Craft Maltsters Guild Reveals 2026 Malt Cup Winners After Lab Testing and Sensory Judging

Red Shed Malting of Red Deer County, Alberta walked away from the 2026 Malt Cup with two pieces of hardware: a gold medal for its Parkland Pale in the Pale Malt category and the traveling Malt Cup trophy, which will be shipped to the Alberta malthouse from last year's winners, Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon Falls, Maine.

The Craft Maltsters Guild announced the results at a virtual awards ceremony in late February, capping a judging process built around laboratory testing and sensory evaluation. Hannah Uhlmann, Director of the Barley, Malt & Brewing Lab at Montana State University and manager of the Malt Cup awards for eight years, presented the winners alongside Aline Brito, Sensory and Food Scientist at Montana State University. The competition drew 117 entries representing 29 malthouses across five countries, covering seven grain types and 48 varieties.

The Pale Malt podium had a cross-border character: Two Track Malting of Menoken, North Dakota took silver with its Okefenokee, while LINC Malt out of Spokane Valley, Washington claimed bronze with Baronesse Pale. Two Track also pulled double duty in Distillers Malt, earning gold with its Maltese variety. Root Shoot Malting in Loveland, Colorado took Distillers silver with its High Enzyme entry, and Red Shed added a bronze in the same category with Whiskey Jack.

The specialty malt categories spread recognition further across North America and beyond. Root Shoot swept the Light Munich gold with RS M-10, while Blue Ox took Light Munich silver and ND Malting and Hops of Williston, North Dakota claimed bronze with Mjolnir Light Munich. In Caramel, Root Shoot earned gold for Cara Rubie C20, Red Shed silver for Caribou Malt C40, and Troubadour Maltings of Fort Collins, Colorado bronze with MOD AFTDRK C120. Troubadour also took Vienna gold with Super Pevec.

The Pilsen category produced the competition's most geographically distant winner: Loam Malt Studio from Nomans Lake in Western Australia claimed gold with Pilsner Lake, making it one of the more striking examples of the Malt Cup's international reach. Mitten State Malt of Okemos, Michigan took Pilsen silver with its '23 Violetta Pils, and Blue Ox earned bronze with Yankee Pils.

In Wheat, 3D Malt of Camrose, Alberta won gold with Wheat Pale, followed by Rabbit Hill Malt from Shiloh, New Jersey with silver and South Fork Malthouse out of Cynthiana, Kentucky with bronze. The Unique Malt category saw New York Craft Malt in Batavia, New York take gold with Finger Lakes Flaked Corn, and Blue Ox claim silver with Golden Triticale.

The Craft Maltsters Guild established the Malt Cup in 2019 as what it describes as "the only competition for malt in the world," designed to serve malthouses of all sizes with analytical and sensory feedback. All 2026 entrants will receive judging notes from the Guild, which frames the feedback program as a tool for raising quality standards across the small grains community.

Sponsors supporting the 2026 competition included Ackermann, Bratney, the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, the National Barley Growers Association, New Glarus Brewing Co., Promalting, RadCraft, and Yingtai Machinery. Empowered Streaming handled the virtual ceremony's audio-visual production.

Registration for the 2027 Malt Cup opens in October.