The Coopers Brewery malting plant at Regency Park has been named as joint-best in the world at the World Barley, Malt and Beer Conference, currently taking place in Poland.
An international jury comprising members of the brewing supply chain, from all over the world named Coopers and The Swaen in the Netherlands as the 2019 Maltsters of the Year at the conference.
The two winners won the title ahead of other malting plants from Germany, Vietnam and India, who were also shortlisted finalists.
The Coopers’ maltings have only been in operation for just over a year, which Maltings Manager Dr Doug Stewart, who accepted the award on Coopers’ behalf, said made the result even more remarkable.
“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 per cent capacity, well ahead of budget, on the back of strong demand from brewers, distillers and food producers domestically and internationally.
“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.”
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.”
The $65m 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.