Are all barleys born equal?

4 That was the question posed by maltster and malting barley buyer Robin Appel in his tastings for brewers and beer writers. Or does each barley have its own special flavour profile and character, making it appropriate to a particular style of beer?

Many brewers have historically held the belief that all barleys taste the same, and that their differences lay more in their yield per hectare or their performance in the copper. But, as the man who saved the Maris Otter barley variety from extinction, and as a seller of a wide range of other barley malts, Robin Appel was determined to put this unexplored question to the test.

If winemakers could demonstrate the differences between Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc; and hop growers could define the peculiarities of Fuggles, Goldings and Boadicea; then wasn’t it about time that our maltsters sought to add value and individuality to Britain’s home-grown barley varieties?

Two trials were commissioned from Brewing Research International, in Surrey. The first trial brewed eight beers, each using a different barley variety for 90% of the brew, with a 10% crystal malt base at 4% ABV. The same brewing equipment was used for all the beers and the recipes were identical. This trial was then evaluated by BRI’s own taste panel, which pointed to marked differences of aroma and flavour in the brews; but niggles remained that: a, the barleys had been malted by different processors, and; b, that the 10% caramel malt may have tweaked the varietal character.

So a second trial was commissioned by Appel’s, with support from the Home Grown Cereals Authority. All eight barleys were malted in BRI’s own small-scale plant, with each beer being brewed at 5% abv and with 100% of each barley variety. The barleys were split between the winter sown varieties — Maris Otter, Flagon and Pearl — and the spring sown varieties — Cellar, Cocktail, Optic, Tipple and Westminster.

Two separate taste panels at BRI then evaluated the aromas and flavours of the eight malt ‘porridges’ and the eight beers, with the results translated into extensive spider diagrams and charts.

Robin Appel’s sales director, Jonathan Arnold, comments: "BRI did us proud with these tests and we have already held tastings for interested groups, including the Maltsters Association of Great Britain, the UK brewers’ Export Committee (BBPA) and for the British Guild of Beer Writers. We will now be taking the trials to regional meetings of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, to the Society of Independent Brewers, and to guests at the Great American Beer Festival.

“Thereafter we want to take the tasting to our own barley farmers, to show them that they are growing flavour and not just a low-nitrogen agricultural commodity. And after the 2007 harvest, we intend to take this trial further by looking at the individual flavours of Maris Otter barley grown in different terroirs and soils from Norfolk, Yorkshire, Shropshire, the West Country and the South — to see what flavour characteristics will be demonstrated by each.”

Tim Hampson, chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers, adds: “The revelation to me was the characteristics we found in the porridges, and the differences between each. Some had a soft, rounded flavour with a sweet finish; others were robust and nutty. There were traces of mustard in one, while another was less robust with hints of biscuit. There was a wonderfully bitter-sweet symphony of tastes, with each variety different from its peers. And so it was with the beers. And there was general consensus that two beers stood out — the ones brewed with Optic and Maris Otter.”