Weathered Ground becomes first craft malt certified in WV
January 14, 2020
Weathered Ground Brewery (WGB) became the first brewery in the state to be certified by the Craft Maltsters Guild for its use of grain from small, independent malthouses that use mostly locally-sourced ingredients. In qualifying for this certification, WGB joins a list of prestigious brewers including Jester King, Burial, and Fullsteam, among others.
Sam Fonda, WGB co-founder and head brewer, says the brewery will add the Craft Malt Certified seal to all its can and bottle labels. To display the seal, a beer must contain at least 10% craft malt in its grain bill. It’s not uncommon for WGB beers to be 100 percent craft malt.
Local craft malt important to Fonda
From its inception, Weathered Ground has used a large proportion of locally sourced malts in most of its beers. They source their craft malts from Riverbend Malt House in Asheville and Carolina Malt House in Cleveland, NC.
Since malt is a primary ingredient in craft beer, using craft malt does tend to raise the cost of ingredients, often making the resulting beer more expensive than those made with malt from large industrial malt companies. Fonda feels that using the regionally-sourced craft malt gives his beers a special, unique local taste and quality that is worth the extra cost. As a small business owners himself, he believes it is important to support other local/regional small businesses that help grow the local economy.
The latest all-craft malt beer from Weathered Ground will be released this Thursday (Jan. 16). It’s a farmhouse IPA called Weathered Robot, which is a collaboration between WGB and Wooden Robot Brewery in Charlotte using all Riverbend malts. (More about this beer on our WV Beer Roads podcast.)
There is a growing trend among many craft brewers seeking more local ingredients to put into their beers. In WV, we’ve seen a long list of local fruits, honeys, and hops put into beers. Rippon Brewing in Jefferson County also operates a tiny malting operation using barley it raises. Rippon malt has appeared in beers from other WV brewers including Stumptown and Abolitionist.
Definition of Craft Maltster
From the North American Craft Maltsters Guild website, we get this definition of craft malthouse:
- Craft malthouses produce between 5 metric tons (5.5 US tons) to 10,000 metric tons (11,000 US tons) each year
- Over 50% of grains are grown within a 500-mile radius of the craft malthouse
- The craft malthouse must be independently owned by a 76% majority of ownership
Check the Certified Malt Seal description page on the guild’s website to learn more about the program.
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