Meet Your Maltster: Richard Simpson

Founded in 1862, Simpsons Malt is a fifth-generation, family-owned business based in the United Kingdom. Richard Simpson – a fifth-generation member of the Simpson family and Chair of the company since March 2024 – is a busy man. Simpsons Malt’s facilities in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland and Tivetshall St. Margaret, Norfolk produce up to 260,000 tons of malt per year for brewers and distillers across the globe.  

Recently we caught up with Richard to talk about malt, beer, whisky, and mixing family with business. Scroll along to learn more about Simpsons Malt! 

RahrBSG: One of the unique things about the suppliers that we work with is family ownership – that’s an experience not many Americans have. What is it like working with your relatives?

Richard Simpson: It’s all I’ve ever really known, to be honest. Working with family has given me opportunities to do things I wouldn’t be able to otherwise, to give whatever I feel passionate about in making a change to the business. It motivates me. A lot of family businesses talk about legacy and custodianship. I usually say, ‘Don’t screw it up.’ It’s about making sure things are fit and proper for the next generation, really. 

I used to love working with my brother. Loved working with my dad. I’m the only Simpson in it at the minute, with the exception of the odd part-timer from the next generation. And my mum’s on the board. It’s definitely a family business in many respects, and not just our family. In fact, if you talk about this site here in Berwick, there are 20-30 family connections in the business I’d say, easily. 

RahrBSG: What is your earliest memory of the Simpsons malthouses?

Richard: Oh blimey. I remember coming with my dad on weekends, just popping in, especially when the barley was in. My dad would argue it was good training for my brother and I to run up the heaps of barley. It was like training on the beach. I remember doing that when I was pretty young. Those times coming in with my dad and brother were fun. 

I used to do a lot of drawings of wagons. We used to have these bullnose Mercedes trucks. They were awesome. I enjoyed drawing those. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to find those.  

Hey Kids! Color Your Own Simpsons Truck Here! 

RahrBSG: What’s your desert island beer? (Or whisky?)

Richard: I don’t know! Cask beer is my go-to. But that’s like saying red wine is my go-to wine. It’s a big beer style.  

RahrBSG: Would your desert island need a full selection of cask beers? 

Richard: Yes, we’ll have a big bar with many beer taps. That’s the wonderful thing about beer – there’s a beer for every mood. You get the right beer, it just hits home, and you think I’ll have another one of those. And another. And the wonderful thing about cask beer in the UK is that it’s regional, there’s a geographical nature to it. You can use the same ingredients, same brew kit, and still get two different beers. Both fine beers, but both different. So yes, beer is my desert island drink. 

Also, half-and-half like they serve in Scotland. That’s half a beer and a dram of Scotch whisky. 

RahrBSG: What’s something US brewers do that you’d like to see more of in the UK?

Richard: Should I be saying ‘use Simpsons Malt’?  

Brewers in the US were early adopters of using multiple base malts. Put a little Golden Promise in, maybe some Maris Otter or some more of something else. But the traditional idea is, you choose your base malt, bang-bang [you stick with it]. I think I’d like to see more base malt flexibility [in the UK]. These malts don’t have to be an either/or. It could really help with the sustainability of some of the heritage varieties. That’s one thing we might see a lot more of. 

RahrBSG: What’s the best advice you’ve heard working in the beer biz?

Richard: When I started doing more of the sales role, a good friend of mine in the industry, he told me, ‘If you do this traveling, the important thing to remember when you go home is you’re not in a hotel anymore.’ I soon realized when I got back home what he meant. Don’t treat home like a hotel.  

And another one. A boring one: Nothing good happens after midnight. But that’s not always true. 

RahrBSG: Before we go: New stuff! Pale Chocolate has arrived, and I understand Export Brown will soon arrive too. What kinds of beers from US brewers would you like to taste these ingredients in?

Richard: The Pale Chocolate, we’ve been working on that for a few years. We’re quite pleased with that. It was pretty close to our normal brown spec; it was just slightly higher and tricky to nail. But we’ve been really excited how a little difference in color can make such a big difference in flavor. The coffee notes are what I always go on thinking about. 

The Export Brown is interesting. That’s a low-roast malt for us. Again, it’s staggering the difference we get from small adjustments.  

I’m excited to hear how people are going to use these malts. Darker beers, porters and stouts, seem to be on the rise again. Some of those that I’ve enjoyed, there’s really layers of malt flavors, instead of all chocolate. I hope these bring a bit of an opportunity for brewers to play a little bit.  

When it’s a new product for us, whether it’s Golden Naked Oats, Pale Chocolate, or something else, we’re more interested to see what brewers do with it and tell us about it. We like learning from them.  

And we’re really happy we nailed these malts. We’re pleased we got there. It’s been quite a collaboration with the [Rahr] Technical Center. We’ve sent lots of samples over. I believe we’ll see both of these malts in beers at CBC. 

RahrBSG: We’ll bring our extra-large sampling glasses and see you there!

Our thanks to Richard Simpson and Martin Inglis for their time, and to the whole team at the Home of Good Malt for making wonderful beers and whiskys possible.