Edmonton Homebrewers Guild’s Ironfist 2022 Malt Dash

The Edmonton Homebrewers Guild hosts the annual Roxy Memorial Ironbrewer club competition every March, but this year was a bit different as the winner had to wait until Fathers Day weekend to collect the prize. This club-only competition is meant to challenge the members by asking them to create a beer with a special ingredient to see who can present it best. Our special ingredient this year was the kilned biscuit malt from Hammer Malt who is located just north of Westlock, AB. This malt was chosen since it provides a peanut butter flavour and is drastically different from the dried or fermented fruits the EHG has chosen in years past.

Kevin Luft was announced as the winner with an amazing amber ale.

Hammer Malt didn’t just provide the ingredient this year. They also allowed Kevin to complete a malt grab from their shelves dubbed the Ironfist Malt Dash. 25 EHG members joined Kevin to cheer him on, as he carried an impressive 175 pounds of various malts from the shelves to the front door and was allowed to take it home at no charge! Kevin hadn’t decided what beers were next on his brew schedule but said it would be a busy summer of brewing.

Additional events on the day included a guided tour of the recently expanded operations and a quick demonstration on how to set up our grain roller mills to maximize our efficiency. Spruce Grove’s RavenWolf Brewing Co., who uses Hammer Malt products in their brewing process, was on hand to provide samples of their beers.

Along with the beer samples and tour, Queen’s Landing Honey and Hops were also on hand to discuss local hops. With five different varieties of hop plants for sale, they were kept busy with members looking to grow their own hops.

The end of an exciting and educational day saw everyone leaving with a Hammer Malt branded bag along with a chocolate orange flavoured malt created just for the event. A quick taste could easily leave you skipping any thoughts of what to brew with it and turn the entire bag into a meal.

EHG is proud of our local beer industry and greatly appreciates all the support we receive to host fun, exciting and educational events like this for our home brewing members. We look forward to supporting them as they continue to grow across Alberta.

Cory Fath is the Events Coordinator for Edmonton Homebrewers Guild.