The Barley Belt Tour

The Barley Belt Tour - June 30, 2023

Alberta is well known for its production of high-quality malting barley. Sunny, hot days and cool nights in the province’s barley belt region provide ideal growing conditions. This premium product is consumed domestically and traded abroad, primarily to the U.S. and Asia.

About a half-hour north of Olds, the Hamil family grows several varieties of malting barley on their multi-generational farm near the town of Penhold. On this rich and idyllic farmland, they have built Red Shed Malting, an on-farm malthouse that utilizes the family’s own barley. This value-added project has become a hit with Western Canada’s vibrant craft brewing scene.

The tour will take participants into barley fields that produce some of the world’s best and most in-demand malt. In the business’s namesake red malthouse, you’ll meet the Hamil family and representatives of the craft brewing value chain. We’ll discuss barley agronomics, malting processes, technological innovation in field-to-glass traceability and Alberta’s innovative craft beer brewing community.

Further tour stops will include the Olds College Field Crop Development Centre, a barley and triticale crop breeding facility now undergoing a major reinvention. We’ll meet breeders and staff, and visit the facility’s pathology, biotechnology and quality laboratories and its many plot development acres.

Additionally, we will visit Craft Beer Commonwealth, a co-operative craft beer brew pub in the multi-restaurant Market Kitchen area of Red Deer’s Gasoline Alley Farmers’ Market.

Project partners include Red Shed Malting, Blindman Brewing and Red Hart Brewing.