New brew uses barley from local farmers
Victoria’s brewing industry has long been known for its use of premium ingredients that bring out unique flavours. But these days, craft brewers are increasingly looking out their back doors at local producers for some of those ingredients.
And right now Driftwood Brewing is showcasing locally grown and malted barley in its latest seasonal release, the Clodhopper Local Malt Dubbel.
The beer uses barley malted by Victoria’s Mike Doehnel, who has worked with Saanich Peninsula farmers Bryce Rashleigh of Saanichton Farms and Terry Michell of Michell's Farm to grow malting grade barley. That means the barley has had to travel only 17 kilometres to get to the brewery.
There are only a few hundred cases that will be distributed to private liquor stores on Monday.
“We’ve had a relationship with Mike for a number of years now. He malts one tonne at a time and delivers to us a few times over the course of a year,” said Jason Meyer of Driftwood Brewing.
Meyer said the amount they can get from Doehnel means they can’t use it for all their brews. Instead of peppering the malted barley throughout their production lines, Driftwood reserves the local malt for special lines.
“It’s only a very minute percentage of our total production that comes from Mike, so we prefer to use it in seasonal offerings so you can actually hone in on the flavours,” he said. “All malt has unique flavour. I’m not sure one would be able to identify the taste as Vancouver Island, but, when you plant something in soil under certain conditions, those factors influence the final product.”
Driftwood is holding another batch of locally produced malted barley for its next seasonal brew, which could be out this summer.
Hiring blitz for McDonald’s
It’s national hiring day at McDonald’s, and the fast-food giant says it wants to hire more than 6,000 youth for the summer season. The one-day hiring blitz is taking place at restaurants across Canada and job-seekers are invited to apply in person or go to worksforme.ca.
