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!
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The Beatles are in full swing, The Sound of Music has just premiered, and a pint of beer costs 1s 7d (or 8p in today’s money). Behind the scenes, something big is brewing.
It’s the emergence on to the market of a game-changer. A new malt variety. One that will soon reach legendary status among ale brewers. One that will still be going strong more than five decades later.
It’s the brainchild of Dr Bell, and is a cross-breed of Pioneer, a winter barley variety, and Proctor, a spring variety. Sure, he was hoping for a fine malting barley when he put the two together. But even he might have been surprised to have known the extent of his legacy.
So, the same year The Beatles gets three number one hits in the UK charts, Maris Otter makes its debut on the beer scene.
For a chance to win 50kg of floor-malted Maris Otter®, one Limited Edition Maris Otter® T-Shirt, and a Maris Otter® Poster, enter our easy competition!
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The decade Microsoft – and CAMRA – are founded, The Beatles break up, the first Star Wars movie is premiered, and Maris Otter predominates.
Working its way onto the NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany) recommended list for brewing, there is barely a brewer of pale ales and bitters who doesn’t use Maris Otter at least some of the time.
Joining the Rubik’s cube, Madonna, and Pac-Man. But, change is afoot.
Trying to restrict the monopoly of the ‘Big Six’ (Allied, Bass, Courage, Grand Met, Scottish & Newcastle and Whitbread), there’s a Government-led shake up of the beer and pub market. It’s in the form of the Beer Orders of 1989.
Cold, continental lagers have arrived as the new kids on the block. They are filled into kegs and start supplanting traditional cask-conditioned bitters and pale ales in the pub. And they are filled into bottles and cans – driving demand in the off-trade at the expense of footfall in the on-trade.
It’s the end of the 80s and Maris Otter is officially removed from the NIAB list.
The last hurrah of the 20th century. The Spice Girls are the new pop scene phenomenon. The film Titanic scores a hit, going on to become one of the top three highest-grossing titles ever. Tim Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist, invents the World Wide Web. And the first ever text message is sent on a phone. Hello brave new world.
Things are happening in the world of barley too. Grain merchants H Banham and Robin Appel are not happy with the commoditisation of the entire grain market. They are convinced that there’s still a place for speciality varieties – ones that lend themselves to floor malting and to particular styles of beer. They join forces in a quest to save the Maris Otter barley variety.
In 1992, Tony Banham and Robin Appel buy the rights to the variety. They are taking a risk. Most barley varieties are superseded in five or six years. Maris Otter is already the longest-lived and – it has to be said – it isn’t in the greatest condition it’s ever been in. There’s been a bit of cross-fertilisation with other varieties, and of course some not-so-perfect grains have reproduced, with imperfections passing into subsequent generations.
To take it back to its original glory. The starting point is the rigorous process of reselection. That’s where specialists in the field of barley (pun intended) walk through crops and aided by distinctive magnifying glasses, carefully examine individual ears and seeds. They pocket only the seeds that are pure, truest-to-type exemplars of the Maris Otter variety.
These they take away to propagate. Once there are sufficient volumes of these pure and precious seeds, they are planted in a field.
Not any old field. But one in a secret location in the wilds of North Norfolk.
One with a sunny aspect and gentle breezes from the sea, a flattish topography and light, well drained soils. One that becomes the ‘mother field’.
Successive generations of pure, unadulterated Maris Otter owe their existence to this mother field – and the painstaking reselection process regularly carried out by Banham’s.
Let us say at this point – as we had been since the first harvest in 1965 – that Crisp is totally invested in the variety and are keen to be part of the rescue operations. We have traditional floor maltings to bring out the best in the barley, and we have brewers who love the resulting malt. Brewers of traditional light and dark ales.
So here we are. Maris Otter is not going to be confined to the annals of history. It has been revived and will become increasingly revered by craft brewers – and indeed distillers.
1997 and the new version of Candle in the Wind is released – going on to become the UK’s top-selling single. Harry Potter materialises, capturing the attention of would-be wizards the world over.
And Crisp floor-malted Maris Otter® is introduced to the US, enchanting craft brewers with the depth of flavour it produces in their beers.
The millennium bug ‘Y2K’ fails to create the anticipated havoc. The new century is upon us. Pop Idol and the X Factor deliver numerous number one hits such as Will Young, Evergreen and Leona Lewis, A Moment Like This, and People start listening to music on the internet. And Gordon Brown introduces progressive beer duty in 2002.
This triggers a wave of investment in the UK’s craft brewing sector, and a new generation of brewers, unbound by the shackles of history emerges. This loosens the strings holding back many older, highly qualified brewers whose paymasters were previously uninterested in flavour exploration.
A combination of old and new, science and craft, convention and adventure gradually permeate the brewing sector. And stupendous new beers emerge, many of which, like their traditional counterparts, insist on nothing less than the best as their ingredients: Maris Otter. Floor-malted. In Gt Ryburgh. Right on the doorstep of the mother field and the many fields, it supplies.
Where Instagram is founded, the last movie of the Harry Potter franchise premieres, and the craft beer market continues to grow.
In 2015, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Junior, and Elizabeth Hurley celebrate their 50th birthdays. A year when Maris Otter has its 50th anniversary. We get together with Banhams and Robin Appel in Norfolk to mark the anniversary with brewers from all over the country and abroad. There’s a 3-day festival put on in its honour and 50 different beers using Maris Otter® are brewed especially for the occasion.
Where the Beatles are named the biggest-selling rock band, The Sound of Music has by now accumulated five Oscars, and thousands of musical performances on the West end and Broadway, and a pint of beer costs on average £3.89.
The decade has begun with global crises at the fore. Beer markets worldwide see changes in consumption patterns, and craft brewers pull all the stops out to adapt and survive. Many are still reeling, but they work towards recovery.
They know there will always be a demand for flavoursome beers – high, low or no alcohol. And they know that quality, consistency and character matter.
So, not surprising that Maris Otter® is still going strong.
In fact, it’s not so far off reaching the age of 60. Who knows what will be top of the pops in 2025 – and which champion beers Maris Otter® will be still creating for its diamond anniversary?
While we wait, us maltsters are raising a glass to those expert farmers who produce this remarkable barley for us, and to those discerning brewers and distillers who use it to produce drinks of distinction.
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