Riverbend Malt House - Asheville, NC

Saturday, as a suprise for my birthday, my wife scheduled us a tour of the Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, NC. http://riverbendmalt.com/

They specialize in malting locally grown 6-row (since we don't have much luck growing western 2-row here in the southeast). We met Brent Manning, one of the 2 owners, and he gave us a tour. He's a great guy, very knowledgeable, but also very humble and accepting of the stigma 6 row has received. He sold me a 50lb bag of their 6 row for something like $40 and gave me some hefty samples of their "Heritage" Malt & Rye. I thought it was really cool that this malt was only 2 weeks old.

Its a cool tour, so if you're ever traveling through Asheville, you should give them a call.

Awesome! Yet another cool beer spot in that town. I had no idea they were doing anything like that there.

Hooray for beer city USA! Brent is a great guy and a member of our local homebrew club. People like that who are willing to start something new is just part of what makes Asheville awesome.

It's fun to see the malt house and both owners are nice guys. Just emptied my first bag of Riverbend Pale malt yesterday. 'Heritage' is more along the lines of Vienna, I think. I've done several beer with both the Abruzzi Rye and Turkey Wheat and they're both very flavorful. Look for beers from Catawba Valley, Wedge, and other NC breweries with Riverbend Malt.

Two thumbs way up from me. Take a tour and buy a bag or two next time your in Asheville!

Awesome wife!

I was fortunate enough to get a bag of their 6-row from my LHBS (Big Dan's) in Greensboro, NC about 2 months ago. Made my first batch with it about 6 weeks ago... A SMaSH lager with 10% flaked rice and Willamette fermented White Labs 830. The gravity was a little lower than I was expecting but I think it's going to be a good beer.

Going to keg this weekend. I'll post my results in a few more weeks once it's had a little more time to lager.

I'll be traveling through Asheville this week. Does Riverbend have a retail store on site? If not are there any HBS in Asheville that carry their products? Thanks guys

blh3d said:

I'll be traveling through Asheville this week. Does Riverbend have a retail store on site? If not are there any HBS in Asheville that carry their products? Thanks guys

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No store on site and I'm not sure about the HBS, but call or email Riverbend through their website and Brian & Brent will hook you up with info about which shops carry their malt or let you know when you can stop by the malt house and buy some.

Thanks for the response. I'll try to get in touch with them.

I finally got around to tasting my 2 lagers made with the River Bend and while I think it's cool to have malt grown and processed locally, this beer has been very difficult to drink. It's hard to describe the taste, but it's definitely not good.

Likely my last time brewing a beer with this malt.

schematix said:

I finally got around to tasting my 2 lagers made with the River Bend and while I think it's cool to have malt grown and processed locally, this beer has been very difficult to drink. It's hard to describe the taste, but it's definitely not good.

Likely my last time brewing a beer with this malt.

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Sorry you are dissapointed. I have had nothing but great results & good efficiency with riverbend's pale malt. That being said, i've not lagered with it, or done a smash recipe with it.

One thing I have noticed is that they do have a little trouble removing all the rootlets from the malted barley, which I think may cause some astringency. When I looked at their machine for doing this, it is obvious this is a place they could improve with a little investment.

Overall though, I'm happy with their product, especially at $45 a bag.

I've brewed at least thirty beers with their malt now, so I'd say I'm a fan. No lagers, but I did a cream ale with riverbed pils and oat malts that was great.