Spartan Barley: Michigan State University Researchers Redefine 'Green Beer'
EAST LANSING (WWJ) - Michigan State University researchers are redefining the term "green beer."
Agricultural experts at MSU have revived a strain of Spartan barley, which hasn't been used by beer makers in nearly a century. New Holland Brewing Co. will be the first to feature the craft brew in a limited-edition lager called Russ's Revival – named after the MSU researcher who resurrected the heirloom variety.
"When I heard about Spartan barley, it struck me as the perfect opportunity," Steve Berthel, brewmaster at New Holland Brewing Co., said in a statement. "This is a way to celebrate not just MSU and its contributions to agriculture but our whole state. When you hear the story behind Spartan barley, it's pretty difficult not to want to make a beer with that."
Spartan barley was developed in 1916, four years before Prohibition, by MSU plant breeder F.A. Spragg. Boasting superior quality, better disease resistance and higher yields than its predecessors, the barley quickly made its way into fields throughout the country.
Brewers especially looked to Spartan barley as Prohibition began to wane and production of beer with low alcohol content was legalized. By 1933, some 30,000 Michigan farmers were growing it. Eventually, however, newer varieties were developed and Spartan barley had gradually disappeared from the agricultural landscape by the 1950s. But that's now changed, thanks to MSU AgBioResearch agronomist and plant breeder Russell Freed and his team that revived the barley from heirloom seed.
A team at Pilot Malt House in Byron Center, Michigan, was responsible for turning Spartan's raw harvested grain, delivered to the malt house in massive bags weighing up to 1 ton, into beer-worthy malt.
Though most barley varieties take between three and four days to germinate, Spartan takes a bit longer.
"Michigan has a unique climate with special challenges that aren't always met by barley varieties bred for the Great Plains," said Ryan Hamilton, Pilot Malt House maltster. "Our climate is wetter and cooler than it is out West, and that brings different disease, pest and weather conditions. The need for locally adapted barley varieties has become more apparent every day, and the rebirth of Spartan is an important step in bringing that to our farmers."
Berthel intends to turn the barley into the best-tasting beer he can. As a nod to Spartan's origins, he is using the revived grain to produce a lager in the style of beers from the pre-Prohibition era. Using a blend of three hops varieties unique to Michigan, which trace their ancestry to Swedish immigrants from the mid-1880s, and a strain of yeast captured from the wild in Houghton County, the new brew will be as pure Michigan as Spartan's origins.
Russ's Revival will be available in limited quantities at New Holland Brewing Co. and select taphouses throughout the Lansing area later this month.
