Craft beer boom drives revival in barley demand

Perth

A BATCH of barley that lay forgotten for almost 100 years in storage at a farm in Portland, Oregon, has found new life - thanks to the booming demand for craft beer.

It turns out the barley makes a malt that is much in demand from Oregon's growing legion of craft brewers and is among a wave of ancient varieties revived by the likes of GrainCorp Ltd, the giant Australian crop handler that also ranks as the world's fourth-biggest malting company.

GrainCorp chief executive officer Mark Palmquist said in Sydney: "We produce a cascade malt that comes from a cascade variety that hasn't been grown for many, many years. We grow it only in a certain geographic region and you can attach it to that area, all…