More beers brewed with grain grown in Crabtree, Hempfield, New Alexandria and Unity

Vince Mangini’s goal in starting Allegheny Mountain Malt has always been to shorten the supply chain for local beer brewers and farmers.

Now the company is looking to expand its offerings, bringing business development director Taiece Brooks on board.

“Being able to shake hands with your malter, being able to drive only 45 minutes to the farm where your grain is growing is really the gap we’re trying to bridge,” said Brooks, a Wilkinsburg resident and former assistant general manager at Penn Brewery.

The company began life as the “Farm to Tap” initiative, with Mangini — part of a Crabtree farm family as well as value chain coordinator for Pittsburgh nonprofit Food21 — and Hempfield farmer Alquin Heinneckel supplying grain that was used to brew a beer for the 2022 St. Bartholomew Church’s Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Festival.

By 2023, Mangini, Heinneckel and others had doubled the amount of acreage dedicated to local brewing grain, adding fields in New Alexandria and Unity and growing about 100 acres of two-row barley.

Brooks will be responsible for working with craft and home brewers to enhance their recipes using malt originating from locally grown barley. That grain is malted by CNC Malting Company in Butler County and distributed by Zilka & Co. Bakery Supplies in Hunker. The grain has gone to the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, All Saints Brewing in Hempfield, Monday’s Brewing Company in Peters Township and Recon Brewing in Butler.

“I think our main goal is to increase the “local-ness” of beers made around here,” Brooks said. “We want to be able to consult brewers in the Pittsburgh region in a way that a lot of malters can’t. And we want to provide access for some of the really small-scale brewers as well.”

Allegheny Mountain Malt is also looking to expand the grains it offers.

“I think we’re going to let the customers determine what that will be,” Brooks said. “We want to know what they want, so we can provide it. And as we grow and change, we also want to start providing custom growing and roasting options.”

For more on the company, see AMMalt.com.