Excerpt:

Most beer aficionados are aware that the world of hops has undergone a serious transformation over the past two decades. Growers have produced new hybrid varieties with complex, bright, fruity flavors, and brewers have experimented with new processes and methods to produce intense, hoppy beers with little of the harsh bitterness that can drive away casual drinkers. But the opening of Admiral Maltings, a new malthouse in Alameda, and its pub, The Rake, makes us wonder if malt is on the verge of a similar period of experimentation and innovation. Should we drinkers be expecting and even demanding that as much attention be paid to malt varieties as hop varieties?

Are we on the brink of a barley revolution?

Admiral Maltings opened in the summer of 2017, the first malthouse to open in California since the disaster that was Prohibition. Most of the barley grown in California goes to animal feed rather than the brewing industry, and what grain has been grown for brewers has historically been chosen for its hardiness and its suitability for malting rather than for its flavors.