I defer to the malt expertise of Ben Keene and Jeff Alworth, but the map the Craft Maltsters Guild displayed at the Craft Brewers Conference earlier this month is one of those “picture is worth a 1,000 words” things.
The guild defines craft malt this way:
Small – A members malthouse produces between 5 metric tons and 10,000 metric tons per year.
Local – More than 50% of grains are grown within a 500-mile radius of the member malthouse.
Independent – Each member malthouse must be independently owned by a 76% majority of ownership.
Looking at the map, Hannah Turner, chair of the guild’s technical committee, volunteered there is work to be done in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas — where they know a little about growing grains. That noted, the availability of locally produced malt and hops since the Brewing Publications brewing elements series* was produced is stunning.
* A bit of disclosure. I wrote the hops book.