High-yielding barley varieties Irina and Talisman have received full approval for brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD).

Irina from breeder KWS becomes the highest-yielding spring malting barley fully accepted by the industry. Likewise, Senova’s Talisman takes the industry’s winter malting barley top spot.

According to KWS value chain manager Dr Kirsty Richards, the new UK approval follows successful large-scale macro-malting and brewing tests carried out for the IBD by Molson Coors, Bairds Malt, Crisp Malting and Boortmalt. 

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“It comes after Irina’s acceptance from leading brewers on the continent last year, including Heineken, Carlsberg and Radeberger, who have already seen a significant commercial tonnage from farmers in France, Germany and Denmark.

“As a result, UK growers can be confident that it will readily find a premium market on the continent as well as on home soil,” she says.

Dr Richards points out that industry assessments confirmed Irina has a high water extract, ahead of Propino and Tipple and just behind Concerto.

“Irina is 6% higher yielding in Recommended List trials than the next best IBD-approved varieties and on par with the best feed-only varieties such as Shada.”

Winter barley

Newly approved winter malting barley Talisman is now the highest-yielding autumn-sown variety on the HGCA Recommended List.

Breeder Senova’s commercial director Jeremy Taylor says the variety has the desired characters to meet the industry’s needs.

“It’s the news that many malting barley growers have been waiting for – Talisman offers higher yields and improved agronomics over established varieties,” he says.

Talisman is an early maturing two-row variety, which promises to perform on both light and heavy soils. With a specific weight of 67.9kg/hl, a high hot water extract and a grain nitrogen content of 1.63%, Mr Taylor expects the variety to be taken up by growers looking to secure a malting premium.

He also points out that it has the best all round disease resistance of any winter malting variety, with a rating of 6 for rhynchosporium, mildew and brown rust, and a 7 for yellow rust.

Seed will be available for autumn 2015 planting.