Initial harvest results confirm significant regional differences
The German Brewing Barley Association published first harvest results for 2026.
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Record Heat, Cool Heads: Rheinhessen’s Brewing Barley Brings Field and Malthouse Together
Barley experts in Rheinhessen are heading out for the brewing barley tour and the Alexis Barley Field Day, which will conclude at the Wallertheim malt house.
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Why crushing malt in a high-quality way
The dream of the BEST beer and what malt grist has to do with it
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Crop Report #1: Why this year’s spring barley is withstanding dry weather and frost
The German Malting Barley Association published the first crop report for sping barley 2026. Based on seed sales and early estimates by Germany’s state malting barley associations, the Braugersten-Gemeinschaft (German Malting Barley Association) estimates that this year’s spring barley acreage is roughly 320,000 hectares, of which some 307,000 hectares were planted specifically with malting-quality barley….
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New malting barley variety added to the range
Following nationwide malting and brewing trials on a practical scale as part of the Berlin program, the variety committee of the Braugersten-Gemeinschaft e.V. (Malting Barley Association) has issued processing recommendations for the varieties “Excalibur” (Saatzucht Ackermann) and “LG Baryton” (Limagrain). For BESTMALZ malts, this means the following: “The ‘Excalibur’ variety is believed to have great…
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How was the Harvest of German High-quality Malting Barley in 2025?
Spring sowing conditions for the 2025 malting barley crop were excellent. Subsequently, however, the weather turned extremely variable with a severe drought in April, a cool May, and above-average rainfall in June, followed by a brief heat wave and persistent rains in July. These weather fluctuations had very different regional effects on crop development, mostly…
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Germany’s first crop report for spring and winter barley in 2025
Based on seed sales and early estimates by Germany’s state malting barley associations, the Braugersten-Gemeinschaft (German Malting Barley Association) estimates that this year’s spring barley acreage is roughly 315,000 hectares. This includes about 16,000 hectares of spring barley sown in the fall. In addition, German farmers have planted about 30,000 hectares of winter barley intended…
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The BestBrewChallenge 2025 is dedicated to a challenging and multi-faceted beer style: Oatmeal Stout
This style is known for its deep black, opaque color and entices with intense aromas of malt, coffee, and dark chocolate on the palate. The finish is marked by a characteristic roasted flavor created by the use of roasted malt. Depending on the brewing approach, the taste range can vary from dry and bitter to…
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New @BESTMALZ: Premium brewing yeasts from AEB – exclusively delivered together with your BESTMALZ malts
The co-operation with Italy based AEB will allow us to offer our brewers an even wider selection of premium brewing supplies as off 1 August 2024. As the official exclusive distributor for AEB’s attractive range of brewing yeasts, we will cater the D-A-CH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Any request coming from customers outside this region,…
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2024 Harvest Forecast for German Malting-Quality Barley
According to the Federal Statistics Office, compared to 2023, the area under spring barley cultivation in Germany has increased by 13 percent and now amounts to 363,000 ha. In many growing regions, there have been significant shifts towards sowing spring barley varieties in the fall, in addition to winter barley. However, this practice is not…
