When Grouse was founded in 2013, sourcing quality seed was paramount. It’s always been our goal to make the highest quality malt possible, and that starts long before the seed ever reaches our malt house. The seed we source is the foundation for everything we make, so the source matters, a lot.
All seed used at Grouse Malt House goes through a rigorous testing process before it’s accepted; it is screened for gluten contaminants and proven capable of becoming high-quality craft malt.
Non-desiccation is one of the longest-standing requirements for our seed supply. We do not accept desiccated seed. Full stop. No exceptions.
The practice of desiccation is defined by the spraying of a chemical, often an herbicide like glyphosate, on a crop while it’s still standing in the field so it dries evenly and can be harvested faster. It’s a real upgrade in fuel efficiency and yield over the older alternative, swathing, where grain is cut and laid in windrows to dry before a combine picks it up.
Glyphosate is already so widely used that trace amounts turn up in almost everything we eat. There’s also a theory, backed by a real correlation, tying rising glyphosate use to the rise in celiac disease and gluten intolerance in this country; chart the two together and the lines climb in step. That correlation doesn’t prove causation. Plenty of other things have changed in our food system over the same decades, and no study has shown that glyphosate causes celiac disease or gluten intolerance. But we think the questions are fair to ask: what does it mean to spray a chemical designed to kill a living plant directly onto the grain we’re about to consume?
Among the other testing standards that Grouse has set for our grain, we’ve taken it a step further into supporting organic agriculture to avoid desiccated crops. Over the past two years, 50% of the millet and buckwheat and 100% of the corn seed we’ve sourced has come from certified organic farms. If a bag of our malt carries the USDA organic seal and a batch number ending in “-O,” it’s fully certified organic through the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
When we do source non-organic grain, the same rule applies: no glyphosate or other herbicide/pesticide used for pre-harvest desiccation, period. Organic or not, it doesn’t get onto our campus if it was dried that way.
What questions do you have for us about our grain sourcing or how we keep our malt consistent and high quality? Reach out at quality@grousemalthouse.com.