New malter helps Wyoming ag, beverage industries

A stone’s throw from Wyoming’s eastern border is a bright red, low-slung warehouse amid acres of rustling grain. The mid-July sun glinted off giant granary bins standing in two orderly rows.

Inside the spacious, sparse building a kiln the size of a pickup truck rumbled to life. The hot, dry air inside suspended the barley in the middle of germination and dried it for storage. The barley spent the last week being cleaned, steeped in water and germinated using cool, humid air. The resulting malts are used in beer and distilled spirits.

This was the first test batch for Pine Bluffs-based Wyoming Malting Company, the state’s first malt manufacturer.

Value-added agriculture

Wyoming is the fifth-largest barley producer in the nation.

Like many Wyoming raw resources, the grain is shipped to other states and countries where it is processed into new products, sold to retailers at a markup and, finally, bought by consumers for even more money.

Each link in that chain is revenue Wyoming companies are leaving on the table. Even worse, Wyoming customers often end up buying back the end product from an out-of-state manufacturer.

Chad Brown wants to keep the money in Wyoming.

Brown smiled beneath his long, bushy black beard. He was awake until the early morning hours coaxing his first batch through the new system. Despite the sleepless night, he was elated.

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