Draft:The Swaen

The Swaen

Company type	Private Limited Company
Industry	Malt
Predecessors	De Zwaan., Mouterij Menu, Mouterij Kloosterzande
Founded	May 12, 1906 (1906-05-12) in Kloosterzande, Netherlands
Founders	Jos Buysrogge, Alois Adriaanse
Headquarters	Kloosterzande , Netherlands
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Malt
Number of employees	40-50 (2024)
Website	https://theswaen.com

The Swaen is a malt house in Kloosterzande, The Netherlands. The base and special malt produced here is used mainly by breweries for beer, in distilleries for whisky and for certain foods, to add natural textures, colors and flavors.

History

"De Zwaan" (lit. "The Swan") was founded by farmer Jos Buysrogge (1859-1937) and coal merchant Alois Adriaanse (1874-1940) on 12 May 1906, originally as a malt house and brewery. Manual propulsion was used to set in motion the cooling machine, the stirring device, and the beer and water pumps.

The collaboration came to an end in 1912 and was auctioned off to Alois Adriaanse, who became the sole owner. The auction advertisement text shows that the brewery then had an annual production of 1,500 barrels and had access to excellent water in unlimited quantities.

In 1923 the company was sold to bar owner Joos Menu (1893-1960). He installed a petrol engine of 3 horsepower to automate the beer and water pumps. In 1926 it was upgraded to a petrol engine of 6 horsepower to add the cooling machine to the automation of the company. When electricity came along in 1932, the petrol engines were replaced by two electric engines of 5 and 3 horsepower. De Zwaan brewed at least three beers; Gerstebier, Triple en Deutsch Trappisten Bräu.

During World War II the copper brew kettles were removed for the weapons industry. Copper and brass were used to make small caliber gun cartridges, among other things. After the war the brewery closed, and malting became the core activity.

The malt house remained in the Menu family until 1999, when Royal Grolsch took over. When Grolsch was bought by SABMiller the De Groen family acquired the malthouse in a joint venture in 2013. The company was renamed The Swaen to represent its international ambitions. In 2019 The Swaen was awarded with a gold award at the World Barley, Malt and Beer Conference in Warschau.

Process

Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and kilning grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of the process when the required enzymes are optimal. Among other things, the enzymes convert starch to sugars such as maltose, maltotriose and maltodextrins, hence the name malt.

Malt can be roughly divided into 4 categories.

Base malt

Base malts have enough diastatic power to convert their own starch and some amount of starch from unmalted grains, called adjuncts. They can be used as the main ingredient for all beer styles.

Caramelised malt

Caramelized malt is made for flavoring and coloring beer. After germination, the wet green malt, is transferred to a roaster. Here, the malt is first saccharified and then caramelized. This results light golden to dark brown malt, depending on the time and temperature applied. Caramelized malts impart a subtly sweet flavor profile, with hints of caramel and toffee.

Roasted malt

Roasted malts are, like the name suggests, roasted. The roasting process is done after kilning, meaning the malts are already dried. This also means that there is no sugar or caramel created in this process, and all colours and flavours can be attributed to the Maillard reaction.

Functional malt

Functional malts are used to improve a beer. The purpose can be – but isn’t limited to – improving foam stability and retention, correcting pH-value, or increasing or decreasing haziness.

Production

As of 2023, The Swaen has a yearly capacity of 40,000 tons of base malt and 10,000 tons of specialty malt. The Swaen malts are sold to more than 50 countries.