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Ron Silberstein and Kim Sturdevant join Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today to talk about Admiral Maltings It’s the Malt! coming September 19. Admiral Maltings was also on this episode of Brew Ha Ha on June 20, 2024, and again last year on May 1, 2025. This is part one of their conversation. Part Two, with Barry Bicker of Moonlight Brewing, is here.
Kim Sturdevant is back on the show today. He is doing technical sales for Admiral Maltings and has worked as a brewer in several local breweries. Famous for creating the Brut IPA style of beer, he was the featured guest on Brew Ha Ha once before, on this episode in 2018, when Mark Carpenter was co-hosting the show.
On September 19, Admiral Maltings is putting on a promotion called “It’s the Malt!” which will feature beverages – beer and whiskey – made with malt from Admiral Maltings. Watch their website and socials for news and details.
Beer is made from grains which are dry and hard. Malting is the process that lets the seed start to germinate and break down the complex components. They stop the process soon after germination. Then, the malted grain becomes beer and whiskey. They use chillers to cool their floor, to keep the process slow and cool. “We don’t want to grow grass,” he says, and they are only modifying the grain.
Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Kim Sturdevant
Kim Sturdevant is famous in craft brewing circles for having created the Brut IPA style. He won a Gold Medal for it in 2015 at the Great American Beer Festival. Mark Carpenter was so impressed that he asked Herlinda specifically about who had made that beer. For Kim it was an honor to meet Mark and to be a guest on Brew Ha Ha back in 2018.
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Admiral Maltings serves beer and whiskey that their many clients make with their malt. Some of the pre-Prohibition breweries in San Francisco had their own malting facilities attached to them. Historically, brewers would get their ingredients locally. At one point, New York grew more barley than any other state, and between 1860 and 1940, barley was California’s most important agricultural crop. We used to export barley to England. They thought our barley was sun-kissed. Ron has a 1901 English floor malting handbook that mentions sun-kissed California barley.
“It’s The Malt” is their largest annual celebration of products that use Admiral Maltings’ malt. There will be over 30 beers flowing. About 10 of those will be festbeers, or Festbier in German, which is malt-forward amber lager. Modern ones are like a hefty pale lager. In Munich, Germany, the main breweries each make their own special beer for Oktoberfest.