Johann Baptist Weyermann Founds His Specialty Malt Business in Bamberg

In 1879, Johann Baptist Weyermann founded the company that became Weyermann Specialty Malts in Bamberg, Bavaria. The business initially produced malt coffee and other roasted malt products using a small, manually operated roasting drum. It therefore did not begin immediately as the extensive brewing-malt producer suggested by its later international reputation. Weyermann subsequently expanded into roasted and specialty malts for breweries, developing products that allowed brewers to control beer color and malt flavor with increasing precision. The family business became closely associated with Bamberg’s brewing culture and grew into a major international supplier of caramel, roasted, smoked, and other specialty malts. Its history connects nineteenth-century malt roasting with the increasingly specialized malt production used by modern breweries.