Weathered Ground Brewery Craft Malt Flight

This September, stop in Weathered Ground Brewery and ask about their Craft Malt Flight. Learn about the differences craft malts make in a beer.

Here’s the list of the individual beers suggested for the flight, with descriptive comments provided by Sam Fonda, head of brewery operations.

Smolder Bock ~ A bold smoked lager featuring pecan smoked wheat from Riverbend Malt House and light Munich malt from Carolina Malt House. Typically brewed in anticipation for fire pit weather in fall and often in the spring as well. It’s a great transitional beer to lead into a new season.

Camp Life ~ Modern Juicy Pale Ale featuring both Pilsner malt and malted red wheat from Carolina Malt House. Hops stand out in this one but it is 100% local malt. While the hops are the showcase, we still need malt and what better way to balance this pale ale than with fresh pilsner malt for our base malt and the red wheat provides much needed body to balance the bitterness and hop aroma and give it the creamy like texture that we are going for…all while still keeping the pale to golden color we’re looking for.

Enniskillen ~ Dry Irish Stout featuring Carolina Malt house Pilsner malt and Carolina Malt House Roasted Barley. The roasted barley provides the typical coffee roast flavor and aroma along with the black color we are shooting for. While the Pilsner malt is just a great base for the beer. The roasted barley shines here.

Cool Ridge Lager ~ Pale Lager featuring Pilsner malt and light Munich malt from Carolina Malt House. We typically use Riverbend malt in this beer but at times substitute with Carolina. The Pilsner malt provides the color we are shooting for along with fresh light malt flavor. The same can be said for the Munich malt with a slight toast or baked bread-like character and an increase in body so that this lager has some depth and is not just a light “yellow fizzy beer.” We’re looking for taste and balance and those malts provide it.

Of course, you can just purchase a pint of any one of the beers if you don’t want a flight.

A WORD FROM SAM FONDA, WEATHERED GROUND BREWERY’S CO-FOUNDER, ON BREWING WITH CRAFT MALT
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We love the idea of using craft malt but especially regionally grown grain that is then regionally malted. We brew here and the grain is grown not too far from here. It’s sort of a sense of place.

One of our passions is to invest in not only American grown but regionally grown as well. Great malts are made all over the world but we simply enjoy investing in smaller local farms and for us, we look at it as you can’t beat the freshness of malts coming from Riverbend Malt and Carolina Malt House because they’re being produced very close to our brewery. We also enjoy the relationships we’ve built with these companies over the years.

When customers taste our beer, they’re tasting those companies as well and that’s what it’s all about. What makes your beer taste the way it does? Whether you love that beer or hate it, a large part of it is the malt used. It is a big factor in a big equation that provides the flavor, aroma, body, head retention and overall character of that beer recipe.
Sam Fonda, Weathered Ground Brewery

Weathered Ground Brewery
2027 Flat Top Rd.
Cool Ridge, WV
Brewery Website Link

Get Involved

During September, all are encouraged to join the conversation by using the #CraftMaltMonth hashtag and tagging the Craft Maltsters Guild @craftmalting on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and X.