Success grows for quality barley
High positions in industry listings and new malting approvals are just two recent variety developments which could benefit the ‘malting barley grain chain’ in 2009. Developments in barley could be about to offer real benefits for those involved in European malting barley – from seed suppliers and growers, to maltsters and brewers or distillers. Just four years after its launch, the high-yielding spring barley variety NFC Tipple has become one of the biggest varieties in Europe. It could be followed closely by Quench. These projections are based on a new European Brewery Convention (EBC) report, produced towards the end of last year, which showed NFC Tipple as the number one spring malting barley variety grown for seed multiplication across European countries in 2008. Quench was in third place. But more significantly, of all the varieties listed for seed |
Source: Multiplication acreage data from European Brewery Convention (EBC) two years variety summary report 2006/2007. Countries included: SE, DK, IE, UK, DE, FR, AT, CZ, SK, IT with the 10 largest varieties for each country included in the sum. multiplication area over the two seasons in the report, Quench showed the biggest growth – increasing by 140%! Yield and qualityAlso in the report, relative yield data from EBC trials over two seasons showed Quench had the highest mean spring barley yield figures in three out of four EBC regions – North, West and Central. This was backed up by quality observations in the report. In the Central region Quench was noted as having among the best extract yield and for high friability and KI (Kolbach Index). In the North region it was noted for sharing the highest KI. In the West region it was noted for the lowest beta glucan content. In addition to the EBC successes, further malting approvals were also gained for Quench in late 2008 – in the UK, Germany and Spain – and for NFC Tipple in Finland. Continued on page 2 |
