UK: New winter and spring barley varieties added to approved malting

Winter barley variety, Cassata, and spring variety, Quench, have been granted provisional approvals for malting by the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), FWi reported June 14.

They were joined as new additions to the IBD approved list by Publican, which was provisionally approved for distilling use, and Tartan, which was provisionally approved for grain distilling.

Nickerson’s Cassata joins Pearl and Flagon as winter malting varieties. It produces malt of a similar quality to Pearl, but also has barley yellow mosaic virus resistance. Yield is 3% higher than Pearl, and similar to Flagon.

Syngenta Seeds’ Quench provides malt of good all-round quality for brewing use, according to the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain. Its yield is 3% above NFC Tipple and 5% above Cocktail, which both have full approval for malting use. At 108% of the controls it has the highest treated yield on the current HGCA Recommended List.

Stable mate Publican, approved for distilling use, has the second highest yield on the RL at 107% of the control varieties.

“For maximum income, high yield combined with end user demand is a key factor,” Simon Phillips, European malting barley product development manager for Syngenta Seeds, said. “Publican and Quench already deliver top yields. Now, these provisional approvals show they have met preliminary standards required by end users.”