Knowledge Hub
One of the world's oldest grains — and the soul of beer. Explore barley's history, types, varieties, the malting process, malt styles, quality standards and how it's grown.
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Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the oldest cultivated plants on Earth — domesticated more than 10,000 years ago near the Tigris and Euphrates, used by the Egyptians to brew beer, and even traded as money in ancient Mesopotamia. Today it's the world's fourth cereal crop, and roughly a quarter of the global harvest becomes malt for beer. This hub gathers everything that matters about malting barley: where it came from, the difference between 2-row and 6-row, the varieties brewers prize, how grain becomes malt, and the quality standards that define premium grain.
Barley at a glance
Explore the guide
The key distinction in brewing — plus malting vs feed, covered vs hulless, and winter vs spring barley.
Read the guide →Maris Otter, Harrington, Montoya, RGT Planet and the cultivars brewers and maltsters prize, country by country.
Browse varieties →How raw grain becomes malt: steeping, germination and kilning — the craft that unlocks barley's sugars.
See the process →From malt to finished beer — the brewing process, and how non-alcoholic beer is made.
Explore brewing →An interactive satellite globe of the world's leading growing regions, ports, maltsters and breweries.
Open the Atlas →World production, consumption, trade routes and the data that moves one of the planet's key cereals.
See the market →Domestication in the Fertile Crescent, Egyptian beer, barley as money, and the journey across the world.
Read the history →Base malts (pale, pilsner, Vienna, Munich) and specialty malts that build a beer's colour and flavour.
Explore malts →Protein, moisture, plumpness, germination and diastatic power — the specs that define premium malting barley.
See the standards →Climate, soil, water and the crop's phenology — from sowing to harvest.
How it's grown →2-row, diastatic power, extract, dormancy, rachis, tillering — the language of barley, defined.
Open the glossary →We connect breweries and food brands with organic, pesticide-free barley you can trace back to the field.
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