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The floor at Admiral Maltings.
Ron Silberstein, a co-founder of Admiral Maltings in Alameda, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. He used to run The Thirsty Bear Brewing Company for 27 years in downtown San Francisco. At Admiral Maltings they also have a pub called The Rake in the same building, overlooking the malting floor. It is located on a former Naval base. (Alameda Naval Air Station was one of the biggest Navy airports anywhere.)
Admiral Maltings is reintroducing an old-fashioned way of making malt that makes a high quality product. Barley is the most commonly used grain for beer and whiskey. Grains have to be broken down before the yeast can do its job. So the grain is soaked which lets it start to germinate, then they stop the process and dry it.
They grow all of their grain in California. Before WWII, barley was the largest California crop. Then, the floor is actually cooled, because germination itself produced heat.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Russian River just won a Gold at the World Beer Cup for their STS Pilsner, and a Silver for Damnation. They use Admiral Malt. Drake’s also won a Gold in the Cream Ale category.
Punching Above Their Weight in the World of Malt
They were just at the California Craft Brewers Cup. Admiral Maltings produces one tenth of one percent of the available malt, but they won 8% of the medals from the recent CCB Cup. Of course, it’s the brewers who win the medals, but they do use Admiral Maltings malt.
Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻
Don’t miss IT’S THE MALT, the 2nd Annual Malt Festival at Admiral June 28. It’s their celebration of malt. There will be at least six pro-am collaborations to taste. There will be beers that demonstrate malts made from all different kinds of grain, including wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn. They will also feature whiskeys, like their American Single Malt Whiskey. It has to be 100% malted barley from a single distillery to qualify.
As a local provider of malt for local breweries, Admiral Maltings provides the freshest possible product, comparable to freshly roasted and ground coffee, or like freshly baked bread.