Coopers malting plant the best in brewing world
The demand for Coopers' malt has been strong around the country.
And now those breweries that have taken delivery of the barley from the Adelaide operation can be confident it comes from one of the best facilities on the planet.
The company's new malting plant at Regency Park has been named equal best maltster in the world at an international award presentation in Poland.
An international jury drawn from members of the global brewing supply chain last night named Coopers and The Swaen in the Netherlands as the Maltsters of the Year 2019 at the World Barley, Malt and Beer Conference held at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.
Coopers and The Swaen jointly took the title ahead of other short-listed malting plants in Germany, Vietnam and India.
The $65 million malting set-up has been a big boon to Coopers, allowing the brewery group to make a profit last financial year despite a drop in beer sales.
Breweries using Coopers malt include WA's Otherside, Victorian brewery Kaiju! Beer, West Australian outfit Otherside and craft distillery New World Whiskey.
The prestigious Global Brewing Supply Awards are conducted every two years to recognise the brewing world’s business innovation and technology leaders.
Coopers’ Maltings Manager, Dr Doug Stewart, who accepted the award on Coopers’ behalf, said it was a remarkable result, given that Coopers’ maltings has only been in operation for just over a year.
“The plant was officially opened in November 2017 and produced its first batch of malt the same month,” he said.
“It is now operating at nearly 90% capacity, well ahead of budget, on the back of strong demand from brewers, distillers and food producers domestically and internationally.”
The $65 million maltings has a working capacity of 54,000 tonnes of malt annually, of which Coopers uses about 16,000 tonnes with the remainder available for sale.
Leading Swiss manufacturer Buhler supplied the malting equipment for the project, with local company Ahrens responsible for the construction.
Dr Stewart said Coopers malting plant was technologically advanced and produced malt of exceptional quality.
“The plant includes some unique in-house designed features which have allowed us to reduce steeping times, water usage and kiln-gas during the malting process,” he said.
“We also are flexible enough to be able to produce special single origin malts for the craft beer and distilling sectors. These have included malt from Westminster barley grown on Kangaroo Island, Schooner barley from the Murray Mallee and Commander barley from the Barossa Valley.
“This unique range of malts forms part of the attractiveness of our offering to the craft brewing sector.”
Dr Stewart said that Coopers’ commitment to quality had extended to the aesthetics of the plant, distinguishing it from the normal “agricultural” look of most maltings around the world.
“Being named joint Maltster of the Year ahead of major international operators in only our second year of operation underlines our commitment to innovation and quality,” he said.
The Swaen was founded in 1906 and now exports malt across the world.
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