USA: Rahr Malting launches world’s largest single-site malting facility in Minnesota
The world’s largest single-site malting facility now operates in Shakopee, Minnesota, though its owners could have processed barley into beer ingredients elsewhere, the Star Tribune reported on November 19.
This fall, Rahr Corp. opened a new $68 million malt house, which processed its first batch of grain on November 15. As craft beer saturates the beverage industry, an on-site “research brewery” will open by spring so that small brewers can test new products using sophisticated equipment from Germany.
Rahr’s latest expansion depended on state and local tax-increment financing and is part of Shakopee’s subsidization of other big-name newcomers, like Amazon and Shutterfly, with the idea to create more jobs and build its industrial tax base. Rahr, which was originally Rahr Malting, moved to Shakopee from Manitowoc, Wis., in 1936. It also has operations in North Dakota, Washington and Canada, exporting malt primarily throughout North America, but also to international clients.
“Rahr is truly our oldest company here in Shakopee,” said Samantha DiMaggio, the city’s economic development coordinator. “If you can’t help the company that’s helped everyone in town, then you’re really failing, in my mind.”
The facility off County Road 69 now includes six malt houses, a 20,000-square-foot research brewery and technical center, and an 80,000-square-foot distribution and packaging facility. Rahr provides malt for about 90 percent of Minnesota’s breweries, such as Steel Toe Brewing in St. Louis Park and Fulton in Minneapolis, as well as mainstream suppliers like Anheuser-Busch.
The newest malt house is vertical rather than horizontal because of the site’s limited footprint, said CEO and President William Rahr. Rahr decided to stay local because of the company’s history and employees, who earn a “family-sustaining wage,” he said.
“The two projects would have done better someplace else, competitively,” Rahr added. “But this is homegrown.”
23 November, 2016
