Regulations on malting barley set to protect the beer sector
The Brewers Association (BA) has asked farmers who grow barley to breed for lower protein in a bid to deliver consistent, shelf-stable beer.
In a recent memo that the BA sent to the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA), it called for further revisions to the quality targets in the hope it might guide barley breeders toward varieties that meet the needs of brewers.
According to the BA, even though early brewers recognised the challenges of such limited options in the US’s domestic barley supply, as the industry grew certain facts needed to be heard. This culminated with the 2014 publication of the BA’s white paper Malting Barley Characteristics for Craft Brewers, which highlighted the “malt supply mismatch as a potential impediment” to the success of the brewing industry.
Meeting the needs of brewers
Initially, the document was aimed towards all members of the supply chain but specifically highlighted the challenge of using contemporary barley varieties for all-malt brewing and called for the development of those that met the unique needs of brewers. Following this, that same year AMBA expanded its guidelines to include a category specifically for all-malt brewing. As a result, barley varieties geared for all-malt brewing gained prominence and as such now play a larger role in breeding programmes across the country.
Fast-forward to early 2025, the guidelines were updated once again to the further benefit of brewers, most notably by lowering the grain protein target and other metrics associated with more moderate modification. However, despite these wins, the BA admitted that the reality is that various “agronomic factors are placing pressure on malting barley while a more dynamic beer market is forcing brewers to place increasing emphasis on beer quality and shelf stability”.
As such, the most recent update to the all-malt category showed that AMBA is committed to the needs of brewers and thus the timing was right for a new explicit directive from the BA to add further guidance regarding the needs of the brewing sector.
The subcommittee’s considerations and the climate-affected outlook
A working group within the BA, known as the supply chain subcommittee, was formed to evaluate the current guidelines and draft the new memo to AMBA to encourage further revisions. In essence, the subcommittee group represented a cross section of BA membership: from brewpubs and taprooms to large national brewers producing more than one million barrels across multiple facilities.
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The main theme from the group was the need to prioritise lower protein barley varieties that express more moderate modification patterns. Essentially so that there is a positive correlation between heat and/or drought stress and grain protein, because the climate-affected outlook is that the average protein will continue to rise.
The group’s ultimate goal is to “encourage breeders to select low-protein material that is more resilient to abiotic stress and can thrive even under dryland conditions”.
These desires arise from the challenges of working with high-protein barley and the impact of the artifacts of proteolysis on flavour stability of all-malt beers.
According to the BA, the consensus was to encourage a “selection of barley varieties that modify more gradually and thus have lower free-amino nitrogen (FAN) and other short chain peptides that negatively affect beer flavour. To help with this, the group proposed expanded ranges for β-glucan, FAN, and the soluble to total protein ratio in order to broaden the breeder’s selection pool”.
Understanding DMS and upholding quality
In addition to changes to metrics, the most recent round of guideline updates included mention of di-methyl sulfide (DMS) and specifically its precursor in malt (S-methylmethionine or DMSp). The BA insisted that “this is a great step forward in promoting breeders to be aware of the brewer concern” but added that “more intentional direction is warranted”. This, it highlighted, is because it is “understood that this trait is a measurable and heritable phenotype” and so it hopes the extra note “encourages further research”.
The BA has assured that it will “continue to communicate craft brewers’ specific quality requirements for barley varieties to AMBA that will allow the continued production of the highest quality and flavourful beers”.
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