Evaluation of Corn Varieties for the Michigan Craft Distilling Industry
- Research Date
- 2023
- Authors
- Brook Wilke
- Priorities
- New Varieties
- Crop Categories
- Grain
In 2023-24, our team received support from the Michigan Craft Beverage Council to continue investigating alternative corn varieties for the Michigan Craft Distilling Industry, with the goal of identifying open pollinated varieties of corn suited to Michigan with unique flavor qualities inherent in the spirit they produce. Varieties evaluated vary widely in agronomic feasibility for different climatic regions of Michigan, with variability in yield, moisture, color and basic grain quality. Spirit yield (predicted and actual hearts yield) varied between varieties. Next steps in this project involve continuing field and lab trials and finishing sensory & flavor compound analysis.