Scientists from the John Innes Centre (JIC) in Norwich are attempting to go into business, following success in reviving heritage lines of barley for brewing.

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Crop geneticist Dr Sarah de Vos has been awarded a BBSRC/Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship to develop the idea, based on experience growing heritage lines of barley, after a demand for the early crop types was established.

In previous work, scientists at JIC cultivated barley from seed stored at the Centre and used the crop to brew traditional beers. The scientists, who are hoping to commercialise their work, said it could go to provide added value for farmers, maltsters and brewers.

Dr de Vos commented, "It's exciting that our heritage lines have received interest from around the brewing world and I'm confident that we can offer exceptional and unusual barley for brewers to produce even better beers."

Moves towards increasing agro-biodiversity appears to have yielded other benefits, as the JIC scientists also pointed out that their heritage varieties of barley have valuable disease resistance traits, in addition to their good malting quality.

For now, the scientists are targeting the craft brewing explosion along the United States' Eastern Seaboard for their project. The varieties they produce will also have a sustainable dimension – the team aims to create barley lines which can adapt well to disease pressures and the impacts of climate change.