Base Camp
Base Camp Extra Pale is Riverbend's flagship base malt, made in Asheville from a proprietary blend of regionally grown 2-row barley. Kilning runs cooler than a standard pale malt, which holds color at 1.8 to 2.3 SRM while leaving a slightly sweet, grainy character.
Flavor is clean and grain-forward with a light grassy note, enough to give a beer a malt backbone without competing with hops. Riverbend guarantees a minimum diastatic power of 100 and a minimum extract of 80%, so it converts a heavy adjunct load without help.
Using Base Camp
- Riverbend publishes 50 to 90% of the grist for this malt.
- Low color and a clean profile make it the default base for IPA and NEIPA, where the hops should be doing the talking.
- A guaranteed DP of 100 leaves real enzymatic headroom for flaked adjuncts, malted corn or oats alongside it.
- Also used in bourbon mashes.
Styles: IPA, NEIPA, pale ale, all hop-forward styles, bourbon
Specifications
| Grain | 2-row barley, proprietary blend |
|---|---|
| Color | 1.8 to 2.3 SRM |
| Max usage rate | 50 to 90% of grist |
| Min extract (FG, dry basis) | 80% |
| Protein | 10.7% |
| S/T ratio | 40 to 45 |
| Min diastatic power | 100 |
| Min alpha amylase | 35 |
| Grain origin | Regional, family-owned farms in the Southeast |
| Bag size | 50 lb |
About Riverbend Malt House
Brent Manning and Brian Simpson founded Riverbend in Asheville in 2010, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi. It is now the first Certified Regenified malt house in the world. Grain comes from family-owned farms inside roughly a 500-mile radius of Asheville, across North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida. They still hand-rake grain on a traditional malting floor alongside modern germination-kiln vessels, and in 2025 they supplied more than 300 breweries and distilleries.