Oaty Beer Is Catching On

Oaty Beer Is Catching On Brewing beer with oats is a win-win-win for Mark Heise at Rebellion Brewing in Regina, Saskatchewan. He buys oats from local farmers, makes beer his customers like, and wins awards with the brew. “I’ve always used oats in my brewing, starting as a home brewer and when I went commercial about 10 years ago,” says Heise. “Initially, I only used them in strong beers like an oatmeal stout. Over the years, I started using them in different styles of beer to adjust flavor to our customers’ tastes. With all the oats grown here, they’re easy to source.” Like Heise, other brewers have gone beyond stout, adding oats to the mix with other beers. “If you go to conferences, you hear more about brewing with oats, and farmers tell me there is more of a market,” says Heise. “Craft breweries like ours don’t have the economies of scale to buy in container-size quantities. We tend to pay more, which farmers like.” Shawna Mathieson, Prairie Oat Growers Association, has the numbers to back up Heise’s assumption. Her best estimate is that North American breweries use about 11.9 million lbs. of oats, and interest is growing. “We continue to hear of the good mouth feel of oats in beer and that it creates a nice haze that people like,” she says. “Oat use has been growing, with some brewers using a significant amount, like Rebellion Brewery, which uses about 100 lbs. of oats per batch of beer. There was an oat beer made by Battle River Brewery in the past called Fookinootz. This beer was made with 100% oats. Alberta Oat Growers showcased it at their Annual General Meeting in 2023, and it was very well liked.” Heise notes that India Pale Ales (IPA) were a natural home for the addition of oats. IPAs are often thought of as having a bitter taste. Add oats, which are high in protein, and the taste softens. “The oats make for easier drinking and a more appealing beer,” says Heise. “They create a natural haze, thus the name of our Hazy IPA.” When sourcing his oats, Heise doesn’t have far to go. Mathieson points out that 90% of the oats produced in Canada are produced between Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, and Canada is the largest exporter of oats in the world. “This is because oats like the cooler temperatures of western Canada,” she says. “It’s estimated that Canada supplies 97% of U.S. oat imports, with 98.4% of the oat products used in the U.S. coming from Canadian sources.” With high-quality oats available locally, all Heise needs is for them to be well cleaned and stored. The exception to the rule is toasted, malted oats. He’s willing to pay a premium for the value-added grain. “The toasting and malting give beers brewed with them a real depth of flavor,” he says. “They produce a nutty flavor, one of the tastiest things you can add when brewing beer.” Heise should know. In 2023, Rebellion Brewing won a Canada Beer Cup award for their Brown Ale, brewed with toasted, malted oats. It also won a Prairie Beer Award. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rebellion Brewing Company, 1901 Dewdney Ave., Regina, Sask., Canada S4R 8R2 (ph 306-522-4666; info@rebellionbrewing.ca; www.rebellionbrewing.ca) or Prairie Oat Growers Association, Box 20106,  Regina, Sask., Canada S4P 4J7 (ph 306-530-8545; www.poga.ca).

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