By Jessica Holdman
There’s a field on the Stober farm near Goodrich known to the family as Okefenokee, named for a slough in the field that mimics the swamp lands in Florida.
In less than a month, the barley harvested from that field will be malted in Bismarck by a group of local beer lovers — Jared Stober, Donovan Stober and Chris Fries — who want to put a face to the barley it takes to make the beverage. They are starting the area’s first craft malting company, Two Track Malting.
Jared Stober said they’ve had no contracts yet as most brewers want to have the finished product to test first. They will start production in less than a month. Some local craft brewers are showing an interest, and one Minnesota brewer called to ask when they could get malt, which Jared Stober is taking as a good sign.
The trio will showcase their product at the Philadelphia craft brewers conference in May, hopeful demand from that show will eat up their production capacity.