The Inland Northwest holds a reputation as a world-class grain growing region. Working in direct partnership with growers allows the malthouse to source varietals of barley and other small grains tailored to craft malt that possess both technical quality and distinct character.
At the cooperative we value relationship, sense of place, and commitment to quality. Our team is greatly influenced by our growers in this regard, and hope that their effort and vision shows through in our malts. Their story is our story, and we work to celebrate that connection in everything we do.
Bill Myers & Family, Joseph’s Grainery. Colfax, WA.
Bill farms with one eye on future opportunity and the other on continuing approaches to production that have sustained his enterprise over the years. With acreage north and west of Colfax, the Myers farm in the heart of the Palouse on land the family has worked for over 70 years.
Having stuck with grain varietals that worked well on his land even after they fell out of favor with other Palouse growers, Bill’s anchor-grain, Baronesse barley, offers malt with a profile unlike anything else we’ve seen. Nuanced in aroma and flavor, Bill’s grain makes malt with a similar character to the farm — pulling from a rich history while looking ahead to the possibilities of craft malt.
Don & Dick Scheuerman, Palouse Heritage. Endicott, WA.
Don and Dick have committed themselves to exploring how use of landrace varietals of grain can create new pathways for regenerative agriculture and vertical integration of their farm enterprise. Working with heritage varieties popular in the 19th Century and earlier, Palouse Heritage is pursuing crops that can dramatically reduce or completely eliminate the use of common inputs used in grain cropping systems. The farm produces all of their grains without the use of glyphosate and anhydrous ammonia. By growing varietals that possess rich, unique flavor and fascinating legacies, Don and Dick are supporting exploration of grain qualities perfectly suited to the innovation happening around malt.
James Wahl & Family, MJW Grain, Inc. Lind, WA.
Farming in one of the driest grain growing regions in Washington State, James Wahl recognized the potential for non-traditional cereals like triticale and rye to capture value-added markets and help sustain the family farm into the next generation. Using the challenges of dryland farming in the arid region southwest of Ritzville to push flavor and aroma expression, MJW Grain, Inc. contributes dynamic and robust grains to the LINC Malt catalogue.
In addition to these LINC Member farms, we are fortunate to work with a small host of additional Inland NW grain growers year to year. Every malt we produce can be traced to an individual farm, and those growers and their farm sites are recognized in our product catalogue.