Start with intent
Market question, buyer question or technical question?
The useful answer depends on the decision. Market and sourcing pages help a buyer understand trade context, define a requirement and evaluate origin evidence. Technical explainers live on our specialist sister site, where types, varieties, malting science and quality concepts can be maintained as one coherent educational library.
Decision paths
Four clear places to begin
Production, consumption and trade evidence with source dates.
Prepare to sourceA buyer workflow from intended use to delivery evidence.
Write the specificationStructure parameters, methods, sampling and documents.
Learn the science ↗Types, varieties, malting, quality, sustainability and research.
Explore by topic
Commercial tools and specialist technical guides
2-row vs 6-row & barley types
The key distinction in brewing — plus malting vs feed, covered vs hulless, and winter vs spring barley.
Read the guide →Malting barley varieties
Maris Otter, Harrington, Montoya, RGT Planet and the cultivars brewers and maltsters prize, country by country.
Browse varieties →The malting process
How raw grain becomes malt: steeping, germination and kilning — the craft that unlocks barley's sugars.
See the process →Grain to glass
From malt to finished beer — the brewing process, and how non-alcoholic beer is made.
Explore brewing →Where barley grows
An interactive satellite globe of the world's leading growing regions, ports, maltsters and breweries.
Open the Atlas →Global market
World production, consumption, trade routes and the data that moves one of the planet's key cereals.
See the market →History of barley
Domestication in the Fertile Crescent, Egyptian beer, barley as money, and the journey across the world.
Read the history →Types of malt
Base malts (pale, pilsner, Vienna, Munich) and specialty malts that build a beer's colour and flavour.
Explore malts →Malt quality standards
Protein, moisture, plumpness, germination and diastatic power — the specs that define premium malting barley.
See the standards →Growing malting barley
Climate, soil, water and the crop's phenology — from sowing to harvest.
How it's grown →Barley & malt glossary
2-row, diastatic power, extract, dormancy, rachis, tillering — the language of barley, defined.
Open the glossary →Sourcing sustainable, traceable barley?
We connect breweries and food brands with organic, pesticide-free barley you can trace back to the field.
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