malts. And seeing as barleywine originated in 18th-century England, who better to talk to than a malt chap from Norfolk?
Uiltje: Breweries are typically full of hop geeks and, on occasion, yeast geeks. Rarely malt geeks. Do you sometimes get the feeling that malt is craft beer’s third wheel?
Rob: Feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it? But really, us maltsters like to say we’re just a few ingredients short of a beer. Arguably, malt isn’t as sexy as hops, which has so many different elements in terms of aroma, bitterness, and terpenes. Because grain is used in everything from whiskey and beer to cereal, people don’t really think about it, despite it being the base for many everyday essentials, like beer.
Uiltje: So brewing a barleywine is the malt’s moment to shine?
Rob: Collaborating on a malt-forward barleywine is always something special, and obviously, this isn’t Uiltje’s first barleywine. Crisp collaborates on IPAs, stouts, etc., but in a barleywine like The Royal Oak, the malt is really ramped up. It’s an excellent showcase for our grain.
Uiltje: I suppose it’s all agricultural, right: hops, yeast, grain? They’re all united by their obsession with the weather.
Rob: Weather plays a massive, massive part in our industry. One year, it’s too dry with barely any rain; the next, the rain won’t stop. Hopsters, yeasters, maltsters – we’re all obsessed with the weather. Fortunately for us, our winter crop is looking really good this year.
Uiltje: Crisp was founded in 1870 in Norfolk. You’re a major player in specialty barley – the good stuff used in whiskey and craft beer. I’ve heard that Norfolk in England has something special about its grain, special enough for you to wear a branded shirt printed with ‘the finest malt’.
Rob: ‘The finest malt’ is printed on the shirt, and we stick by that. Norfolk is blessed with beautiful light sandy soil that is very low in nitrogen; when barley is too high in nitrogen, it can affect malting characteristics. We are definitely the epicenter of quality grain in England and a global player. Norfolk offers the perfect conditions for brewers. The fact that quality brewers like Uiltje go to the trouble of importing it says a lot about Norfolk grain.
Uiltje: So, like Haarlem is proud of its brewing history and surrounding tulip fields, Norfolk is proud of its grain?
Rob: We work with grower groups and some 200 farmers, all of whom are located no farther than 40 miles from our maltings, which is important for both traceability and sustainability. The farmers, the grower groups, Crisp, we all know each other and recognize the quality of the UK’s east coast for growing grain. There’s definitely a shared pride in that, so much so that we’ve all agreed to implement a shared framework (called Field Forward) that uses on-field data to control local soil health, water usage, biodiversity, and emissions. We all understand how fortunate we are to be gifted with this incredible soil and our responsibility to sustain it.
Uiltje: So here’s your chance to flaunt your malt chops. What grain are we using in The Royal Oak?
Rob: The grain bill for The Royal Oak is solid. The initial idea was to use Maris Otter as the backbone, but Vini (Uiltje Head Brewer) decided that the slightly sweeter Best Ale malt, with its light caramel notes, would work better for this collab. It’s a great malt, very versatile, used widely in English ales, IPAs, stouts, and porters. It’s got a super rich color and sweet balance, but also a good bite, which is perfect for barleywine. A second malt we’re using is Crystal 100, which is the lightest in our Crystal series. It’s named ‘crystal’ for the crystallization of sugars, which delivers a clean, nutty, caramel flavor and aroma. It’s also slightly reddish, which is the color spectrum you’re looking for in an English-style barleywine. The third grain we’re using is Dark Munich, which brings a rich malt taste with a fresh-baked bread crust and that classic Dark Munich sort of bite on the back of the palate after sipping. The 11.5% we’re aiming for is ideal – maybe on the higher end of the alcohol spectrum.
Uiltje: As a malt man, do you get to collab much with breweries?
Rob: Like everyone else in this industry, I like to collab as often as possible. It’s fun checking out the different breweries and the kits they use. The smaller one-person breweries usually put me to work, sometimes really backbreaking stuff like digging out mash in 50°C heat, which is great for my skin but pretty savage for the rest of me.
Larger breweries like Uiltje, with their super automated systems, are more relaxed. It’s less about ripping open sacks and stirring mash than it is talking and comparing notes. These collabs are great for insights, and I get to drink great beer. It gives me a renewed appreciation of the entire industry. The things people are brewing these days! Right now, being here, I just love the aromas you get from grain and hops. The sights, the sounds, the sensory stuff. And the great thing is you have a product in the end. But if you’re asking me if Vini and Marko (Uiltje’s Head of Cellar) have been breaking my back all day, the answer is no. I’m listening, advising if need be, but in the end they are the ones calling the shots. They know their kit and how to get the best out of it. Most of my work is done in advance, including advising and delivering the grain. When I need to get my hands dirty, I gladly do. But the most important thing is the experience – this day spent together, the time shared, the stories told, the friendships made.
