One of the more interesting things to come out of this year’s Craft Brewers Conference in Las Vegas in April wasn’t a new hop product (although some of those are pretty wild), or a collaboration between top-notch breweries that hadn’t teamed up before, but a malt collaboration – and an international one at that.

When I, Jeremy Herrig, Brews for New Avenues Co-Founder & New School occasional contributor, ran into old friend Tim Decker of Admiral Maltings, AltBrau, and creator of the Avenue collaboration beer series with de Garde - learned about this collaboration, I wanted to find out more – and how to get my hands on the beers. 

The transatlantic partnership between Admiral Maltings out of Alameda, CA and Crisp Malt out of Norfolk, England sprouted from a bond established a decade ago when the founders of California's Admiral Maltings visited Crisp's classic 1870 English floor maltings on a 2015 research trip. Inspired by the traditional processes still employed, an eventual collaboration was inevitable.

That opportunity arose at the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference, when the companies jokingly pondered "What's stopping maltsters from doing collaborations like breweries?" A plan took shape to swap signature varieties with Crisp sending its revered heritage Czech landrace Haná barley to Admiral in January 2024. Admiral will return the favor in 2025 by shipping Butta 12, a California-bred variety developed at the University of California Davis, to undergo traditional English floor malting.

More than simply exchanging grains, this partnership celebrates the ancient floor malting craft and heritage varieties like Haná that have endured for centuries. "This is focusing a spotlight on the renewal of a traditional method...it's a celebration of floor malting, variety, and their contributions to flavor," notes Admiral cofounder, Ron Silberstein.

By resurrecting venerable landraces like Haná and exploring their expression through gentle, labor-intensive floor malting, the collaboration connects modern makers to these ingredients' rich provenance as originally manifested long ago. "Floor malting provides different flavor attributes...with the gentle process and low airflow, you're preserving subtle flavors stripped away in pneumatic malting" states Crisp's Technical Director, David Griggs. 

According to Griggs, research at Crisp revealed distinct differences in volatile compounds between their floor malts and conventional kilned versions, suggesting the ancient method uniquely retains delicate flavors. This collaboration is a rare chance to look at how variety and process intersect to shape a malt's sensory profile.

Ultimately, the collaboration celebrates these heritage processes and ingredients by experiencing them in the present day. As brewers transform these malts into beers, they'll serve as an experiential bridge connecting today's modern craft to ancient maltster forebears. 

Back on June 29th, Admiral first showcased many of these beers at the inaugural It’s The Malt! – Craft Malt Festival - including pFriem, Sierra Nevada, Pond Farm, Olfactory, Old Caz, BrewBilt, and the AltBrau collab with The Monk's Cellar. If you haven’t been down to the Bay Area to check out Admiral and their taproom, The Rake, it is highly recommended – the beers on tap are all brewed with Admiral’s malts, and many of the booths have a great view of the malting floor. 

pFriem, the only Oregon brewery who took part in using the collaboration malt, put their particularly deft Pilsner touch on it. You can currently try it in their taproom in Hood River, but if you live in Portland and can’t make it out there, it’ll be on tap at the 13th Annual Brews for New Avenues this Saturday, August 24th.