SCOTTISH malting barley growers now have some new varieties to factor into their future growing plans. In a market dominated by Concerto, the news that the ‘new white hope’, Syngenta’s Laureate, has been granted full malt distilling and brewing approval is seen as a major breakthrough This promotion to full approval on the Institute of Brewing and Distilling approved list of varieties for harvest 2018 is a major boost for the variety which has proven its credentials and should prove popular. This means Laureate is the highest-yielding spring barley on the current AHDB Recommended List with approval for both markets, pointed out Syngenta’s seeds and seedcare campaign manager, Mark Bullen. “Recent years have seen a yield gap between varieties for brewing and varieties for distilling,” said Mr Bullen. “The industry has definitely moved back to wanting single varieties suited to both markets and Laureate puts growing for distilling back on a more equal yield footing with growing for brewing. It is a real breakthrough for growers,” he added. The variety had a high hot water extract for brewing and a high spirit yield for distilling, proving attractive to both distillers and brewers. It has also made progress in the important brewing sectors in France and Germany, as well as generating interest in the US, Canada and Japan. “In future, we would like to see it giving UK growers an export opportunity as well,” said Mr Bullen. Importantly, for Scotland, the variety has shown reduced skinning levels, which has hit Concerto in particular. Another exciting new variety to prove a hit with distillers is KWS Sassy, which gets full approval for malt distilling from the IBD. This variety quickly attracted interest from commercial distillers after getting on to the Recommended List in 2016 and was taken into private trials as another potential successor to Concerto. A true distiller, with top notch grain quality, Sassy performed well in a large volume trial in the north of Scotland managed by maltster, Bairds Malt. “It performed well on farm, with higher yields and with grain size and quality either consistent or better than the industry standard used as the control,” said Eddie Douglas, Bairds Malt’s commercial director. “Growers liked it and it was noted for being quick to establish and showing good tillering,” he notes. Bairds also conducted two distilling tests to further establish its suitability. It did well in both, exceeding expectations. “It demonstrated good processability levels in the malt house and distilleries and produced spirit yields better than that of the control variety,” said Mr Douglas. “It seems to be a variety that is particularly wellsuited to Scotland and we are planning to increase the sown area over the next two years with the intention that it becomes a mainstay variety,” he added. Will Compson, KWS cereals product manager, added: “Growers and distillers have been searching for a successor variety to Concerto for several years and their patience has been rewarded “KWS Sassy is 12% higher yielding in the north, has lower screenings and a similar grain nitrogen content. We expect it to be very popular.” The third full approval has gone to Sienna, which is another fully approved for distilling. The Limagrain variety is not an out and out yielder, but has the best specific weight on the AHDB RL 2017/18 – a desirable malting trait. It also has many of the positive traits associated with the feed variety, Westminster, offering livestock farmers a higher yielding alternative. Sienna has competitive yields in all regions, outyielding Odyssey by 4% in the North and 3% in the West. It is relatively taller strawed, like Concerto, but has shown resistance to lodging and brackling. Its high untreated grain yield in trials is also a feature, as is low screenings and high hot water extract – and it is a non-GN variety.