Cornish barley for Cornish beer

l Steve Skinner, left, of Skinners Brewery, and Philip Pryor, of Colwyn Farm, celebrate their new deal for Cornish barley

September 9, 2005: Truro-based Skinners Brewery has given an emphatic vote of confidence to Cornish-grown barley with a new deal involving a year’s supply from a single source in the county.

Until now, the brewery has used barley from a number of Westcountry farms sourced through its maltsters, Tuckers Maltings, of Newton Abbot.

Skinners has always specified that Cornish barley should be used whenever possible, and last year an increased amount came from Colwyn Farm at Perranwell Station, near Truro.

Now Skinners has agreed an exclusive deal direct with the farm, owned by F C Pryor and Son, for around half a million kilos of barley, to be used via Tuckers, in the brewing of all their beers for the next 12 months.

“We have been so impressed by the quality of this barley that we reached the point where we really wanted no other,” said brewery managing director Steve Skinner.

“Now our beers will be more Cornish than ever! The huge bonus is that the farm is just five miles down the road from our base. It’s a brewer’s dream to have his barley so close, virtually in the same city. We can watch it grow from start to finish and it is all very exciting.”

Next possibility on the brewery’s home-grown shopping list is the hops, although Steve concedes that this is probably still a long way off.

“The closest hops growing area at the moment is Hereford, although we do source hops from as far away as the United States,” he explained.

“If there is anyone out there who does think they could grow Cornish hops for us, to the required standard, we would be very pleased to meet them.”