Red Shed Malting continues to impress with its high-quality product.
After winning several awards at the Alberta Beer Awards earlier this year, Red Shed was back on the virtual podium this month collecting another honour.
It was selected for the best unique product award in Avenue Magazine’s second annual Made in Alberta Awards. The awards are designed to celebrate the ingenuity, creativity and quality of Alberta-made products.
The unique product win was a small feather in the Red Shed cap, to be sure, but on top of that, it was named best overall winner. That earned them a $5,000 prize.
“Very much to our surprise, picked for best overall. It really is wild,” said Matt Hamill, whose family farm, Hamill Farms, is where the Red Shed Malting barley is grown.
“We’re a business of businessing. We’re out there selling it to the brewers. This award is a much more consumer-based thing.
“We’re working hard to get brewers to care and we’ve had some success in doing that. To have consumers show they care too is beyond awesome.”
Red Shed’s rise also comes with a new venture. As the indoor farmer’s market is set to open up in Gasoline Alley later this fall, the malt company is a small piece of the puzzle.
It is a minority investor in the Craft Beer Commonwealth, a joint brewery venture with Red Hart Brewing and Blindman Brewing of Lacombe.
“Super excited about that, it gives us that full grain to glass – it’s Hamill Farms, Red Shed Malting, then Craft Beer Commonwealth,” he said.
Hamill said the two breweries are the perfect partners, considering Blindman is the biggest customer for total malt sales and Red Hart uses the greatest percentage of the company’s malt in its beer.
Hamill said they’re still working towards an official opening date of the brewery, but he expects an announcement soon.