‘Paddock to pint’ - Capel farmers get tick of approval to malt WA grain for WA breweries

Two years ago, a conversation between an IT guy with a passion for brewing and a farmer with a passion for community development sparked a groundbreaking vision to establish WA’s very first craft malt facility in the South West. And after getting the tick of approval from council this month, it is one step closer to reality. Greg Norton and Scott Butson, who each have family farming ties in the Capel region, plan to build a 500-tonne malting facility on Mr Norton’s Stirling Estate property, on the coastal side of town. While “paddock to plate” is a well-known phrase in agriculture, the South West locals are putting a spin on the term. Sourcing wheat and barley from a select few Wheatbelt growers, Mr Butson will steep, germinate and kiln the grain on-site, producing a locally grown and produced single- origin malt ready to supply local breweries and distilleries. “At the moment a lot of that barley and wheat (they use) comes from large depots and gets mixed together,” he said. “You might know it’s from Kojonup but not what farm it came from.” “We are putting family farms back at the forefront of every good beer and whiskey story.” The idea came about after Mr Butson spent three years in southern Germany, in the heart of beer culture, where he took inspiration from the region’s balanced, malt-driven brews. On return he bought a small farm down the road from Mr Norton and began brewing on the side. But he realised there was a missing link. “I wanted to try using some local grain, but realised there was a step in between,” Mr Butson said. “You need to have it malted first.” And at the latest council meeting, the Shire of Capel granted approval for the $1 million facility. “We’re going to give it a good crack,” Mr Norton said. “There’s not a lot of small maltsters around. They believed their small size — operating a 10 tonne saladin malting system — would open doors to unlocking new flavours from old- world varieties and creating a niche in the “feel-good” paddock to pint market. “I think the beauty for us is that we can do small batch malts, with single origin, WA grain.” Mr Butson said. “... We can use old world varieties, craft varieties — black or purple barley, quinoa, heritage rye — because we have a small system that can process small amounts.” “The large-scale commercial maltsters use new-world varieties with higher yields and outputs.” “But we’ll let the farmers do what they’re good at — growing quality grain.” In the next couple of months, the duo will submit plans for the facility, which they hope will be approved by the start of 2021, with the hope to have things up and running in time for next harvest.