American Malting Barley Association releases recommended variety list with two additions and one removal

The American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) Board of Directors annually develops a list of recommended malting barley varieties for U.S. growers for the upcoming crop year. AMBA is a nonprofit trade organization, which represents the interests of end users of malting barley, including maltsters, brewers, distillers, and food processors. Their work seeks to maintain a stable and high quality supply of malting barley for their nearly 50 members throughout the United States.

The AMBA Recommended List is intended to provide U.S. growers with guidance as to what varieties the industry may be contracting or purchasing in the coming year. It is not intended as a list of approved or certified malting varieties for the use by brewers, distillers, food companies, or maltsters. There may be many suitable malting barley varieties grown domestically or internationally that are not on the list, yet have quality characteristics desired by the industry. Some varieties will be used in large quantities and many others are only utilized in niche markets, so producers are encouraged to contact their local elevator, grain handler, or processor to gauge market demand for any variety grown in their region prior to seeding.

Additions to the 2025 list include CDC Churchill, a variety registered in Canada in 2018; and Firefoxx, a European line that is a non-producer of GN.

CDC Churchill is a spring, two-row, hulled malting barley variety developed by Dr. Aaron Beattie at the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan. The line was brought forth for recommendation by member company, Malteurop, who has trialed and found success with the line throughout North Dakota and Montana. It is reported to have slightly higher yield than AAC Synergy with a comparable enzyme package to CDC Copeland.
Firefoxx is a spring, two-row, hulled malting barley developed in Europe and released by Ackerman Saatzucht GmbH & Co. The line was brought forth for recommendation by member company, RahrBSG, who has tested its viability in North Dakota over the past four crop seasons. It exhibits comparable quality traits to check varieties, but provides the unique attribute of being a non-producer of GN, a trait of high interest by the distilling industry.

The lone variety to be removed from the list is Quest, a spring, six-row variety released by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in 2010 by Dr. Kevin Smith. It joined the list in 2011 and was grown until the industry transitioned to primarily two-row varieties.