It was sent this piece of news today. Apparently, Warminster Maltings will to be supplying Skinners with their own local barley and ensuring that their beer remains truly Cornish?!?
It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why does a maltster in Wiltshire need to buy Cornish barley to supply a Cornish brewery? I have to assume there is no malting facility in Cornwall, is that the reason. Had I spent less time staring into my glass to see if it was half full or half empty, I might have gleaned more about the brewery process?
Anyhow, it was the accompanying image, taken by my friend Mary Neale that took my interest. Not the press release that’s supposed to tell the story.
You can you decipher and get back to me if you are any the wiser.
Truro-based Skinners Brewery has linked up with Britain’s oldest working maltster in a boost for Cornish barley growers.
Skinners and Warminster Maltings have concluded a deal that will see the Wiltshire firm act as sole supplier of malt, initially for a year, for the Cornish company’s prizewinning range of ales.
On behalf of Skinners, Warminster will buy spring barley from a selection of Cornish farms to ensure they meet the increased demand of approximately 12 tonnes of malt per week.
“We have been exclusively committed to Cornish barley for most of the company’s 14 years,” said brewery chief executive Steve Skinner. “This arrangement with such a long-established specialist in the field will further strengthen that commitment and is good news for Cornish farmers.
“We are looking at increasing our capacity again over the next two years or so and anticipate demand rising to around 15 tonnes of malt per week, and possibly more, in that period.”
Skinners’ weekly malt usage eight years ago was just two tonnes. It rose to six tonnes by 2006 and has since doubled to its present level.
“Our rapid growth and sales success have been due in no small measure to the high quality of Cornish barley,” said Mr Skinner.
“Despite an ever more competitive market place and intensifying cost pressures, we still insist on using Cornish barley; Cornish farms have made a terrific contribution towards our policy of brewing only the highest-quality ales.”
Warminster Maltings, with its roots stretching back to the mid 19th Century, is Britain’s oldest surviving working maltings.
It was owned by Guinness from 1941 to 1994, when it narrowly escaped closure through a management buyout led by Mr Garratt, the head maltster. Hampshire-based grain merchant Robin Appel purchased the business ten years ago.
Beyond the pasty... 