Meet the CMC Malting Course Class of 2026
By Country Malt GroupOur CMC Malting Course is a little different. There are no final exams, no grades, and definitely no homework; the only instructions are: learn, share, and have a great time.
During the week of August 10, we welcomed more than 30 customers (students) from Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Japan to Calgary for our 2026 CMC Malting Course.
For three days, we talked about all things barley and malt, visited a farm, toured our Calgary malting facility, learned from our team, asked a lot of questions, and most importantly, had a really good time doing it.
Here’s our CMC Malting Syllabus:
Day 1: Barley 101
On our first day, we talked about barley selection, quality, and what happens before the grain even makes it to our malt plant.
We headed out to Alberta’s barley-growing region to visit Antler Valley Farms and the McAllister family, where our group got to spend some time in the fields and learn more about what goes into growing high-quality barley.
It’s easy to think of malting as something that starts when barley arrives at our facility, but being out on the farm is always a good reminder that the process starts way before that. It starts with the farmers, their knowledge, their land, and a lot of hard work.
Day 2: The Process of Making Malt
On day two, we followed the barley from the field to our Calgary malting facility.
This was our chance to get into the actual malting process and walk through how barley becomes the malt our customers use every day in their breweries and distilleries.
Our team took the group through the facility, talked about the different stages of malting, and showed some of the technology, expertise, and people behind the process.
Our customers (students) were able to talk directly with our team, dig into the details, and bring up questions from their own breweries, distilleries, and day-to-day operations.
Day 3: Advance Malt Studies: Science, Logistics & Supply Chain Management
For our last day, we looked at what happens once the malting process is finished.
We talked about malt sensory, laboratory testing, transportation, and storage, and everything that goes into making sure the malt that leaves our facility gets to our customers the way it should.
The group got to learn more about evaluating finished malt, what our lab teams look for, and all the logistics happening behind the scenes to move malt from our facilities to breweries and distilleries.
We want our customers to leave knowing more about barley, malting, quality, sensory, transportation, and everything that happens along the way.
This year, we had people travel to Calgary from Mexico, Japan, the United States, and across Canada. That means a lot of different experiences and perspectives all hanging out in the same place for a few days. And that’s where some of the best conversations happen.
We get to learn from each other, share ideas, talk about what’s happening in our industry, ask questions, meet the people behind the products, and put faces to names we may have only known through emails or phone calls.
The idea is pretty simple: come curious, learn something new, share what you know, meet some great people, and have fun while you’re here. And we think the Class of 2026 understood the assignment.
To everyone who traveled to Calgary and spent the week with us, thank you!
Thank you for asking questions, sharing your experiences, getting your boots a little dusty in the barley fields, touring our facility, and spending a few days learning and hanging out with our team.
