Nearly two years have passed since Skagit Valley Malting abruptly closed its doors.
Now, however, it is looking at making a comeback under new ownership.
Skagit Valley Malting could begin producing malt as soon as April or May at its facility west of Burlington, new Skagit Valley Malting operator Evan Turner said Thursday.
“We have generally laid out a plan that says we have to have grain move within a month,” he said. “So, March, we have to have some machines and equipment that are clean … and then we should be malting come April or May.”
“We should be able to be making great malt, if only one batch at a time,” Turner said.
Skagit Valley Malting closed its doors in June 2023, then filed for bankruptcy in October of that year.
It made malt produced from Skagit Valley grain and sold it to craft beer, distilling and baking customers along the West Coast.
During the lengthy bankruptcy process, Turner said he went to malting school twice.
Though he said he will not be the business’s maltster, he said wanted to make sure he was knowledgeable about the process.
Turner said he believes Skagit Valley Malting’s problems came from it stretching its reach too far, both in terms of its number of employees and of where it was marketing its malt product.
“If you look around the country, if you go to the craft malt conferences, and you ask them, ‘How big is your malthouse, how many employees do you have?’ They don’t have 12 to 15 employees,” he said. “They have five. They have seven.”
Turner said he will keep the business deliberately small.
Regarding extending reach, Turner said prefers to market the product locally where consumers know the value and quality of Skagit Valley grain.
“But the real reason is, the entire selling point of Skagit Valley Malting and not calling us something else is the terroir and the specialness of the grain that is grown in the Skagit Valley,” he said. “And you know what, if you go down to San Francisco, they don’t know what the Skagit Valley is. They don’t know anything about the terroir.”
According to the Skagit Valley Malting website, terroir is “the taste of the place.”
The Skagit Valley climate and other factors play a role in how the locally produced malt will taste.
“It needs to be used and consumed by a marketplace that would care about it,” Turner said. “And … I have gone to great distances to see how far that care seems to extend and it seems to be (about Portland).”
Turner did note that there was some interest in Vancouver, B.C., as well.
“Maybe we dip into Vancouver eventually,” he said.
There are still a few steps left before Skagit Valley Malting can reopen. The building and equipment need to be cleaned due to the business having not operated in about 20 months.
While April or May is the timeline identified for reopening, Turner considers the real grand reopening will take place in 2026.
“I don’t want a welcome back party,” Turner said. “… I have every intention of this (not being) a grand reopening. I want to make great malt. I want customers to be enjoying our malt and not even knowing we’ve reopened.”
While Turner is apprehensive about reopening fanfare, the one thing he said he wants potential customers to know about Skagit Valley Malting is: “We make great malt.”
