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.
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!
The 2025 barley harvest crop was off to its earliest start in nearly two decades, driven by the unusually dry spring and early summer heat in the UK. According to AHDB data, 10% of the UK’s winter barley crop was harvested by 9th July, significantly ahead of the five-year average.
The east of England, including East Anglia, was one of the earliest areas, with light, sandy soil proving the driest. This is a significant contrast to the wet conditions of the 2024 growing season, which impacted barley quality and reduced malting barley availability.
Scotland has also seen an early start, with harvest expected to be completed by the end of August.
As weather extremes become more common, driven by climate change, monitoring conditions will remain crucial for those relying on a stable malt supply and consistent barley yields.
Mean Temperature
Rainfall Amount
The dry growing season caused some nervousness about yields, which led us to believe there may be quality concerns in the incoming crop, particularly in key barley-growing areas along the east coast, which were particularly dry. Overall, quality has been variable across both winter and spring barley, with reduced yields in comparison to the 5 year average. Yield has been reduced by up to 25% in some regions. This has made intake into the maltings challenging, however, we have been able to select a stock of good quality barley for the coming year. This is a testament to the ongoing support from our grower groups and supply partners across our malting locations.
The harvest conditions across the country have been favourable, with warm, dry weather resulting in the majority of the crop being delivered at a reasonably low moisture. The dry conditions also means that mycotoxins and Ergot have not been an issue in the 2025 crop. Nitrogen levels are higher than those seen in the 2024 crop, in which we saw an extremely low nitrogen crop. This has resulted in a good spread of nitrogen levels to fit all customer specification. Grain retentions have been variable across the country, with Scotland showing more of an issue in terms of grain size. Average intake results in comparison to 2024 crop can be seen below:-
Overall, we have managed to once again secure good quality malting barley across our locations to continue to produce good quality malt.
We thank all of our malt barley growers for their efforts in this challenging year.
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