Australian brewer Coopers will commercially release its first heritage malt in a bid to capture a slice of the craft beer market.
Coopers opened its $65 million malting facility in Adelaide in November 2017 and has ramped up production to about 80 per cent of its 55,000 tonne-a-year capacity.
The family owned brewery plans to use about a third of its malt production for its own beers while selling a third to Australian brewers and exporting the remainder.
Coopers has already been selling a single-origin pale and ale malt made from Commander barley grown at Roseworthy in the Northern Adelaide Plains.
It will release its first heritage ale malt made from South Australian Schooner barley this month, and also has plans for the June release of an single origin malt from Westminster barley grown on Kangaroo Island.
Schooner barley was developed by University of Adelaide Professor David Sparrow and released in 1983. It dominated the Australian barley industry through the ’80s and ’90s but fell out of favour in the late 1990s as higher yielding varieties were released.
However, Coopers maltings manager Dr Doug Stewart said Schooner’s low fermentability created the rich flavour with good mouthfeel that is ideal for hoppy beers and modern craft brewing.
