Despite only making up a small part of the Beerito recipe, Blue Ballad adds a significant amount of color and character to the beer. It imparts a crimson hue that is complemented by notes of turbinado sugar and toasted almonds on the palate. Matthews can trace the grain sourced from Troubadour from field to can, giving the beer its very own sense of terroir. In fact, it might’ve made more sense to call it it a Colorado-style Lager instead.

Troubadour is one of almost 50 craft maltsters that have begun cropping up in the U.S. over the past decade. Like many craft breweries, some of these maltsters are looking to grow and compete on an industrial scale. But there are also businesses like Troubadour, who are focusing on flavor as opposed to volume, companies that are remarkably similar in a business sense to your local brewpub or sandwich shop. These small businesses are changing the way brewers think about malt and proving that there’s still plenty of room for craft beer to evolve, even if it’s just one five-ton batch at a time.