By: Living a Stout Life

About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

We are a collective of craftsmen devoted to making exceptional malt. We are innovators, designers, scientists, farmers, brewers and artists. We are your link from farm to beer, and we want you to know us as a vital part of the craft beer community.

 

Our business is craft. Our craft is malt. Our malt is your business.

 

Meet Galen Smith

Galen Smith is MMC’s Craft Sales Manager for the Southeastern states, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Starting with MMC in November of 2020, Galen believes the best way to define his position is as a relationship builder.  Being a former production brewer, he relates well with his customers and enjoys talking malts and brewing.

 

“I’m a brewer, and I get to talk to people just like myself and introduce them to quality malts and build those relationships.”

 

What is your educational background?

On a career path to becoming a professional brewer, Galen attended community college for his prerequisites. During that time, he was a cook and a homebrewer and enjoyed the similarities and science between cooking and brewing. Before he headed off to brewing school, he was hired by a local brewery in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the rest is history, as they say.

 

Working there for five years, he honed his craft. Moving on to Lonerider Brewery for the next nine years, he became an award-winning brewer, gaining a deeper understanding of brewing, while collaborating with others and continuously striving for better at everything he did.

 

How did you decide to become a sales rep for a malting company?

“Brewing is for the young; it’s hard work.”

 

COVID also made brewing extremely difficult and it became the straw that broke the camel’s back. That, combined with wanting to spend more time with his growing family, influenced Galen’s transition. At that time, MMC was Galen’s main malt supplier, and they happened to be hiring, making MMC the perfect, natural next step.

 

“I feel very fortunate that Malteurop was hiring at the time that I was looking because they were absolutely one of my favorite suppliers to work with.”

 

What are some of your career accomplishments?

Galen is quite proud of his award winning beer while brewing at Lonerider, as he should be.  His most recent awards came from the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and the World Beer Cup (WBC). Lonerider’s Doppelbock won bronze at GABF in 2017, and their brown won silver at WBC in 2018.

 

Being able to flavor match and produce consistent beers within more than one facility while collaborating with other breweries has played an important role in making Galen successful in the craft beer industry. Teaming up with a variety of suppliers and brewers in the past is advantageous when it comes to his current role of helping brewers make their best beers today.

 

“I’m thankful for the relationships built while brewing.” Those relationships are what keep his passion for the brewing industry alive today.

 

Why does a brewer need a malting sales representative?  What are the benefits?

Galen’s experience being a brewer is helpful when he’s talking to breweries, particularly a new brewer.  He enjoys helping them gain the necessary knowledge of understanding the importance of the malt timeline and when to order what and how often.

 

“Having somebody like me that is able to do that for our malt is very beneficial.  MMC specializes in malts.  Because all we’re doing is selling malts, we’re able to be there for our customers and let them know about our products with great efficiency and knowledge.

 

“I’m glad that I get to use my experience to help (clients) out. It’s important for me to have a relationship with my clients. I can walk in and speak their language. Nobody knows the product better than somebody that works for the company.”

 

 

How do you work with the brewers to give them what they need?

Having the chance to use a spec malt from MMC when he was a head brewer, Galen knows the quality of the malts and that they will do exactly what they are billed to do. He confidently sells the products that he himself has used while brewing. 

 

Galen likes to share a story from his brewing days that demonstrates MMC’s quality malts.

 

“I was experiencing some difficulty and having issues with clarity and getting my IPAs to be clear. I was able to work with Malteurop and they provided me with a low protein malt and it fixed my problem. I had a nice clear beer. And a week later somebody said, ‘Hey didn’t you know? Clear IPAs aren’t okay anymore?  Your IPA needs to be hazy.’ ”

 

There’s always something to keep ahead of in the brewing game.

 

We also have a fantastic Technical Service team at MMC and we rely on them so much with any technical questions that our customers may have.

 

Where do you see the future of malting heading?

There’s over 8000 breweries and as things evolve, there’s going to be an increased focus on the quality of each ingredient, such as malt. Because MMC is a direct supplier to the breweries, quality assurance is and will continue to be more readily available to the buyer. 

Galen feels that while hazy beers will be around for quite a while, he sees a return to balance with a lot of breweries making more lagers, resulting in more pilsen style malts being produced.

 

What gets your heart racing more: the science or the beer?

To Galen, science and beer are equally important, but the science aspect is more his game.  

 

“There’s something to be said for the artistry of beer, but you can make great beer without it. You just can’t without the science aspect”

 

What’s your favorite style of beer and why?

Being more of a traditional brewer, Galen consistently leans toward those well-made classic styles of beer when he drinks. Like any good beer drinker, his favorites do change: more stouts in the winter and more IPAs in the summer.

 

But if he had to choose a more specific style, it would be any kind of amber lager.  “They’re clean, balanced, and enough malt backbone to warm you up during the cooler seasons, but crisp and refreshing for the summer.”

 

What beer is in your fridge currently?

“I always have Coors Banquet in my fridge.” 

 

Sometimes you just have to have a basic, easy drinking beer. But along with that, Galen has redeemed himself through a variety of local craft brews from around North Carolina and even a few from some Denver area breweries.

 

If you were a beer, what beer would you be and why?

“I would be a slow pour pilsner. I’m always trying to find unique ways to make something that’s already good, maybe a little bit better. This takes time and patience. I also tend to take more time and patience with things that I do.”

 

There are people behind the product, not just the product, so what three words or phrases define you, Galen, outside of work?

After careful consideration, Galen came up with three words that define him: caring, multi-faceted, and adventurous.

 

Caring, for him, is both professional and personal. “I tend to put a lot of care in everything that I do.  Outside of work, I love to hang out with my family. I have two kids and one on the way and I’m really enjoying that. And I love nurturing that.”

 

Galen has a lot of different interests: brewing, cooking, riding motorcycles, restoring motorcycles, growing orchids, and hunting, to name just a few.

 

He is adventurous and always into trying new things, and he’s comfortable with being uncomfortable when doing so. “If somebody suggests something, I’m probably going to try it… at least once.”

 

And in the end, that is Galen. Building relationships both personally and professionally. Trying new things, seeing what sticks, and not afraid to experiment. He pushes himself and others to be their best, while brewing their best. “This is me.”

 

Cheers. To the farmers. The maltsters. The brewers. The Innovators.