“Malt should not be something that somebody has to worry about. That’s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time and take that off of your plate. I don’t want that to be the piece of the brewing process that a brewer has to worry about.”  Joel Grosser, Director of Operations for North America

 

By: Living a Stout Life

 

About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

We are committed to growing, sourcing, and delivering the highest quality malt products that elevate our customers’ craft. We are innovators, designers, scientists, farmers, brewers and artists. We want you to know us as a vital part of the community. 

 

Meet Joel Grosser

As the Director of Operations for North America, Joel Grosser is responsible for operations of Malteurop Malting Company’s four malthouses located in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. 

 

What Joel really sees his position as being is a team-builder.

 

“Some of the things for me that are the most rewarding are when we can build a team that is high functioning.”

 

And for Joel, high functioning means that the malts produced at MMC are consistent in both production and quality. 

 

“That’s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time.”

 

What is your educational background?

Joel’s dedication to malt started at a young age when he began homebrewing in college. Graduating with degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry, after attending the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota, it made sense to Joel to garner a career in brewing. 

 

The economy of the late 1990s had different plans. 

 

“When I graduated from college, I applied to every brewing position I could find and ended up with a wall of rejection letters instead.”

 

Like every good college graduate does, Joel moved on and instead acquired a job handling data storage. But his passion for brewing never left. 

 

After only a year in data storage, Joel became a brewer. Beginning his career at Anheuser Busch as an experimental brewer, over the next decade, Joel gained both brewing and managerial experience.

 

Taking that passion and experience with him, Joel went to work in San Diego at Stone Brewing in 2014. There, he was responsible for all brewing production including packaging, maintenance, engineering, and quality. Joel casually throws in that he also had a hand in opening a couple of breweries. 

 

We think his goal of becoming a brewer was met and exceeded.

 

How did you decide to build a career at a malting company?

It was right around this time that Joel began thinking about heading back to the midwest. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, he wanted to get back to family.

 

It  just so happened that an opportunity came up at MMC that matched Joel’s skills quite nicely.

 

“I thought, ‘It’s still beer related. I’m now on the supplier side as opposed to the customer side.’”

 

With his dad working in the grain industry when Joel was younger, it all seemed to come full circle for Joel. Especially when you take into account that Joel actually produced his own malt when homebrewing in college from a bag of barley given to him from his dad.

 

“I worked at the grain elevator one summer cleaning and such and made my first batch of malt in college. My dad gave me a bag of 6-row barley, and I produced a malt in my kitchen and kilned it in my oven and made some homebrew with it.  It was terrible, but it was my first experience making malts.”

 

That experience has now ultimately led Joel to Malteurop. It may not have been foreseen, but we believe it was meant to be.

 

What does your average day look like?

Funny thing, when Joel first went to college for chemistry and engineering, he was thinking it would be a good career fit for many reasons, one being that he didn’t want to work with people.

 

Once he began his career in the brewing industry, though, that all changed.

 

“I love chemistry and engineering, so that’s why I went to college and I got into it because I didn’t want to work with people. Then when I worked at AB it was all leadership, managing, and supervising. And I found out that was exactly what I loved. The engineering side? I don’t like it so much. It’s fun, it’s cool, it’s interesting, but working with people and managing processes and leading teams is much more fulfilling.”

 

But when it comes to Joel’s management of his day to day tasks, the engineering and manufacturing side of him plays an important role in ensuring that the leadership and teamwork side of him shines through even more.

 

“My manufacturing philosophy states that if you do the same thing every day the same way, you’re also going to get the same output. The idea is that we want to control the process so that we get the same thing every day. For example, we want to make 2- row malt that meets the specifications every day.”

 

Joel strives for consistency and quality in everything that is done at Malteurop, including his day-to-day schedule.

 

“That’s also the way I treat my schedule, my routine, and how I try to work with the team to set up all of our processes. Every day we meet at 8 a.m. with all of the plant managers, myself, and the managerial team to review what happened the previous day and to ensure we have good solid communication across all four of the plants.”

 

This sets the tone for the rest of the day to help maintain quality and connections in North America, as well as all across the globe.

 

Joel prides himself on staying in touch with every member of the team, ensuring there are no barriers to anyone getting their job done.

 

What is Malteurop’s role in sustainability practices?

Just like MMC has made a commitment to their malts, their team, and their partners, they have also made a commitment to sustainability practices. 

 

“[Sustainability] is nothing new to the way that we work. We’ve always invested in continuous improvement. We have resources in terms of people dedicated to continuous improvements in each of the plants. We’re focused on water and energy usage constantly and reducing waste.”

 

But MMC goes further than that. They work with their farming, brewing, and distilling partners on a continuous basis, all working together to produce the quality malts that brewers and distillers expect from Malteurop.

 

“It’s just putting us closer to our customers and making sure we’re moving in the same direction together.”

 

What are some of your career accomplishments?

And that is exactly what Joel says is one of his greatest accomplishments.

 

Yes, he’s helped to build breweries and even malted barley in his kitchen, and crafted a career to match his passions, but he still sees his ability to build a team of high-functioning individuals that communicate and work together like a well-organized machine as one of his biggest career accomplishments.

 

“Communication can be difficult unless you’re purposeful about it. Most rewarding to me is making those connections and then after a while those just become natural behaviors. Those are the biggest accomplishments for me, helping to build a better team, a better working team together.”

 

“Innovation is key and not just in terms of product development, but also in the way we work. And I like a challenge. I love it when we don’t know how to solve a problem. I love to get into that and define the problem well together and then we can move forward together.”

 

How do you work with others at MMC to consistently get brewers and distillers the specific malts they need?

Through communication and continuity is how he and the rest of the team at MMC work to get the malts to their customers that rely on them. 

 

As a brewer or a distiller, Joel wants you to know that MMC produces consistent and quality malts to specification every time.

 

“Malt should not be something that somebody has to worry about. That’s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time and take that off of your plate. I don’t want that to be the piece of the brewing process that a brewer has to worry about.”

 

MMC may be a big malster, but Joel wants you to know that big also means local. With malthouses in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, as well as transload facilities and distribution centers across North America, MMC has the resources to get customers what they need, where and when they need it.

 

“We might be big, but we’re also pretty local, too. In the way that we work and the way we impact our communities is very much on a local basis. The advantage of being part of a bigger team is that we have those resources around the globe.” 

 

Malts are not something you should be worrying about. And with MMC, you don’t have to.

 

“Our willingness to work with our customers, our partners. Quality and service is what makes us shine. We invest a lot into our plants and our facilities to ensure we are keeping up with the latest technology and to ensure that we can produce consistently.” 

Where do you see the future of malting heading?

While nobody has a crystal ball, one thing’s for certain in the future of malting at Malteurop, the dedication of all involved to produce the malts that brewers and distillers need to craft their finest beverages.

 

Joel states, “Looking at crop conditions is much easier knowing that I work with incredibly talented maltsters. They’ve seen every crop condition and know how to address them and handle [varying] situations.”

 

Malt follows beer and Joel knows that the industry has to innovate to stay up to date with constant change.

 

“Innovation is key and not just in terms of product development, but also in the way we work. And I like a challenge. I love it when we don’t know how to solve a problem. I love to get into that and define the problem well together and then we can move forward together.”

 

What’s your favorite style of beer and why? What’s currently in your fridge?

And moving forward is much better with a beer in hand. Joel’s beer in hand is quite often an IPA, a Stone Delicious IPA to be exact. But he likes a good pilsner every once in a while, too.

 

“I will almost always go for an IPA. However when I go to a small brewery, I will absolutely do the snobby brewer thing if they’re bold enough to put a pilsner on tap. I will order it, and I will judge them!” He says while laughing.

 

As for what fills his fridge, he’s a local kinda guy and will generally have some craft beers from Milwaukee. But falling in love with beer in college, you shouldn’t be surprised to see a Hamms or an Old Milwaukee taking up valuable fridge space alongside those craft IPAs.

 

What defines you outside of work?

Joel is extremely passionate about malts and the products made from them, but his true passions lie with his family and his dogs. Two boys and five dogs make for great adventures. Adventures with dog training, competitions, and hunting. Add a family cabin into that mix along with a bit of fishing, Joel and his wife are quite content.

 

Passionate about family. About malts. About beer. 

 

“We’re all just as passionate about beer as the people that are brewing it. I love engineering,  I love science, but the rewards come from working with people.”

 

Premium grains from field to flavor.

 

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About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America—specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries. With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop’s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet.

 

Visit www.malteuropmaltingco.com to learn how we can support your malting needs.

 

Contact us at customersuccess@malteurop.com or (844) 546-MALT (6258) for questions or to place your order.

 

Malting is our passion. Quality is our promise.