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Traditionally, January is a time for resolutions. After the excess and the indulgence of the holidays, the country collectively pulls itself together, takes a deep breath, and commits to doing better. We sign up for gym memberships. We reduce our screen time. We swear we’ll figure out work/life balance, and we promise to stop eating so much junk food. A few dedicated souls even give up alcohol in the name of Dry January.

We’re always busy at the malthouse - crafting some of the best dang malt in the country is a full-time job, after all - but this year, we achieved some major milestones. Maltstones, you might call them. Goals that have been long in the dreaming and years in the making. And the honest truth of it?  We’ve had a blast in the process. Turns out this whole craft malt community is pretty amazing.

As 2022 rolls to a close, and as we take a rare but welcome moment to sit back, kick up our boots, and sip on that eggnog, we can’t help but wax a little poetic.  Farming will do that to you. All the hard work, long hours, and crazy pace suddenly draw to a close and we look back and think, “Holy sh*t! We did it!” Another year in the books. 

We couldn’t do what we do without the hard work of our dedicated team. And so, as we wrap up this calendar year, we asked them to reflect a bit on 2022 at Root Shoot Malting. Read their reflections (posted in no particular order!) to see what stood out to everyone - and pick up a few favorite beer and spirit tips in the process!

November is typically when we finish up harvest here at Olander Farms. By this time of year, we’ve spent nine months planting, cultivating, watering, and growing. From barley planting in March to corn harvest in November, we’ve been busily working away, growing your future beer and soon-to-be spirits.

When you land on Bruz Beers website, you know immediately what you’ve gotten yourself into. Right there, in gold-colored text set against a black background, front-and-center on the homepage, Bruz lays it all on the line. Badass Belgian Beers.

The prize for the brewery in the furthest reaches of our glorious state has to go to Wild Edge Brewing Collective in Cortez, Colorado. Owned by Tucker Robinson and partners, Wild Edge sits in a remodeled warehouse in downtown Cortez and specializes in craft beers with an emphasis on sours - both kettle and barrel-aged. They also serve up some mean IPAs, Saisons, and Belgians.

Need a drink? Wanna support Root Shoot? Into saving family farms? We made a graphic for you! Save this pic in your phone, mark it as one of your faves, and use it to pick your next brewery or distillery adventure!

Specializing in authentic Belgian beers, Barquentine draws its recipes from tradition, but their beer - and location - are definitely up to par for the modern-day Colorado beer nerd. Located in the trendy Edgewater Public Market, a beer-drinker can find plenty to explore for an afternoon, or even well into the evening.

When your craft-malt certified truck comes in a bright cherry red, adorned with sage, yet beer-y, advice (It’s easier to start the day when you know it will end with beer) and the picture of a friendly mule looking you in the face, well…you must be Bill Benson, owner of Iron Mule Brewery in Castle Rock and one of our favorite malthouse visitors on pick up days.

Joyride Brewing makes the best Kolsch in the world. We mean this quite literally: they took home the gold medal for their Ice Cutter Kölsch in the German-style Kolsch category of the World Beer Cup.

The Gilded Goat opened the doors of its first location, a mid-town Fort Collins brewery in 2017, just a year after Root Shoot began malting, and they started sourcing malt from us right away. Earning the support of a new client is always an honor. Earning the support of The Gilded Goat…well, it was downright flattering.

It’s spring, it’s finally starting to feel like spring, and we’ve been craving some fresh-tasting beverages for patio sippin’. Luckily, we know lots of great folks who are excellent at putting together tasty cocktails!

Launch Pad Brewery located on South Buckley Road in the largest of the Denver suburbs, is a space-themed brewery founded by a group of friends, flying nerds, and Air Force veterans.  Launched (ha! get it?) in 2015 by best buds David Levesque and Henry Rusch, and later joined by Paul Mahoney, Launch Pad Brewery serves up a huge taplist in an open taproom with a view of the brewhouse behind it.

Lady Justice forms part of a minority of breweries that are female-owned. According to new statistics released by the Brewers Association at the Craft Brewers Conference in September of 2021, female-owned breweries make up 23.7% of all craft breweries. That’s not even a quarter of breweries in a country where women make up over half of the population.

We found out that we earned our 4th Craft Malt Cup medal. Our English Pale Ale took a bronze! Our previous wins include a gold medal for Genie Pale in 2019, a bronze for Munich 10 in 2020, and a bronze for Genie Pale in 2021. Now, that’s worth a toast!

We have to give a big shout-out to Station 26, a brewery whose influence on the malthouse can’t really be understated. They’re a brewery that has actually led us to learn more, do more, and make some really amazing malt.

When we started this whole Root Shoot Malting project, we knew that one of our most important priorities as a business would be developing strong relationships with our customers. What we didn’t know was that some of those customers would become family. Chosen family. The Family Jones.

Our plan for January? focusing on water for a while. We even started a light-hearted introduction to it as our social media focus for January. Wouldn’t Dry January be an ironic theme for a business that depends on the beer and spirit industry? We could make a clever link between the sober (beer-less) Dry January that many participate in and the sobering drought that we are facing this January as farmers.

Nestled right in the middle of Mountain Avenue in downtown Berthoud, City Star Brewing is the kind of place that feels welcoming before you even walk in the doors.