A snitch threaten to close home brew shop

Now I have spent a lot of time focussed on how nice people are in the Danish home brew community. Well now there is a snake in paradise! A snitch has reported our local home brew shop Maltbazaren.dk the authorities.

The anonymous weasel apparently claimed that Matltbazaren.dk sold infected rye malt with intent. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that there is a suspicion that the rye malt might contain too high levels of ‘meldrøje’.

Maltbazaren.dk has handled the situation professionally from the start with stopping and recalling the rye malt in question, and this without the confirmation weather there is a problem or not. Customers have been warned not to use any rye malt until lab results from Weyermann can confirm or deny the suspicion.

This post really is not about the rye malt at all. It amazes me that someone could be such a jerk and turn this little shop in. Maltbazaren.dk is largely run by volunteers and craft brewers themselves.

One of the consequences is that they no longer can mill the grain being sold. This means that now there is a higher economic threshold when starting out as a home brewer. Now you also need to have access to a mill too.

So now they are considering to close or sell the shop.

Wow – hold on just one minute! This will be the biggest blow the the home brew community in Denmark ever. In fact Maltbazaren.dk is partly the reason that I brew. The availability of ingredients is a key factor to have an active home brew community. I remember the days I ordered stuff from abroad – this is no doubt an inhibiting factor. Sure there are competitors, but they at placed way too far away from Copenhagen, and there is plenty of room for competition.

So here is to Maltbazaren.dk, may you survive for a long time.