Biscuity, bready, toffee, a chewy mouth feel – if you appreciate these adjectives in your beer, you have malt barley to thank. This cereal is the lesser-known hero of many a craft brew, next to the punchier presence of hops. 

Aaron Mills, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Charlottetown, P.E.I., has parlayed an interest in craft beer – developed while working at a craft brewery in the Annapolis Valley – into a search for barley varieties suited for growing conditions in Atlantic Canada. In this episode of Inputs, Mills and Alex Barnard, editor of Top Crop Manager East, discuss how craft beer has informed his research, what he looks for in a malt barley variety for the East Coast, and the challenges of growing the crop in Maritime conditions.

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Show notes

• The Jason mentioned in this episode is Jason McCallum, a research scientist with AAFC-Charlottetown who collaborates with Mills on Maritime hops and barley research.