Just outside the village of Gesto, the Byrne Craft Malthouse produces brewery grains from winter and spring barley grown on the family’s farm. Malt refers to grain that has been partially germinated to convert starches to sugars. Barley is the most common malted grain, with two-row barley – varieties featuring two kernel rows – being much preferred by most brewers.

Malt barley agronomy

“I grow two-row barley. We looked at six-row, but the brewers won’t touch it,” Byrne says, while inspecting his overwintered crop on a damp day in early March 2026. Newdale is Byrne’s spring barley variety of choice, while his winter variety is Calypso. The latter consistently outperforms the former in yields.

In total, the family farms five acres of spring barley and 10 acres of winter barley each year – a small acreage, but more than enough for their production facility to process. Winter barley also fits well into Byrne’s wider crop rotation, with a late June harvest providing opportunity for late-season soybeans.

“It grows all winter. But we can only grow the winter barley successfully up to maybe Sarnia. Otherwise, it gets too cold and it dies. Agronomically, fertilizer is the same. High fertility, and you have to have good drainage because this is heavy soil,” Byrne says. “We keep our nitrogen rates at 70 per cent of what we put on our wheat crop. Otherwise, our protein levels will get too high. You want to keep that protein down around 12 for beer. Yield for winter barley, last year we had 80 bushels, which is good. It’s more than I can utilize in the plant.

“My dad grew winter malting barley when I was a kid. It was a ‘wish we did, wish we didn’t have it.’ But I don’t think they had the agronomic knowledge given to them about growing the crop as much as what’s available today. There wasn’t as much about nitrogen rates, and a lot of that wasn’t in the picture. If it made good malt, great, and if not, we had pig feed.”

The malting process

The Byrne malt house is a multi-purpose facility where barley is germinated, heated, cleaned and bagged for sale. Many malt houses use tumbler systems for germination. Byrne opted for a more traditional floor system, in part because of the lower cost, and since managing small-batch craft quantities can be accomplished by a small number of people – Byrne and his sons Shaun and Ben, specifically. 

“We don’t have a cooling system, so only have about 10 or 12 weeks through the winter when we can malt because of the temperature. We have to keep the germination room at 58 F, no more than that. I want it cooler than that. And when the malt is on the floor it gives off heat,” Byrne says. “I keep it four to six inches on the floor, and the room heats up. As it goes through the modification process it gives off more and more heat. Tomorrow is going to be our peak day, and it will get up to 90 F. We have to keep turning it over to cool it down.

“There’s still floor malting in Ireland and Scotland. A little bit in England. That’s what we based our system on.”

Additional cost savings for operations in the malt house were secured through the purchase of a seed cleaner from the 1960s, as well as the salvage of materials – and the contact network – from Byrne’s time in grain bin sales and construction business.

Generating brewer interest

Byrne and his family first started malting in 2016, though a series of health problems and COVID delayed full operations until 2024. Currently they can produce around 400 25-kilogram bags (10 tonnes) of malt barley in a season, and supply several local breweries. There is capacity to expand with additional buyers, and Byrne is actively contacting potential new customers.

Getting more breweries onboard, however, is not easy, and it shows in the dearth of craft malt producers in the province. Indeed, Byrne is one of very few, if not the only small-batch malt producer left in Ontario.

From a brewer’s perspective, a major challenge with supporting craft malt is logistical in nature. Devon Lafebre, a southern Ontario brewer with 10 years in the industry, says it’s common for breweries to source a wide range of materials – hops, yeast, malt, equipment, etc. – from a single company, in an effort to save costs and reduce paperwork. Greater quality variation from malt barley grown and processed in Eastern Canada is also a problem.

“It’s almost like a one-stop shop. At this point, you almost have to have a portfolio of stuff we can pick from,” Lafebre says. “Our climate isn’t great for it either. The grain doesn’t do well in southern Ontario. The biggest thing for craft breweries is risk. They don’t have the same blending power or equipment that the big guys have.”

“If the consumer doesn’t care so much, there’s no extra selling feature towards going towards a craft malt that’s more varied but costs the same … especially now, with the margins in craft being so small.”

Dirk Bendiak, technical advisor for Ontario Craft Brewers, agrees practical challenges are a concern for small brewers. A lack of roasting capacity for craft malt producers – a step necessary to create different styles of malt – is another issue.

“Years ago, there used to be malt on this side of the country because distribution costs were so high. Growing it out west and bringing it here was a big deal,” Bendiak says.

“The other snag is, as soon as you bring Western Canada malt into the Ontario environment, it’s susceptible to humidity. It’s the same thing with hops. They grow here, but grow much better in the Okanagan region because it’s a desert.”

Still, he says there is opportunity for small-scale malt production to supply smaller-scale breweries.

“In Ontario, most of the little craft brewers are probably brewing under 5,000 hectolitres a year, which is quite small volumes. Probably 80 per cent of craft brewers are small brewers,” Bendiak says, adding there may also be marketing opportunities for products with all local ingredients.

Byrne himself remains optimistic. The malt business fits within their existing grain operation, they’ve had success with a few local breweries, and crucially, he enjoys the work. For now, he plans on knocking on more doors “to try and grow the business.

“We’re going to pick away at it. I know we’re going to get bigger with more sales. But we’re not going to be like Canada Malt in Montreal. The reality is we’re only going to be a niche small player,” Byrne says.

“Our sales are going up every year a little bit.”

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Carlsberg Group on Wednesday announced an all-cash deal worth $4 per share for all shares of Waterloo Brewing, which bills itself as the largest Canadian-owned brewery in Ontario and a pioneer of the current “craft brewing renaissance” in Canada.

The deal still requires court approval — and approval from TSX-traded Waterloo’s shareholders, although Carlsberg has already signed up Waterloo company directors and officers holding a combined stake of about 39 per cent, with “irrevocable” support and voting agreements.

A committee of Waterloo independent directors is also recommending the remaining shareholders vote in favour of the deal, on which the two companies expect to close early in the first half of the new year.

In business since 1984, starting as Brick Brewing and rebranding in 2019, Waterloo Brewing produces the Waterloo line of premium craft beers and a “value” brand, Laker.

It also holds the Canadian rights to Seagram Coolers and the LandShark and Margaritaville beverage lines, and already has been producing Somersby cider in Canada on Copenhagen-based Carlsberg’s behalf since 2020.

“One of the priorities of our SAIL’27 strategy is to grow our business in attractive markets where we are small today, such as Canada,” Carlsberg CEO Cees ‘t Hart said in a separate release Thursday. Buying Waterloo Brewing, he said, “significantly improves our growth prospects in the Canadian market.”

“This exciting opportunity will scale our business in Canada. The brand portfolios are complementary. Local sourcing will secure long-term robustness of supply, and increase commercial flexibility and speed to market for innovations, step-changing the way we operate,” Carlsberg Canada managing director Anders Rud Jørgensen said in the same release.

Waterloo Brewing’s portfolio of “long-standing co-packing relationships will benefit from these combined operations,” he added.

“We’ve enjoyed a close relationship with Carlsberg and are excited about becoming part of one of the largest brewing companies in the world,” Waterloo Brewing CEO George Croft said in Wednesday’s release, adding the the board “is confident that joining Carlsberg is the best long-term solution for our employees, partners, customers, consumers and community.”

Waterloo on Wednesday also announced results for its third quarter ending Oct. 30, reporting declines in both net revenue and gross profit in what Croft described in a separate release as “a challenging year for the industry.”

Waterloo said it’s “continuing to see consumers trade-down as a result of ongoing inflationary pressures,” which has led to sales growth for the Laker brand but has “negatively impacted the company’s premium beer brands and ready-to-drink products, which is putting pressure on gross margin.”

Waterloo has since raised the price on its single-serve 473-millilitre Laker cans, a change it said is “consistent with the balance of the industry and will have a significant and positive impact on gross margin in the fourth quarter.”

The company also reported renewals with “strategic” co-manufacturing partners, which it said will result in about $18 million of combined revenue over the extended terms of those contracts.

For its last full fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2022, Waterloo had booked $5.803 million in net income on $180.825 million in gross revenue, up from $3 million on $156.8 million in the previous fiscal year. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“The acquisition we are doing today is very important for the future growth of Royal Unibrew in the Americas region,” Royal Unibrew CEO Lars Jensen said in a statement.

“We are adding capacity in Canada, which is also close to our U.S. business and over time we expect to serve most of Canada and partly United States from Amsterdam Brewery,” Jensen added.

The vast majority of Royal Unibrew’s revenue is generated in Europe. In 2021, around 11 per cent of the company’s net revenue came from its international segment, which includes the Americas, according to its annual report.

Royal Unibrew, whose own brands include Royal, Lapin Kulta and Faxe, noted Amsterdam maintains a “solid position in on-trade in Toronto” through its two retail stores and two brewpub restaurants in that city.

Amsterdam was founded in 1986 as a Dutch-themed Toronto brewpub and expanded following its 2002 acquisition by Jeff Carefoote, who previously worked for major brewers Molson and Miller in Canada and the U.S.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, paid on a debt-free basis, Royal Unibrew said. It expects the deal to be earnings-per-share accretive within the first year of ownership.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

CORRECTION, July 18, 2022: Royal Unibrew on July 17 published a statement of correction, lowering the acquisition value. The initial announcement on July 15 had valued Amsterdam Brewery at about 300 million Danish crowns (C$52.8 million).

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The deal gives Leamington, Ont.-based Aphria a U.S. distribution point at a time when cannabis is gaining broader acceptance in that country, with four more states voting to legalize recreational cannabis on Tuesday and the Democrats promising to decriminalize marijuana federally if elected to the White House.

The merger also comes close on the heels of a recent announcement by larger rival Canopy Growth Corp. to launch its pot-infused beverages in key U.S. markets through a partnership with Acreage Holdings next summer.

While Atlanta-based SweetWater does not sell any pot-infused beverages, it is famous for its “420” beer that smells like weed, and Aphria’s CEO Irwin Simon said the deal helps his company raise brand-awareness in the U.S. and capitalize on future legalization at state or federal level.

A host of alcohol brands have taken stakes in cannabis companies, including Corona beer maker Constellation Brands, which backs Canopy, but Aphria’s purchase reverses the trend to be the first large pot producer to enter the beer market.

The deal gives the company access to a growing $29 billion craft brew market, and the company will distribute SweetWater’s 420 line and other beverages in Canada, it said in a statement (all figures US$).

The pot producer expects the merger to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share and is likely to close before the year-end.

Unitholders of SweetWater, which will become a wholly-owned unit of Aphria, will get $250 million in cash and about $50 million in Aphria stock. It will fund the deal with debt, new stock sales and cash on hand.

— Reporting for Reuters by Shariq Khan and Nivedita Balu in Bangalore.

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During their general meeting Monday in Sydney, participating shareholders in GrainCorp voted over 99 per cent in favour of resolutions which will see the company’s malt business become a standalone ASX-listed company, named United Malt Group Ltd.

Pending court approval of the “demerger,” which is expected at a hearing Friday in Australia’s Federal Court, United Malt will become “the world’s fourth largest independent commercial maltster,” GrainCorp said.

If court approval is granted as expected, shares in United Malt (ASX:UMG) would begin trading March 24 on a deferred settlement basis, then on a normal settlement basis starting April 2.

United Malt’s holdings are to include malting houses in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K., as well as Country Malt Group, the company’s North American craft malt distribution business.

GrainCorp chairman Graham Bradley, speaking to the meeting Monday, said the United Malt business holds “strong market shares in these countries in the growing craft brewing and Scotch whisky sectors.”

United Malt’s Canadian assets are under the purview of Calgary-based Canada Malting, which produces about 400,000 tonnes of malt per year.

Canada Malting’s business includes malting plants at Calgary, Montreal and Thunder Bay, nine country elevators across the three Prairie provinces, and the Country Malt facilities at Delta, B.C., Didsbury, Alta. and Brampton, Ont.

Canada Malting’s history dates back to 1902, when it formed in the merger of three Ontario malting companies. GrainCorp bought the business in its 2009 takeover of the Canadian firm’s then-parent.

GrainCorp first announced its demerger proposal in April last year. Bradley reiterated Monday the deal “has the potential to unlock significant value for shareholders.”

GrainCorp’s board believes the “full value” of the malt business “has not been fully recognized by investors in recent years as it has formed part of a broader group whose business is affected by the variability of weather and crop cycles” along Australia’s east coast, he said.

Eligible GrainCorp shareholders will get one United Malt Group share for each GrainCorp share they hold as of March 25 this year. They’ll also retain their GrainCorp shares and can then opt to keep or sell either or both, the company said.

GrainCorp itself will also hang onto a 10 per cent stake in United Malt Group, Bradley said, “not as a strategic investment but as a valuable liquid non-core asset to provide GrainCorp with additional balance sheet resources and financing flexibility.”

‘Ongoing investment’

GrainCorp said last April its post-demerger focus will be on” building and developing its global grain and oilseeds origination network, including through ongoing investment in the GrainsConnect Canada supply chain and growth into new markets in the Black Sea and Indian subcontinent.”

Calgary-based grain handler GrainsConnect Canada — a joint venture between GrainCorp and Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain — today operates four Prairie inland grain terminals, two each in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

In a separate joint venture, GrainsConnect and Winnipeg grain firm Parrish and Heimbecker are building Fraser Grain Terminal, a Vancouver export facility expected to handle up to four million tonnes of grains, oilseeds, pulses and other commodities per year. Construction is expected to be complete in December this year.

GrainCorp last spring said its plan calls for GrainsConnect to “expand (its) origination footprint in Canada and enable (a) multi-origin service offering to customers in Asia and MENA,” referring to the Middle East and North Africa.

The post-demerger GrainCorp “will be initially structured with low core debt,” thanks mainly to the recent sale of its Australian Bulk Liquid Terminals business, Bradley said Monday.

GrainCorp’s earnings and cash flow, he said, will still be “variable from year-to-year based on weather and crop cycles.”

But the company this year also set up a new 10-year crop production contract, which for a “modest annual premium” will provide payment of up to A$80 million in “very poor crop years.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“Acres are definitely going to be down, because of the fear of getting feed barley, which is horrendously low-priced,” said Rod Green of Central Ag Marketing at Airdrie, Alta.

Statistics Canada is set to release its acreage estimates for principal field crops on Friday.

Average trade estimates collected by CNS Canada ahead of that report range from 4.4 million to 6.4 million acres.

That compares with the 6.4 million acres seeded in 2016-17, according to Statistics Canada. Those figures account for all types of barley grown.

Rain in Western Canada last fall led to an overabundance of feed grade grains, lowering quality of barley and pushing up supplies, which means weaker prices.

Prices for malt are low as well, further dissuading producers from growing it this year.

Canada’s crop is bigger than the country needs, while heavy production in competing growing regions cuts into export demand, Green said.

Australia grew a massive crop in 2016-17 and is exporting heavily to China, with estimates saying sales — of all types of barley — could double last year’s exports.

That cuts into the amount China is buying from Canada. “So consequently there’s a lot of malt barley on the farm,” Green said.

The U.S. has had two big crops back-to-back, he added, with prices below Canadian values, which further cuts into demand.

“It’s a combination of an abundance of supplies and lower world prices, and that’s pushing our domestic prices down,” he said.

However, the craft brewing industry is providing a small, but strong spot in the Canadian malt barley market.

“That’s a steadily expanding market, that’s the positive news in the malt business,” Green said.

Spot prices for malt barley in Western Canada are between $3.50 and $5.10 per bushel, while new-crop bids are between $4.80 and $5.10, according to data from Prairie Ag Hotwire.

— Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Cash prices for delivered elevator malt barley range between $5.25 and $5.75 per bushel, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire.

Barley acreage in Western Canada has held relatively static over the past couple of years, despite increased demand.

Within Canada, craft brewing industries have increased the demand for malt barley, said Brian Otto, a farmer at Warner, Alta. and chairman of the Barley Council of Canada.

“We’re getting increased interest from microbreweries or craft brewers — they’re very specific about what kind of malt barley they want, what variety.”

In 2014, the Prairie provinces produced 6.7 million tonnes of feed and malt barley, according to Statistics Canada. StatsCan projects this year’s production at 6.8 million tonnes.

Global interest is strong, especially in Southeast Asia, and that has resulted in higher world prices, which Canadian markets follow, Otto said.

“World demand is there; certainly the quality of our malt barley in Canada warrants the increase in price.”

This year, producers had been concerned the hot, dry weather seen in Alberta and Saskatchewan had pushed protein levels higher, which aren’t ideal for malt barley.

However, Otto said, most farmers have fared well enough. “Protein has been a little higher this year, but certainly within the acceptable limits of the industry.”

Otto said his farm, about 70 km southeast of Lethbridge, didn’t see rain for almost a month and a half.

“I was concerned about our barley. The yield was average to a little below average, and when you get that dry weather you worry about your protein.”

Alberta and Saskatchewan, which grow the majority of the Prairies’ barley, are 32 and 40 per cent finished their barley harvests respectively.

— Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow her at @jade_markus on Twitter.

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