The Magical Malt Tour

The air was heavy with the syrupy fragrance reminiscent of a steaming bowl of Malt-O-Meal.

And when the luncheon guests began passing around plastic cups brimming with foamy amber- and copper-colored beverages, Great Western Malting Co.’s spacious wood-paneled meeting room quickly filled with even more intense layers of that same delightful bouquet.

This was the Summer Malt Tour, a tradition for the energetic young people who run Southern California’s microbreweries and brew pubs, of which there were 58 in operation at the latest count.

It is a chance for the small-scale brewers to reconnect with their ancient heritage as they admire 120-foot grain bins and duck for a quick glance inside sauna-like roasters. Then they uncap the fruits of their labors, sample the offerings of the others and salute their growing industry--as well as the malt house that reliably delivers their products’ primary ingredient.

Indeed, the magic that produces many a cold brew begins in this Commerce plant. Established in 1938, it was long known as Miller Malting Co., no relation to Miller Brewing Co. It has grown over the years, with major expansions in 1948 and 1959 and the installation of automated machinery three years ago.

It operates around the clock, annually turning out 67,000 metric tons of two-row and six-row pale malt. The brewers, who use it a rate of about a pound for a little more than a gallon of beer, say it is of consistently high quality.

Great Western uses plump kernels of barley shipped in mostly from the Pacific Northwest. The barley is washed, steeped in water and spread out in 115-by-110-foot bins, where it starts to germinate. After four days, it is transferred to enormous kilns and heated in two stages to 185 degrees. The sprouting and kilning transform the carbohydrates and proteins that will ferment into beer.

“This tour really shows you how much that this is a food process,” said Steve Wagner, vice president and head brewer of Stone Brewing Co. of San Marcos.

To make beer, the brewers mill the malted barley into coarse meal and stew it in water. The extract is spiced with pungent hop blossoms and boiled. When yeast is added, it feeds on the nutrients in the mix and creates alcohol and carbon dioxide. The result is aged and filtered to make the beverage that was first mentioned in writing 6,000 years ago (though at that time hops were not part of the recipe) and that Americans in 1995 consumed at a rate of about 60 billion servings.

To fill such a big thirst, it seems fitting that most of the malt made here goes into the largest-selling beer, Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser brand, which is brewed in Van Nuys and at several other regional plants across the country. Budweiser lager has characteristics that give it widespread appeal: It is crisp, light, balanced and quite thirst-quenching.

Most microbrewers acknowledge a high respect for Bud, but they prefer far more flavorful brews. They evince the sensibilities of gourmet chefs as they try recipes that bring out deep, rich flavors and aromas--of oak, citrus and smoke, and, as the envelope is pushed, of berries and even apricots.

They use not only pale barley malts but darker malts made from barley that has been roasted hotter and longer. Great Western’s sister company in England, Hugh Baird & Sons Ltd., makes specialty malts such as Vienna malt, which produces a dark, rich lager like Dos Equis, or chocolate malt, which might go into a heavy, dark porter.

And they balance the sweetness of the malts with many bittering hops, such as Saaz, a fabled European bud, or the richly American Liberty hop. They have also been using a lot of wheat malt and oats and enlivening their brews with molasses and even fruits.

They like a beverage that fills the mouth with a thorough experience of the grain and the hops blossom and the yeast. And they are eager to share their appreciation with a young, eager-to-learn crowd of pub regulars who are clearly leading beer consumers in new directions.

“People are still learning,” said Daniel Kahn, brew master of Riverside Brewing Co., who was passing a half-gallon jug of malty, hop-rich India pale ale to the other diners. “Four years ago our best seller was an amber ale, very sweet and malty with a lot of flavor and easy for people to drink. Now this pale ale is our best seller. And it’s a far hoppier beer. When people keep coming back, their favorite beers change as they get used to it.”

True, said Eric DuVall, head brewer of Huntington Beach Beer Co.

“Slowly you have people learning more and more about beer and why it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. His establishment draws a young, hip crowd among whom it is important to be clued in about a well-made local beer and not knowing what to order is a major social blunder.

DuVall also pointed out a matter of economy about microbrewed beer.

“I can buy a 12-pack of Bud for $6.99 or a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Porter,” he said. “Well, the porter is thicker and stronger, and you’re going to drink less of it. So it’s a good value.”

All of those factors--flavor, economy and mystique--have made for a hot commodity. The Institute of Brewing Studies in Boulder, Colo., reported that craft beer sales increased by 1 million barrels last year to a total of 4.8 million barrels.

With demand on the upswing in Southern California, business is good for brewers like Wagner of Stone Brewing Co. The brewery recently marked its first anniversary with 175 tap accounts, including a prestigious handle among the taps at the Del Mar racetrack.

But as Wagner chewed on a platter of barbecued ribs under an awning in the shadow of a towering grain silo, he also reflected on the intangible rewards of his profession.

“I was once in a band called Balancing Act,” he said. “And seeing people in the audience singing the words I wrote, I knew that something I did meant something to these people.

“Now I get the same feeling when I go into a bar and see somebody order a Stone pale ale. It gives me great pleasure to give people something that makes them happy.”