Australia, Sydney: Australia's Hamelin malting barley variety has been officially classified as General Malting after two years of commercial malting and brewing trials conducted by the Western Malting Barley Council, AgReport revealed on October 22.

Hamelin was developed by Western Australia's Department of Agriculture and the GRDC with support from the Western Malting Barley Council. It has been malted by Joe White Maltings and brewed by the Kirin Brewery in Japan and Carlton and United Breweries' pilot brewery, performing well at all stages of the malting and brewing process.

Western Malting Barley Council Chairman Steve Tilbrook said it was pleasing to see Hamelin perform so well and the upgrade was timely for growers planning next year's cropping program. "The classification of Hamelin as malting grade is a significant step forward in the development, growth and marketing of high quality barley varieties from WA," Tilbrook said.

24 October, 2004