News Blue Ox Malthouse Expands To Become World’s Largest Traditional Floor Malting Facility Outside Of Europe

Blue Ox Malthouse in Maine has just completed its facility expansion which makes it the largest traditional floor malting facility in the world outside of Europe.

The 20,000 square feet facility has quadrupled its floor malting capacity. The expansion will also augment Blue Ox’s ability to create more malt made with a diversity of grains such as barley, wheat, rye, triticale, and oats, as well as organic and smoked for craft breweries and distilleries across the region and beyond.

Blue Ox Malthouse is an entirely floor malting-dedicated company that produces malted grains for the Northeast’s brewing, distilling, and baking industries. The company was launched in 2013 by community organizer and homebrewer-turned-maltster Joel Alex.

Most malting companies typically spend eight days malting barley, while floor maltings require 10 to 11 days. Floor malting is a centuries-old traditional method of malting that many feel produces a richer, more aromatic flavor than modern malting methods.

“This expansion matters because alcohol is an agricultural product, and alcoholic production can play a huge role in robust, resilient, vibrant local food systems,” added Blue Ox Malthouse Founder Joel Alex. “In order to realize this potential, we need value-added processes that build the infrastructure that connects this alcoholic production to high quality, local ingredients and farms. Food systems matter because people matter; and we all have such a personal, economic, and cultural connection to food. Food that is better for us is also almost always better for our community and the environment.”

Of more than 100 craft maltsters on the continent, Blue Ox is among a small fraction of them entirely dedicated to floor malting techniques.

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