Micro breweries in this area usually get their malt from out west. One family hopes to change that

While Western Canada might be best known for its malting industry, Terry Byrne is hoping some local brewers will turn to him as their go-to malt supplier.

Byrne runs a grain farm with his sons Shaun and Ben Byrne in the southwestern Ontario community of Gesto in the Town of Essex. After many years of growing corn, soybeans and wheat, the family decided to start malting barley in 2016. Despite years of work, it took until this year to produce their first real crop.

"I had some health issues. I've had cancer twice," Byrne said.

And once he was healthy again, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which shut down any hope of production for a few years.

"A lot of the parts [were] hard to get. And then you can't get out in public and whatever else. So that's why it took us so long considering we started December of 2016."

Now there are four members in the family who are educated on how to malt.

Malt house barley is a specialized type of barley, cultivated and processed specifically for brewing-industry purposes.

From field to final bagged product, the malting process is labour-intensive, according to Byrne. It's a multi-day process that involves immersing the barley in water, germinating it and drying it in a kiln.

But, Byrne says, "If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be doing it."

How rare is an operation like this in Ontario?

"There's only one floor malter and his name is Barn Owl. He's in Belleville. That's the closest one that I know of," he said.

Byrne had his first brewer sign on just this month. Aaron and Jennifer Saby own Fat Lou Brew Company, a craft brewery in LaSalle.

The pair, who are just starting their craft brewing business, found out about Byrne's malting setup by word of mouth. After touring the farm, they could see that the family put a lot of care into their product.