Collab Crisp Malt

The Royal Oak: Getting into Barleywine

During the first week of October, Robert Crane of Crisp Malt visited our experimental brewery in Haarlem to collaborate on The Royal Oak, a barleywine brewed for our small-batch Lab Series. Usually at Uiltje, we get really into hops, but our collaboration with Crisp gave us the rare opportunity to get really into malts. And since barley wine originated in 18th-century England, who better to talk to than a malt guy from Norfolk?

Uiltje: Breweries are typically full of hop geeks and, on occasion, yeast geeks. Rarely malt geeks. Do you sometimes get the feeling that malt is craft beer’s third wheel?

Rob: It feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it? But really, we maltsters like to say we’re just a few ingredients short of a beer. Arguably, malt isn’t as sexy as hops, which have so many different elements in terms of aroma, bitterness, and terpenes. Because grain is used in everything from whiskey and beer to cereal, people don’t really think about it—despite it being the base for many everyday essentials, like beer.

Uiltje: So is brewing a barley wine the moment for malt to shine?

Rob: Collaborating on a malt-forward barley wine is always something special, and obviously this isn’t Uiltjefirst barley wine. Crisp collaborates on IPAs, stouts, and other styles, but in a barley wine like The Royal Oak, the malt profile really takes center stage. It’s a great showcase for our grain.

Uiltje: I suppose it’s all agricultural, right—hops, yeast, grain? They’re all united by their obsession with the weather.

Rob: The weather plays a huge, huge role in our industry. One year it’s too dry with hardly any rain; the next, it won’t stop raining. Hop growers, yeast producers, maltsters—we’re all obsessed with the weather. Fortunately for us, our winter crop is looking really good this year.

Uiltje: Crisp was founded in 1870 in Norfolk. You’re a major player in specialty barley—the high-quality variety used in whiskey and craft beer. I’ve heard Norfolk’s grain has something special about it—special enough for you to wear a branded shirt printed with “the finest malt.”

Rob: “The finest malt” is printed on the shirt, and we stand by that. Norfolk is blessed with beautiful, light, sandy soil that is very low in nitrogen; when barley has too much nitrogen, it can affect its malting characteristics. We are definitely the epicenter of quality grain in England and a global player. Norfolk offers the perfect conditions for brewers. The fact that quality brewers like Uiltje to the trouble of importing it says a lot about Norfolk grain.

Uiltje: So, just as Haarlem is proud of its brewing history and the surrounding tulip fields, Norfolk is proud of its grain?

Rob: We work with grower groups and some 200 farmers, all of whom are located no more than 40 miles from our malting facility, which is important for both traceability and sustainability. The farmers, the grower groups, and Crisp—we all know each other and recognize the quality of the UK’s east coast for growing grain. There’s definitely a shared pride in that, so much so that we’ve all agreed to implement a shared framework (called Field Forward—editor’s note) that uses on-field data to manage local soil health, water usage, biodiversity, and emissions. We all understand how fortunate we are to have been given this incredible soil to work with and recognize our responsibility to sustain it.

Uiltje: So here’s your chance to show off your malting skills. What grain are we using in The Royal Oak?

Rob: The grain bill for The Royal Oak is solid. The initial idea was to use Maris Otter as the backbone, but Vini (Uiltje Brewer) decided that the slightly sweeter Best Ale malt, with its light caramel notes, would work better for this collaboration. It’s a great malt—very versatile—and is used a lot in English ales, IPAs, stouts, and porters. It has a super rich color and sweet balance but also a good bite, which is perfect for barleywine. A second malt we’re using is Crystal 100, which is the lightest in our Crystal series. It’s named ‘crystal’ for the crystallization of sugars, which delivers a clean, nutty, caramel flavor and aroma. It can impart a reddish hue to a beer, which is part of the color spectrum you’re looking for in an English barleywine. The third grain we’re using is Dark Munich, which brings a rich malt flavor with notes of fresh-baked bread crust and that classic Dark Munich bite you feel at the back of the palate after taking a sip. The 11.5% ABV we’re aiming for is ideal—perhaps on the higher end of the alcohol spectrum.

Uiltje: As a malt expert, do you get to collaborate much with breweries?

Rob: Like everyone else in this industry, I like to collaborate as often as possible. It’s fun checking out the different breweries and the equipment they use. The smaller, one-man breweries often put me to work, sometimes doing really backbreaking stuff like scooping out mash in 50°C heat. The steam is great for my skin but pretty brutal on the rest of me. Larger breweries like Uiltje their highly automated systems, are more relaxed. It’s less about ripping open sacks and stirring mash than it is talking and comparing notes. These collaborations are great for gaining insights, and I get to drink great beer. It gives me a renewed appreciation for the entire industry. The things people are brewing these days! Right now, being here, I just love the aromas you get from grain and hops. The sights, the sounds, the sensory experience. And the great thing is you have a product in the end. But if you’re asking me if Vini and Marko (UiltjeHead of Cellar) have been giving me a hard time all day, the answer is no. I’m listening, offering advice when needed, but in the end they’re the ones calling the shots. They know their equipment and how to get the best out of it. Most of my work happens in advance through advising and delivering the grain. When I need to get my hands dirty, I gladly do. But the most important thing is the experience—this day spent together, the time shared, the stories told, the friendships made.