North Dakota Malt Included In Beer At U.S.-Taiwan Craft Beer Festival

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) recently worked with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) Taiwan and the North Dakota Barley Council to successfully connect Two Track Malting, based in North Dakota, and Redpoint Brewing Company, the first American craft brewery in Taiwan, to produce an all-U.S.-ingredient craft beer introduced at the 2023 U.S.-Taiwan Beer Festival.

“The Council’s Taiwan office is seeking new opportunities to expand U.S. barley utilization, not only in livestock but also malting and human food consumption,” USGC Taiwan Director Michael Lu. “Thanks to ATO Taiwan for organizing this great event to explore the market potential.”

The two-day consumer-facing festival welcomed a dozen local craft beer brewers in Taiwan. ATO Taiwan provided each brewer with special ingredients to inspire their creation of a limited-edition U.S. craft beer for consumers. Ingredients included U.S. malt, U.S. hops and special ingredients like concentrate juices, coffee, chocolate, ginseng and nuts, among others.

“I hope these American beers will become popular enough here in Taiwan for breweries to commercialize the products in the Taiwanese market and even all over the world,” Lu said.

Within the last few years, U.S. barley production has shifted from being solely a commodity crop to a specialty crop for the malting and brewing industry.

“The Council’s Taiwan office looks forward to continuing to help our U.S. farmers and agriculture enterprises develop the market of value-added barley products. I hope consumers in Taiwan enjoy this clean and crisp tasting beer made by U.S. specialty malts,” Lu said.