Some malts are defined by their grain. This one will always be defined by the day it was made.
On Saturday, August 1, the Old Trails Fire broke out west of Spokane and ran hard toward the city's northwest edge. Over the next few days it burned more than 3,600 acres and took hundreds of homes, much of the Indian Trail neighborhood among them. That same afternoon, a batch of malt was sitting in our kiln at Cascadia Malts.
Holding the line
When the fire came up the road, we did what farm families here have always done. We grabbed shovels, loaded the farm trucks and went to help hold the fire line alongside our neighbors.
Back at the malthouse, the kiln kept running. Walking away from a batch mid-kiln means losing it, so we kept one eye on the grain and the other on the ridge.
When the power went out
Then the power failed. With no electricity, the kiln went cold and the batch had to sit overnight, half-finished, while smoke settled over everything around it.
The next day, once power was restored, we cooled the malt and completed the drying phase of kilning. All of it happened in air that had hit 500 on the AQI scale, the top of the hazardous range.
What the malt told us
We expected the worst. Instead, a hot-steep extraction and sensory analysis turned up no off-flavors and no sourness. Most surprising of all, there was no smoke.
Finished as a pale malt, the batch already stands apart. It is distinctive and exceptionally flavorful, with a depth we did not plan for and could not have designed. It may be a stroke of luck. It may be something truly special. We are still finding out.
Why we think it belongs in a still
The smoke may not be gone for good. As the malt rests, a subtle smoky character could still emerge, carrying the memory of the conditions it was made in.
That is why we believe this batch could be especially well suited to a distillery. A spirit built on this malt would carry more than flavor. It would carry the story of a kiln that kept running beside an active fire line, and of a community that held that line together.
A malt shaped by resilience
This summer tested everyone in the Spokane area. Our hearts are with the families who lost homes in Indian Trail and beyond, and with the crews who worked around the clock to stop the fire.
This batch is a small reminder of what endures. It came from a kiln beside an active fire line and finished as a malt that may prove as memorable as the days that made it.
Interested in this batch? It is available in limited quantity. Distillers and brewers who want to tell this story in their own glass can get in touch to request a sample.
