Carolina Malt House

“We love using Carolina Malt in our beer, not just for the high-quality standard of their product. The dedication Carolina Malt shows toward using local ingredients, inspiring creativity, and providing exemplary customer service is the perfect match for our brewery’s own ethos.”

 – Scott Griffin, Head Brewer Legion Brewing

Carolina Malt House - Cleveland, NC

Aaron Goss’ interest in malting began as a creative outlet, with experimental brewing at home while working toward his law degree and MBA. This small side hobby soon became fascination as Aaron became immersed in learning all there was about malt production, even researching old German academic articles on malting machinery. After several years of extensive research, Aaron was ready to bring his passions to life by building his own malt house, with the philosophy of operating an entire home-grown focused facility with his special designed machinery.

Carolina Malt House started production in Rowan County, NC after Aaron learned that most of the local beer produced was made from barley grown hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away. He saw the need for a localized facility, and thought no better place to build than in the heart of the Carolina’s grain belt.

 Carolina Malt stands out among the competition by not only being a malt house, but a grain elevator and seed cleaning operation as well. Upholding high standards for all the grain used in its malting process, the onsite grain grading station examines the quality of all the grain that is brought in through a multi-step inspection process - being weighed, sampled and assessed to certify it passes Carolina Malt criteria.

This inspection process, in turn, adds value to the grain by providing the opportunity for the local generational farmers to grow a specialized crop. Carolina Malt offers strong financial incentives if their grain passes quality standards, meaning they are getting more than they would growing corn or soybeans.

 Meaning, when someone buys a pint of Legion’s Brown Paper Bag or Blonde Ambition, more of their money is supporting North Carolina’s economy: Legion Brewing, Carolina Malt, and the farmers.

“We produce 100% North Carolina grown malts - We are unique in that all of our grains have been grown within a 30-mile radius of our facility,” said Aaron. “This year, all of our barley and wheat were grown within 10 miles of our malt house.”

Carolina Malt also prides itself on being a very low waste facility. All of the water used in the malt process is untreated well water used from the property. After its use in the production, the excess barley water is pumped into a retention pond behind the malt house and repurposed for irrigation. The surrounding pastures that are irrigated produce hay that is then sold to local farmers. All grains are also cleaned in-house, meaning typically a few thousand pounds of cleanings (raw, small grain kernels) every week. The leftover cleanings are then given to cows that roam on 22 of the 60 acres at the malt house.  

 In addition to the heard of cows that wander the land, the rolling hills beside the malt house are covered in Blueberry, fig and pawpaw trees. With hopes of eventually being able to integrate into their business structure and sell to local vendors and farmers.

 With growing needs, Carolina Malt House is anxiously awaiting the completion of construction of a 2nd production line, which will double their potential output. Once that is complete, the focus will shift toward a custom-designed roaster, making CMH a “one-stop-shop” for malts.

 Legion Brewing is a proud partner of Carolina Malt House, using 700-800lbs of malt per 15bbl batch of locally grown, malted, and brewed beer. Current offerings of beer brewed with Carolina Malt House malt includes Legion’s Blonde Ambition and flagship Brown Paper Bag Lager.

 To learn more about Carolina Malt House, visit their website at www.carolinamalt.com

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