Posted on my clubs page by Jeff Renner. Passing on for general interest.
Fine article.
There are risks in life all over us. Do not put “all your eggs in the same basket” would be a lesson for the growers. Farmers are usually smart bunch of guys. They can ask for more money question is will they get it.
From my point of view. Married Otter is already 60% more expensive then domestic 2row. If it gets any more expensive, I will not buy it. Crisp came with another barley variety. It was called Chevalier. I loved the taste but it was 100% more then domestic 2 row. No one bought it.
I’ve seen chevallier for $1.79 lb. Which is in line with a lot of British base grains depending where you get them.
I went through a few sacks of Chevallier. From the farmer’s perspective it’s far worse than Maris Otter. It was the choice British variety from about 1820 to 1880. It is very tall, so very susceptible to wind and rain damage, gives poor yields, prone to disease, all sorts of trouble. It was not grown much after 1880 (superseded by the Plumage Archer varieties, ancestors of many modern barleys including MO) and not at all after WW1 until it was recently retrieved from a seed bank by Crisp. So you can see why it is very expensive. It is also hard to brew with. It does not make a very friable malt, needs a relatively long and intensive mash program, and still yields relatively poorly in the brewhouse. But, oh! the beer it makes. No more delicious, aromatic, mouth filling, foamy, etc. beer can be made. (The passing of Chevallier was one major factor in the adoption of crystal and other specialty malts British beers, an attempt to make up for the lack of flavor and body in beers made with newer barleys.) But it’s not going to be worth the cost or risk to very many farmers or commercial brewers. But homebrewers with no economic constraints may enjoy experimenting with it.
Chevalier has lower yeild than Maris Otter, so I can see the expense. Rob best me to it.
Bell’s made a Chevalier Best Bitter after Mallett’s book was published. What a wonder malty pint! I likened it to a good French bread with walnut paste flavor. I loved it.
I had one sack, a fluke that my LHBS got for me without my asking (lucky to work with a local vendor that knows its customers) - great flavor in those ales, for sure!
Are you guys using 100% MO as your base or are you using a portion of pedestrian Pale ‘2-row’ as well?
For years I brewed with nothing but Maris Otter but have recently been using Briess Brewers Malt (2-row) because it is cheaper. I can buy nearly 2 bags of Briess for the same price as MO so…
FWIW, in a recent tasting I attended, Full Pint was preferred to MO. And when you say MO, you need to specify the maltster. Just because it’s the same barley variety doesn’t meanj the flavor is the same from maltster to maltster.
That’s what I asked. I have been blending MO with Full Pint as my ‘British Blend’ in recipes lately.