Meet the Southwest Craft Sales Manager:

Jonathan Plise, The Malt Guy

 

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 Jonathan Plise

Jonathan Plise’s official title is MMC’s Southwest Craft Sales Manager, working with breweries in California, Nevada, and Arizona. And while that title may be on his business card, he really sees himself as simply, “The Malt Guy”.

 

“I’m here to let them [brewers] know what’s going on in the malt world. I want to be their resource.”

 

Starting with Malteurop in October of 2022, Jonathan may be new to Malteurop, but he is far from being new to the malting industry. He is looking forward to bringing his expertise to both new and established brewing partners with MMC.

 

What is your educational background?

As so many of us do, Jonathan started his career path in one direction and then completely went the opposite way. Pursuing a music career, Jonathan headed off to college with music as his major. About halfway through though, he quit college to work at a local homebrew shop, More Beer, and promptly fell in love with homebrewing.

 

Working at that same local shop for ten years, Jonathan fell hook, line, and sinker into all aspects of brewing from the ingredients to the brewing process to the equipment. But more importantly, he became enamored with the relationships that were built from the business of selling and creating something he loved. So much so that within his time working at More Beer, he also co-founded a podcast, The Brewery Network. And while he is no longer a podcast host, what he helped start is still going strong.

 

Finally armed with a strong sense of direction, Jonathan’s career began to take shape, ultimately leading him to Malteurop.

 

 

How did you decide to be a sales representative for a malting company?

Also a lover of wine, when it was time to switch things up a bit, Jonathan tried his hands at selling frozen grapes for the wine industry. It was there that he found the world of malts.

 

“I loved wine, too, and from there I stumbled across the malting world by accident.”

 

Sometimes stumbling can be a great thing especially when you’re looking for a new job.

 

Starting his malting career in 2015, from the beginning, Jonathan went above and beyond to get his customers what they needed. Over seven years in, while he was still enamored with all things brewing, he knew he really wanted to focus solely on malts.

 

“Malteurop is unique in that they focus solely on malts. Other shops are a one-stop shop but what makes Malteurop attractive is the supply chain part of it. Along with diversity, availability, turn around on orders, and competitive pricing. Those are pieces that are going to attract craft brewers to Malteurop.  We sell and distribute 18 branded malts…that’s it.”

 

It’s that idea that MMC is not a one-stop shop that drew him into MMC in the first place. He can now focus on the malts. That is what he’s good at. He is, after all, The Malt Guy.

 

 

What made you decide not to be a brewer and go down your current path instead?

With Jonathan’s love for homebrewing and knowledge of all things brewing, you might be wondering why he didn’t start his own brewery. We were wondering, too. So, we asked him, and we understood.

 

“I thought of opening a brewery, but I didn’t have a game plan or the capital and realized how much money it would take to open a brewery, so I kept jobbing.”

 

With so many unknowns taking place in the world today combined with now having two kids, he is happy to not be a brewery owner right now. And that is great for all those who are brewery owners. Without malt guys, there is no beer.

 

“I’m glad to be on the sales side and distribution side of raw materials.”

 

 

What are some of your career accomplishments?

One of Jonathan’s greatest career accomplishments is all about the raw materials that he helps distribute.

 

Before coming to MMC, he was the project manager for a massive undertaking of a block chain project. With his expertise not only in malts, but also with their agricultural beginnings, he spearheaded a project tracking barley to glass.

 

“The team I worked with built a barley seed to pour experience using cameras in the field taking pictures every hour for six months. We tracked the transit of the barley to the silo, the silo to the cart, the cart to the rail, the rail to the bagging line, the bagging line to the customer. And it was all traceable through a QR code printed on a can.”

 

 

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

Besides the obvious knowledge that malting sales reps bring malts to brewers, Jonathan believes that it’s much more than just selling the malts; it’s knowing everything about them from seed to glass.

 

“You’re not really a salesman to the brewers, you’re more of a consultant. It’s all about the relationship. That is everything. You’re there to let them know what’s going on in the malt world. You’re a huge resource.”

 

Jonathan is looking forward to bringing Malteurop to the forefront of the malting industry in the southwest.

 

“I’m focused on relationships and selling the quality and innovative malts that Malteurop provides.”

 

 

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

Building relationships, like growing a seed from barley and molding it into the liquid gold that goes into our glasses, takes cultivation and time. Jonathan gets that and will give whatever time and resources are needed to provide brewers with what they need to brew their most time-honored recipes, along with their newest creations.

 

“I’m a supporter and here to tell brewers and owners, here’s what you can do, how to be prepared. To give them an eyeglass as to what’s going on in the world. The more they know the better off they can protect themselves and their survival.”

 

Where do you see the future of malting heading?

“I’ve always been a firm believer that malt is the next fad into the future. Hops will ride its wave and always be popular, but soon brewers will see malts becoming that popular, too.”

 

Jonathan has no doubt that MMC is the most innovative right now when it comes to their specialty malts and researching new ideas. This will bring brewers into the future well-prepared for whatever the world throws at them.

 

“Innovation will always be relevant and will continue to be a part of malting’s success. You must continually add something new every year. Malteurop is already there.”

 

 

What’s your favorite style of beer and why?

While creativity and innovation are important factors within the malting and craft brewing industries, Jonathan’s personal style lies within the pure and simple characteristics of ales and lagers. And he means all of them – from Lagunitas to PBR to Heineken to Coors Banquet.  But if he’s being brutally honest, he still has a love for his homebrews. “Nothing tastes better than your own homebrew.”

 

 

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

After a bit of thinking, Jonathan was quick to list his self-described phrases. We think he hit the nail on the head.

 

“I’m a forward thinker, I see the world outside of the box, and I’m in tune to my surroundings.”

 

Not one to be limited with mere words, he gave us a more lasting image of himself. One that goes far in explaining his nurturing characteristics. And it all starts with dirt.

 

“I grew a garden with my son from seeds harvested from last year’s garden. It was a cool experience to teach my kid the connection with earth. We even grew barley, and we harvested it together, and then planted it again and grew more barley, along with other plants. All from seed. This helps remind me of why we do what we do.”

 

In the end, that is Jonathan. The Malt Guy that understands the circle of life through cultivation.

 

“Barley is just seed and maltsters convert it to make this awesome starch that brewers make into sugar wort then ferment it and we get to drink it. It’s a cool connection.”

 

Seed to glass.

 

 

 

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