A lot of people have a general idea of how beer is made, many people have even taken a brewery tour in their lives.
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Not many people however know where one of the main ingredients in beer – malt – comes from.
It comes from places like The House of Malt and people like Drew Graham.
The Adelaide native now based in Delacombe’s passion for malt grew partly from the time he spent with Peter Aldred as a student of the Federation University Brewing course.
READ MORE: Federation University’s Peter Aldred speaks about the ever-changing brewing industry
“I did the first subject and was looking for work while I was doing that as a distance part time thing,” he said.
“I couldn’t get a job working in a brewery anywhere but fell into a job in a malthouse in Adelaide and this was when I figured out I was really interested in that particular side of beer as well.”
Through a promotion Mr Graham returned to Ballarat where he would work before eventually starting up a new business, The House of Malt.
“I did have aspirations to get into brewing, I had finished my science degree in Adelaide and thought that I figured out this was something I was interested in.
“We've only really been selling product for about six months, but looking back it's been a very long time coming, probably a three year process from when I decided I wanted to do this and actually implementing it.”
The malt Drew makes – craft malt – differs from much of the product found in the rest of Australia.
“What we're trying to do is make unique products that are going to help craft brewers create the wide range of beers they're going to make and have some unique malts that are going to provide some unique flavours.
“We use an older process called floor malting, most large-scale modern malthouses have gone any from floor malting. It's where we actually spread the malt out on the floor during germination.”
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The need for innovation is what drives Mr Graham as he strives to keep creating unique and flavourful beer.
“I see most of (what drives craft beer culture) as a flavour driven thing, along with wanting to support local companies.
“The craft brewing industry in Australia is growing phenomenally, they're really doing some fun and unique things and I feel proud to be a part of that.”
The House of Malt will be present at Saturday’s Ballarat Beer Festival.