Norfolk's world-beating beer supply chain was celebrated with a rallying cry for farmers, maltsters and brewers to shout about their key ingredient - malting barley.
A "Plant 2 Pint" open day was held at a farm near Attleborough to show barley growers the latest variety trials and discuss their crop's pivotal role within the beer trade.
The event was for members of the ABC Grower Group, a partnership between processor Crisp Malt in Great Ryburgh, near Fakenham, and two Norfolk grain merchants - Adams and Howling and H Banham.
For the first time in its 15-year history, the 150-strong group of farmers has committed more than 100,000 tonnes of barley from the 2022 harvest to be malted at Crisp.
The demand for malt from craft breweries and major beer brands around the world also continues to grow, they were told by Crisp's chief operating officer Steve LePoidevin.
And one of their brewing customers said the whole supply chain should unite to promote Norfolk's global reputation for growing and processing beer-making barleys such as Maris Otter.
David Holliday is co-founder of the Norfolk Brewhouse, which makes its Moon Gazer ales in Hindringham.
He said Norfolk's contribution to the brewing industry had not traditionally been fully appreciated by the wider public.
"We realised very early on the importance of local provenance, and to start promoting the fact that we use local Norfolk barley," he said.
"We found it a bit odd that when we did our first brew of 3,000 pints I used 300kg of malted barley and 10kg of hops - but when anyone talked about beer it was always about what hops were in it.
"We thought it was really important to say that the biggest, most important part of the beer is barley.
"When we first started spreading that message, everyone was a bit blank and it was falling on deaf ears.
"But fast forward 10 years and just about everyone we speak to who buys our beer or comes to the brewery for a tour, it is one of the first questions they ask: Where is your barley from, where is your malt from?
"It has been a real transition that consumers are generally interested and genuinely care about where their food and drink comes from.
"There is an expectation of smaller brewers that we are supporting local growers and part of a team within that network. And it is not just the maltsters, it is the growers, the seed merchants, that whole process.
"We are really trying to big up barley and say it is the most important aspect of what we do, and I think we all need to do that as a team.
"We must keep trying to spread that message so people understand this lovely stuff growing in the field is beer, and not just some sort of unknown thing that these big expensive tractors pile up."
Matthew Adams, joint managing director of Adams and Howling, added: "It is really important to have this provenance in the malting barley crop.
"We have led the way on this, and many of our competitors are only now catching on to this ethos of low food miles and environmentally-sensitive supply groups.
"The demand is increasing from the brewing and distilling market as everyone is searching for more volume and quality.
"One of the main successes of the group has been Crisp's ability to be flexible, to change their parameters to support the growing of malting barley in Norfolk, because every year is different and every crop is different."
The event gave about 80 ABC growers a chance to survey trial plots comparing spring and winter malting barley varieties, managed by NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany) and Morley Farms.
They also heard about the latest seed-breeding advances from Kathryn Hamlen, technical manager for malting barley at Syngenta, as well as advice on feeding their crops from Brett Fordham, commercial manager of Fakenham-based fertiliser supplier Payne Crop Nutrition.
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