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Rice Research Directory
Rice holds a position neither sorghum nor millet can claim: the world's most studied cereal, a century of history inside American lager as an adjunct, the only gluten-free grain with a peer-reviewed base-malt cost model, and a working dedicated malthouse — yet rice as a serious gluten-free base malt is younger science than either of the other grains. Proven ingredient, rich infrastructure, emerging craft.
Coverage is US-centered by design. This site works in the American supply chain, with international anchors included where the science is foundational.
The rules every directory runs on, what an entry is, what a listing means, and who owns a person, are on one page: How the directories work. Corrections and removals: contact us.
| Name | What | Category | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center — Stuttgart, Arkansas | By its own account the largest USDA-ARS facility solely focused on rice research, in the heart of the rice belt: genetics,… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA-ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research — Aberdeen, Idaho | Home of the National Small Grains Collection, which holds the national rice germplasm collection, the distribution half of the… | Institutions · Federal laboratories | 2026-08-24 |
| LSU AgCenter — H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station, Crowley, Louisiana | The first rice experiment station in the United States (1909), with 54 released varieties across its history, the century-deep… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Texas A&M AgriLife Research — Beaumont, Texas | The Texas rice belt's research center: improved rice cultivar development and production systems, with satellite stations… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Arkansas | The US home of rice brewing science: the program that built the only peer-reviewed gluten-free base-malt cost model we have… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| Center for Beverage Innovation — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture | A "multidisciplinary research and education hub" with "a TTB and state-licensed pilot brewery and winery" (3-barrel), whose… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-10-17 |
| University of California, Davis | The malting and brewing science program whose review of quality variation in malting and brewing grains covers rice alongside… | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| California Rice Experiment Station — Biggs, California | The grower-owned breeding institution (est. | Institutions · US universities | 2026-08-24 |
| University of Perugia — Italian Brewing Research Centre | The European program treating rice as a beer grain: the all-rice-malt beer development our rice pages cite, and the malting… | Institutions · International centers | 2026-08-24 |
| VLB Berlin — Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei | The German brewing research and teaching institute; | Institutions · International centers | 2026-08-24 |
| Technical University of Munich — Weihenstephan, Germany | The gluten-free malting school whose work spans the alternative grains, including rice malt and broken-rice extract research… | Institutions · International centers | 2026-08-24 |
| IRRI — International Rice Research Institute, Philippines | The global center of rice science and germplasm, the deepest research infrastructure behind any gluten-free brewing grain. | Institutions · International centers | 2026-08-24 |
| Scott Lafontaine | University of Arkansas. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Bernardo Pontes Guimarães | University of Arkansas. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Shannon R.M. Pinson | USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Nils Rettberg & Florian Schrickel | VLB Berlin. Brewing analytical science; | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Anna McClung | USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Xueyan Sha | University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Christian de Guzman | University of Arkansas rice breeder, Stuttgart, leading the program behind the recent Arkansas variety releases; | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Griffiths Atungulu | University of Arkansas food and grain processing engineering; | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Adam Famoso | LSU AgCenter. Rice breeder and, since 2024, director of the H. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Martin Zarnkow | Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Glen Fox | malting and brewing science, UC Davis. | Contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| Jim Eckert | founder of Eckert Malting & Brewing (2013), profiled in the trade press as the rice malt pioneer: the person who built… | Contributors · Industry contributors | 2026-08-24 |
| The Arkansas rice malting program | The active research line running from cultivar malting suitability through brewing quality to economics, the only US program… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA NIFA award 2024-67014-42710 — milled rice in brewing (Arkansas) | The federal award acknowledged on the Lafontaine group's 2025 milled-rice brewing papers, one on how cultivar and agronomy… | Projects & Grants | 2026-10-17 |
| Dale Bumpers rice research programs | The federal center's ongoing project portfolio in rice genetics, quality, and germplasm. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| The LSU rice breeding pipeline | The active variety-development program at the century-old Crowley station, the southern belt's ongoing cultivar pipeline. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| The Arkansas rice breeding program | The integrated breeding operation at Stuttgart — long-grain, medium-grain, aromatic, and hybrid projects, winter nursery,… | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| The Louisiana Rice Verification Program | On-farm, field-scale research verification across Louisiana rice, active applied research with published annual reports. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| The California checkoff research portfolio | The California Rice Research Board's annually funded slate of research projects for the state's industry. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| Arkansas's annual funding round | The Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board's yearly allocations. | Projects & Grants | 2026-08-24 |
| USDA NIFA | The federal agency behind the competitive awards funding the Arkansas alternative-malt economics work. | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board | The state rice checkoff: producer and buyer assessments funding rice research, extension, and market development, the… | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| California Rice Research Board | The California rice checkoff's research arm: soliciting, funding, and overseeing research for the nation's second rice state,… | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Louisiana Rice Research and Promotion Boards | The dual Louisiana checkoff, a research assessment and a promotion assessment on every hundredweight of Louisiana rice,… | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| The Rice Foundation | The US rice industry's 501(c)(3) research and education foundation — a board spanning producers, millers, and users, funding… | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council | The producer council that operates its own research farm in southeast Missouri, producer-directed rice research in the… | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Mississippi Rice Promotion Board | The fourth rice-state producer board, funding promotion and research for Mississippi's crop. | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| USA Rice Federation | The national rice industry organization and its research-and-promotion apparatus, funded through the state checkoffs. | Funders & Programs | 2026-08-24 |
| Anheuser-Busch Foundation | The foundation through which Anheuser-Busch donated $130,000 to Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers in 2026,… | Funders & Programs | 2026-10-16 |
| Arkansas Research Alliance | The Arkansas organization investing in research talent for the state's economic development, whose ARA Impact Grants fund… | Funders & Programs | 2026-10-16 |
| Arkansas Act 874 of 2025 — the rice-beer excise credit | A state incentive rather than a research funder: HB1491, approved 2025-04-17, gives beer and sake containing at least 20%… | Funders & Programs | 2026-10-16 |
| The structural picture | rice has the richest producer-funding apparatus of any gluten-free grain — state checkoffs in the major rice states, a… | Funders & Programs | 2026-10-17 |
| Rice's commercial position is unique: it has been inside American beer at the largest scale for over a century | as the classic adjunct in American lager, and it has a dedicated gluten-free malthouse built around it as a single grain, the… | Industry & Supply Chain | — |
| Eckert Malting & Brewing | Chico, California. The dedicated gluten-free rice malthouse: custom malting and roasting of rice in a stated dedicated… | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-08-24 |
| Grouse Malt House | Wellington, Colorado. | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-08-24 |
| Miller Malting Co | Cascade, Iowa. A farm malthouse listing rice malt, its rice "sourced from a GF Regenerative farm," beside millet and buckwheat… | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-10-17 |
| Briess Malt & Ingredients | Chilton, Wisconsin. A major conventional maltster producing rice brewing products (flakes and syrups) cited on our own rice pages. | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-08-24 |
| Crisp Malt / Micronized Food Products (MFP) | United Kingdom. Flaked torrefied rice, pre-gelatinized for direct mash use, which moves the gelatinization step out of the… | Industry & Supply Chain · The malt | 2026-08-26 |
| Sweet Additions | United States. An industrial maker of rice, tapioca and oat ingredients whose RiceSweet brown rice syrup, made "through a… | Industry & Supply Chain · The syrups | 2026-10-14 |
| Riceland Foods | Stuttgart, Arkansas. The world's largest rice miller and marketer: a farmer-owned cooperative of 5,500 members handling over… | Industry & Supply Chain · The grain trade | 2026-08-24 |
| RiceTec | Alvin, Texas. The private hybrid rice breeder, operating internationally from its Texas research base, the commercial seed… | Industry & Supply Chain · The grain trade | 2026-08-24 |
| Orange Bike Brewing Co | Portland, Maine. A dedicated gluten-free brewery whose retail ingredient lists name rice malt beside millet and buckwheat malt. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-10-20 |
| Otherwise Brewing | San Carlos, California. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-08-24 |
| Ghostfish Brewing Company | Seattle. The Seattle dedicated gluten-free brewery brews on rice malt alongside millet and buckwheat. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-08-24 |
| Evasion Brewing | McMinnville, Oregon. Dedicated gluten-free all-grain brewery with malted rice and millet as primary ingredients. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-08-24 |
| Buck Wild Brewing | Oakland, California. A gluten-free brewery that brewed on rice, buckwheat, and millet; | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-10-17 |
| Burning Brothers Brewing | St. Paul, Minnesota. A dedicated gluten-free brewery whose grists spanned malted rice, malted millet, and sorghum; | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-10-17 |
| Lakefront Brewery — New Grist | Milwaukee. The founding-era gluten-free beer still in year-round production carries rice in its grist alongside sorghum and… | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-08-24 |
| TWØBAYS Brewing Co | Dromana, Victoria, Australia. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-10-14 |
| Divine Science Brewing | Tustin, Orange County, California. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-10-17 |
| ORYZAE Brewing | Wakayama City, Japan. | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | — |
| The adjunct prior art | American lager has long brewed with rice at industrial scale, the deepest normalization any gluten-free grain has inside beer,… | Industry & Supply Chain · The breweries | 2026-08-24 |
| BevSource | The beverage development and sourcing firm behind many new gluten-free beer projects; | Industry & Supply Chain · The services layer | 2026-08-24 |
| USA Rice Federation | The US rice industry's national organization — market development, promotion, and the policy voice of the crop. | Organizations & Events | 2026-08-24 |
| MEBAK — Mitteleuropäische Brautechnische Analysenkommission | The Central European brewing analysis commission whose methods, including the adjunct gelatinization method our rice pages… | Organizations & Events | 2026-08-24 |
| American Society of Brewing Chemists | The North American brewing methods body, the framework any US rice malt specification would be written against. | Organizations & Events | 2026-08-24 |
| Craft Maltsters Guild | The trade organization of the craft malting movement the dedicated gluten-free malthouses operate in; | Organizations & Events | 2026-08-24 |
| USA Rice Outlook Conference | The largest rice-specific event in North America — the annual December gathering of farmers, millers, merchants, researchers,… | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| International Year of Rice 2004 | The UN General Assembly's designation of 2004 as the International Year of Rice, led by FAO. | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| Arkansas Rice Field Day | The annual grower-and-research gathering at the Stuttgart Rice Research and Extension Center, where the state's new varieties… | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| LSU Rice Station Field Day | The century-old annual tradition at the Crowley station, Louisiana's growers walking the nation's oldest rice research plots. | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
| Craft Malt Month | The Guild's September spotlight on regional malting — the annual moment the craft-malt world, gluten-free malthouses included,… | Organizations & Events · The field's calendar | 2026-08-24 |
1. Institutions — federal labs, universities, and international centers doing rice work9 entries
— Federal laboratories —
USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center — Stuttgart, Arkansas. By its own account the largest USDA-ARS facility solely focused on rice research, in the heart of the rice belt: genetics, quality, and germplasm, including co-authorship on the modern rice malting-suitability research. Center page · Verified 2026-08-24
USDA-ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research — Aberdeen, Idaho. Home of the National Small Grains Collection, which holds the national rice germplasm collection, the distribution half of the federal rice germplasm system, working in a documented loop with the Stuttgart center. The collection · Verified 2026-08-24
— US universities —
LSU AgCenter — H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station, Crowley, Louisiana. The first rice experiment station in the United States (1909), with 54 released varieties across its history, the century-deep breeding institution of the southern rice belt. Station overview · the breeding program · Verified 2026-08-24
Texas A&M AgriLife Research — Beaumont, Texas. The Texas rice belt's research center: improved rice cultivar development and production systems, with satellite stations across the belt. Center · Verified 2026-08-24
University of Arkansas. The US home of rice brewing science: the program that built the only peer-reviewed gluten-free base-malt cost model we have found, and led the modern malting-suitability evaluation of nineteen diverse rice cultivars, work this site's rice pages already cite, with a brewing certificate program behind it. The university's account of the malting study · the cost model · Verified 2026-08-24
Center for Beverage Innovation — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. A "multidisciplinary research and education hub" with "a TTB and state-licensed pilot brewery and winery" (3-barrel), whose listed research areas include "Rice and Barley Malting and Starch Quality", with "200+ rice lines screened for malting potential and extract yield": the institutional home of the Arkansas rice-malt work on this page. CBI · team · Verified 2026-10-17
University of California, Davis. The malting and brewing science program whose review of quality variation in malting and brewing grains covers rice alongside the other alternatives, sited in America's other major rice-growing state. The review · Verified 2026-08-24
California Rice Experiment Station — Biggs, California. The grower-owned breeding institution (est. 1912): 57 released varieties across its history per the linked profile, and unusually, the station and its varieties are owned by California's rice growers through their own nonprofit foundation. The station's story · a recent breeding report · Verified 2026-08-24
— International centers —
University of Perugia — Italian Brewing Research Centre. The European program treating rice as a beer grain: the all-rice-malt beer development our rice pages cite, and the malting optimization that produced the first top-fermented rice-malt beverage. The optimization study · Verified 2026-08-24
VLB Berlin — Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei. The German brewing research and teaching institute; the modern rice cultivar evaluation's malting was performed on VLB's own small-scale malting system in Berlin, with its scientists co-authoring: European brewing craft applied to American rice, down to the finding that purple-bran cultivars could serve as natural gluten-free colorants. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Technical University of Munich — Weihenstephan, Germany. The gluten-free malting school whose work spans the alternative grains, including rice malt and broken-rice extract research for gluten-free brewing. The broken-rice and rice-malt chapter · Verified 2026-08-24
IRRI — International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. The global center of rice science and germplasm, the deepest research infrastructure behind any gluten-free brewing grain. IRRI · Verified 2026-08-24
2. Contributors — the researchers behind the work12 entries
Scott Lafontaine — University of Arkansas. Flavor chemistry and alternative-malt economics; senior author of both the rice-malt cost model and the cultivar malting evaluation. The central figure in US rice brewing science. Program news · the cost study · Verified 2026-08-24
Bernardo Pontes Guimarães — University of Arkansas. First author of the nineteen-cultivar rice malting-suitability evaluation and the cost-model study. The emerging researcher carrying the rice-malt thread. The cultivar study · Verified 2026-08-24
Shannon R.M. Pinson — USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center. Rice geneticist; federal co-author on the malting-suitability work, the germplasm science behind cultivar selection for brewing. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Nils Rettberg & Florian Schrickel — VLB Berlin. Brewing analytical science; co-authors of the rice malting evaluation, the European analytics side of the collaboration. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Anna McClung — USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center. Rice breeder and germplasm scientist; federal co-author on the malting-suitability evaluation. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Xueyan Sha — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart. Senior rice breeder; the Division's release credits his rice breeding team with Taurus (medium-grain) and Ozark (long-grain). Variety release · Verified 2026-08-24; title corrected to the release 2026-10-17
Christian de Guzman — University of Arkansas rice breeder, Stuttgart, leading the program behind the recent Arkansas variety releases; co-author of the malting-suitability study, the breeding-to-brewing crossover in person. Variety release · Verified 2026-08-24
Griffiths Atungulu — University of Arkansas food and grain processing engineering; co-author of the malting evaluation, the post-harvest quality science between field and malthouse. The study · Verified 2026-08-24
Adam Famoso — LSU AgCenter. Rice breeder and, since 2024, director of the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station, genomics-driven variety development at the nation's oldest rice station. Director announcement · Verified 2026-08-24
Martin Zarnkow — Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan. The gluten-free malting researcher whose corpus spans proso millet, rice, and the other alternative grains, including the broken-rice and rice-malt extract work. Profile and chapter · Verified 2026-08-24
Glen Fox — malting and brewing science, UC Davis. His alternative-grains quality review is anchor literature for rice as for the other gluten-free grains. Profile · the review · Verified 2026-08-24
— Industry contributors —
Jim Eckert — founder of Eckert Malting & Brewing (2013), profiled in the trade press as the rice malt pioneer: the person who built commercial rice malting in America, roast range and all. Trade profile · Verified 2026-08-24
3. Projects & Grants — funded work in flight right now8 entries
The Arkansas rice malting program. The active research line running from cultivar malting suitability through brewing quality to economics, the only US program treating rice as a base malt scientifically. The university's account · Verified 2026-08-24
USDA NIFA award 2024-67014-42710 — milled rice in brewing (Arkansas). The federal award acknowledged on the Lafontaine group's 2025 milled-rice brewing papers, one on how cultivar and agronomy drive extract yield across 74 rice cultivars, one on rice in non-alcoholic beer with sensory panels in Arkansas and Germany, co-authored with VLB Berlin. The second paper also acknowledges NIFA award 2022-70410-38443. The award's title, amount and dates are not confirmed here; both papers are under Literature. Division of Agriculture release, 2025 · Crossref funder records · Verified 2026-10-17
Dale Bumpers rice research programs. The federal center's ongoing project portfolio in rice genetics, quality, and germplasm. Research projects · Verified 2026-08-24
The LSU rice breeding pipeline. The active variety-development program at the century-old Crowley station, the southern belt's ongoing cultivar pipeline. LSU rice breeding · Verified 2026-08-24
The Arkansas rice breeding program. The integrated breeding operation at Stuttgart — long-grain, medium-grain, aromatic, and hybrid projects, winter nursery, pathology support, and foundation seed — releasing new varieties continuously. Recent releases · Verified 2026-08-24
The Louisiana Rice Verification Program. On-farm, field-scale research verification across Louisiana rice, active applied research with published annual reports. The program · Verified 2026-08-24
The California checkoff research portfolio. The California Rice Research Board's annually funded slate of research projects for the state's industry. The board's program · Verified 2026-08-24
Arkansas's annual funding round. The Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board's yearly allocations. The linked round approved $2.86 million, the large majority of it to USA Rice for promotion, with smaller sums to university outreach. The board's research funding runs through separate cycles. The announcement · Verified 2026-08-24
Rice brewing research remains one program deep in the US, though the one program now draws several funders: a USDA NIFA award acknowledged on its 2025 milled-rice papers (above), an Arkansas Research Alliance grant with the Anheuser-Busch Foundation as industry partner (2025), and a 2026 Anheuser-Busch Foundation grant whose projects include rice quality for brewing. That concentration is documented under Research gaps below. The breeding and production research apparatus, by contrast, is the largest of any gluten-free grain.
4. Funders & Programs — who pays for rice research (described, never endorsed)12 entries
USDA NIFA. The federal agency behind the competitive awards funding the Arkansas alternative-malt economics work. NIFA · Verified 2026-08-24
Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board. The state rice checkoff: producer and buyer assessments funding rice research, extension, and market development, the producer-funded structure millet lacks and sorghum's exists for other purposes; rice's is aimed at the very state where the malting research lives. The board · Verified 2026-08-24
California Rice Research Board. The California rice checkoff's research arm: soliciting, funding, and overseeing research for the nation's second rice state, administered in working connection with UC Davis. The board · its UC Davis connection · Verified 2026-08-24
Louisiana Rice Research and Promotion Boards. The dual Louisiana checkoff, a research assessment and a promotion assessment on every hundredweight of Louisiana rice, producer-administered, core-funding the LSU station's research. The boards · Verified 2026-08-24
The Rice Foundation. The US rice industry's 501(c)(3) research and education foundation — a board spanning producers, millers, and users, funding varietal, production, and sustainability research. The Foundation · Verified 2026-08-24
Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council. The producer council that operates its own research farm in southeast Missouri, producer-directed rice research in the Missouri Bootheel. The council · Verified 2026-08-24
Mississippi Rice Promotion Board. The fourth rice-state producer board, funding promotion and research for Mississippi's crop. The board's activity · Verified 2026-08-24
USA Rice Federation. The national rice industry organization and its research-and-promotion apparatus, funded through the state checkoffs. USA Rice · Verified 2026-08-24
Anheuser-Busch Foundation. The foundation through which Anheuser-Busch donated $130,000 to Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers in 2026, for projects the station describes as covering "factors affecting rice quality and performance in brewing applications". Two are led by Scott Lafontaine: the shelf stability of rice formats in lager, and how agricultural practices shape rice quality for value-added uses, brewing included. The foundation was also the industry partner on his 2025 Arkansas Research Alliance grant. Neither announcement mentions malting. The 2026 grant · The 2025 partnership · Verified 2026-10-16
Arkansas Research Alliance. The Arkansas organization investing in research talent for the state's economic development, whose ARA Impact Grants fund 12-month scientific and engineering projects. Its 2025 round included a $20,250 bonus grant to Lafontaine for "Optimizing Rice Extract for Brewing Efficiency and Economic Growth in Arkansas", with the Anheuser-Busch Foundation as industry partner. The 2025 grants · Verified 2026-10-16
Arkansas Act 874 of 2025 — the rice-beer excise credit. A state incentive rather than a research funder: HB1491, approved 2025-04-17, gives beer and sake containing at least 20% Arkansas rice by weight of the total grain bill a credit against the state excise tax, equal to the rice percentage multiplied by the tax due. The Act's two sections cover the credit and its reporting; it rewards rice in the grist, malted or not. The Act · Verified 2026-10-16
The structural picture: rice has the richest producer-funding apparatus of any gluten-free grain — state checkoffs in the major rice states, a national foundation, and a federation. Some of that money has reached malting: the 2024 malting-suitability study of US rice cultivars lists the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board (GR018895) as its funder, per its Crossref funder record, and the 2025–2026 brewing grants above came from the Arkansas Research Alliance and the Anheuser-Busch Foundation. As of 2026-10-17 we have found no rice checkoff that runs malting as a program. The study · Verified 2026-10-17 (Crossref funder metadata)
5. Industry & Supply Chain — where rice is the most normalized gluten-free grain in brewing19 entries
Rice's commercial position is unique: it has been inside American beer at the largest scale for over a century — as the classic adjunct in American lager, and it has a dedicated gluten-free malthouse built around it as a single grain, the only one of its kind we have found. What's young is rice as a craft base malt; what's proven is everything underneath it.
— The malt —
Eckert Malting & Brewing — Chico, California. The dedicated gluten-free rice malthouse: custom malting and roasting of rice in a stated dedicated facility, with its own brewery attached. We know of no other US malthouse built around a single gluten-free grain. Eckert · rice malts · our verification-first worked example · Verified 2026-08-24
Grouse Malt House — Wellington, Colorado. The millet-first dedicated gluten-free malthouse also malts rice, the second dedicated source. Grouse · Verified 2026-08-24
Miller Malting Co. — Cascade, Iowa. A farm malthouse listing rice malt, its rice "sourced from a GF Regenerative farm," beside millet and buckwheat malts, and stating that its goal "to become a dedicated 100% gluten free malthouse is finally here": the third dedicated gluten-free source on this page. Miller Malting · on maltsters · Verified 2026-10-17
Briess Malt & Ingredients — Chilton, Wisconsin. A major conventional maltster producing rice brewing products (flakes and syrups) cited on our own rice pages. Label: a barley malthouse, not a dedicated gluten-free facility; the truly-gluten-free verification questions apply in full. Briess rice flakes documentation · Verified 2026-08-24
Crisp Malt / Micronized Food Products (MFP) — United Kingdom. Flaked torrefied rice, pre-gelatinized for direct mash use, which moves the gelatinization step out of the brewhouse and into a supplier's process; in the US market since around 2018. Label: a barley maltster's product; the truly-gluten-free verification questions apply in full. Described on process and equipment. The product · Verified 2026-08-26
— The syrups —
Sweet Additions — United States. An industrial maker of rice, tapioca and oat ingredients whose RiceSweet brown rice syrup, made "through a natural enzymatic process" at DE 33, 42 and 60 and shipped in totes, is stated "inherently free of allergens and gluten" and manufactured in the USA. Label: the company's own gluten-free statement; it also makes oat ingredients and does not name which of its two plants makes rice syrup, so the shared-plant and enzyme questions apply. RiceSweet · Sweet Additions · Verified 2026-10-14
— The grain trade —
Riceland Foods — Stuttgart, Arkansas. The world's largest rice miller and marketer: a farmer-owned cooperative of 5,500 members handling over 2.5 million metric tons of grain a year, the commercial scale sitting underneath any future rice-malt supply chain, headquartered in the same town as the research anchors above. Riceland · Verified 2026-08-24
RiceTec — Alvin, Texas. The private hybrid rice breeder, operating internationally from its Texas research base, the commercial seed side of the rice chain. RiceTec · Verified 2026-08-24
— The breweries —
Orange Bike Brewing Co. — Portland, Maine. A dedicated gluten-free brewery whose retail ingredient lists name rice malt beside millet and buckwheat malt. Listed on brewers. · Verified 2026-10-20
Otherwise Brewing — San Carlos, California. The rice-first dedicated gluten-free brewery: its flagship Calrose Crisp lager is brewed on rice malt with millet added for maltiness, by the brewery's own account. Named for California's signature rice variety. Otherwise · Calrose Crisp · Verified 2026-08-24
Ghostfish Brewing Company — Seattle. The Seattle dedicated gluten-free brewery brews on rice malt alongside millet and buckwheat. Ghostfish · Verified 2026-08-24
Evasion Brewing — McMinnville, Oregon. Dedicated gluten-free all-grain brewery with malted rice and millet as primary ingredients. Evasion · Verified 2026-08-24
Buck Wild Brewing — Oakland, California. A gluten-free brewery that brewed on rice, buckwheat, and millet; it closed in April 2024, per LocalWiki citing KRON. Reviewed lineup · the closure, per LocalWiki · Verified 2026-10-17
Burning Brothers Brewing — St. Paul, Minnesota. A dedicated gluten-free brewery whose grists spanned malted rice, malted millet, and sorghum; its last day was 10 May 2025, per the Star Tribune. Coverage · the closure (Star Tribune via Yahoo, 2025-05-01) · Verified 2026-10-17
Lakefront Brewery — New Grist — Milwaukee. The founding-era gluten-free beer still in year-round production carries rice in its grist alongside sorghum and millet. New Grist · Verified 2026-08-24
TWØBAYS Brewing Co — Dromana, Victoria, Australia. Describes itself as "a Dedicated gluten free brewery," brewing "with naturally gluten free malts only, including rice, millet and buckwheat," and resells Eckert's and Grouse's gluten-free malts in Australia and New Zealand; described on millet. TWØBAYS · malts · Verified 2026-10-14
Divine Science Brewing — Tustin, Orange County, California. A brewery that states "Everything we make is always 100% Gluten Free," brewing on malted rice, millet and corn among other naturally gluten-free grains. It names no certifier or testing programme. Divine Science Brewing · on brewers · Verified 2026-10-17
ORYZAE Brewing — Wakayama City, Japan. A microbrewery that by its own account brews with no malt or barley, fermenting its beers on rice koji; described on koji enzymes.
The adjunct prior art. American lager has long brewed with rice at industrial scale, the deepest normalization any gluten-free grain has inside beer, even though that tradition uses rice beside barley malt rather than in place of it. USDA ERS rice sector overview · Verified 2026-08-24
— The services layer —
BevSource. The beverage development and sourcing firm behind many new gluten-free beer projects; its published gluten-free beer analysis names rice among the working grains of the category. BevSource on gluten-free beer · our page on working with them · Verified 2026-08-24
— Sourcing and verification, on this site's working pages —
- Malthouses that run gluten-free — the verification method; Eckert is a worked example
- Rice on our grain pages — adjunct vs base malt, processing, and the full citation set
- Rice hull strategy — rice's other job in the brewhouse: the lautering aid running through gluten-free brewing regardless of base grain
- Third-party testing resources
More supplier and brewery entries are added as they are verified.
6. Organizations & Events — trade bodies, standards organizations, and the field's calendar9 entries
USA Rice Federation. The US rice industry's national organization — market development, promotion, and the policy voice of the crop. USA Rice · Verified 2026-08-24
MEBAK — Mitteleuropäische Brautechnische Analysenkommission. The Central European brewing analysis commission whose methods, including the adjunct gelatinization method our rice pages cite, are part of how rice brewing behavior is measured. The method, as our pages cite it · Verified 2026-08-24
American Society of Brewing Chemists. The North American brewing methods body, the framework any US rice malt specification would be written against. ASBC · Verified 2026-08-24
Craft Maltsters Guild. The trade organization of the craft malting movement the dedicated gluten-free malthouses operate in; runs Craft Malt Month each September. Guild · Verified 2026-08-24
— The field's calendar —
USA Rice Outlook Conference. The largest rice-specific event in North America — the annual December gathering of farmers, millers, merchants, researchers, and agencies from every rice state. The 2026 conference runs December 13–15 in Nashville. Outlook Conference · Verified 2026-08-24
International Year of Rice 2004. The UN General Assembly's designation of 2004 as the International Year of Rice, led by FAO. Historic; the precedent the millet year followed two decades later. FAO — IYR 2004 · Verified 2026-08-24
Arkansas Rice Field Day. The annual grower-and-research gathering at the Stuttgart Rice Research and Extension Center, where the state's new varieties are shown to the industry each August. The 2026 field day · Verified 2026-08-24
LSU Rice Station Field Day. The century-old annual tradition at the Crowley station, Louisiana's growers walking the nation's oldest rice research plots. The tradition · Verified 2026-08-24
Craft Malt Month. The Guild's September spotlight on regional malting — the annual moment the craft-malt world, gluten-free malthouses included, is most visible. Guild · Verified 2026-08-24
For celiac and gluten-free community organizations, see Celiac organizations.
7. Literature & Datasets — the anchor works, the methods, and the published data
— Anchor works —
- Guimarães, Nalley & Lafontaine — the rice-malt cost model — the only peer-reviewed gluten-free base-malt economics in existence. npj Sustainable Agriculture 2025
- Guimarães et al. — malting suitability and brewing quality of nineteen rice cultivars — the modern cultivar-level evaluation, co-authored across Arkansas, the federal rice center, and VLB Berlin; cited on our rice pages. Beverages 2024
- Fox & Bettenhausen — Variation in Quality of Grains Used in Malting and Brewing — the alternative-grains quality review; rice is inside its scope. Frontiers in Plant Science 2023 · Open copy · Verified 2026-10-17
- The all-rice-malt beer study — development of a 100% rice malt beer as a gluten-free alternative; cited on our rice pages. LWT 2016
- Ceccaroni et al. — rice malting optimization for top-fermented gluten-free beer — the Perugia program's follow-through: a water-saving malting procedure and the first top-fermented rice-malt beverage. J. Sci. Food & Agriculture 2019
- Saccharifying rice malt for brewing — rice varieties and malting parameters for enzymatically self-converting rice malt; cited on our rice pages. JAFC
- Malted rice cultivars and the flavor of non- and low-alcoholic beers — the Arkansas–VLB program's third study: the same collaboration carrying rice malt into beer's fastest-growing category. ASBC Journal 2025
- Guimarães, Rani & Lafontaine — scaling malted rice to commercial malting and brewing — four rice varieties taken from ~0.5 kg laboratory batches to ~150 kg pilot malting, across two malthouses and six breweries, with extract yields of 38–64%; the malts showed lower α- and β-amylase but significantly higher glucoamylase and limit dextrinase activity, and adequate modification or exogenous enzymes proved essential against stuck mashes. BrewingScience 2026
- Rice as a brewing adjunct, reviewed — the peer-reviewed mini-review of rice's century-old role beside barley malt. J. Sci. Food & Agriculture
- Optimizing milled rice utilization in brewing through cultivar characterization — matching rice cultivars to brewhouse equipment constraints. Beverages 2026
- Brown rice as a brewing adjunct — the whole-grain route's effects on beer, peer-reviewed and open. Open study
- The broken-rice and rice-malt extract chapter — the gluten-free malt extract route, from the Weihenstephan orbit. Chapter access
- Gluten-free rice malt extract powder at pilot scale — production and characterization of rice malt extract for food and beverage use. Molecules 2025
— Further peer-reviewed reading —
- Taylor, Dlamini & Kruger — the science of the tropical cereals sorghum, maize and rice in relation to lager brewing — per the abstract, all three cereals gelatinize about 10 °C above barley, and their malts lack barley's β-amylase level; rice cell walls appear to contain pectic substances, and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline is the major rice aroma compound. J. Inst. Brewing 2013 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Agu et al. — germination temperature and proteolysis in rice and buckwheat — per the abstract, rice malt made more maltose than glucose at every germination temperature tested (20–30 °C); the companion of the Chiba et al. sorghum-and-millet study. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2012 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Aitkens, Schubert … Pinson & Lafontaine — extract yield from milled rice — cultivar and agricultural factors behind extract yield; the Division of Agriculture's release reports that higher-yielding cultivars tended to have lower amylose and cracked more easily during mashing. J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 83(4), 2025 · the release · Verified 2026-10-17
- Schubert, Sen, Rettberg & Lafontaine — milled rice in non-alcoholic beer — rice with the maltose-negative yeast Saccharomycodes ludwigii, including the aromatic ARoma 22; open access. Int. J. Food Properties 28(1), 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17
- Guimarães, Rani, Sen et al. — malted and adjunct rice potential across diverse germplasm, by simulated enzymatic hydrolysis — per the abstract, matching the enzyme blend to starch structure drove conversion: waxy rice needed blends with glucoamylase, high-amylose rice needed β-amylase, and full blends reached 87% fermentable-sugar conversion. ACS Food Sci. Technol. 6(8), 2026 · Verified 2026-10-17
— Where this site's rice citations live —
— Public datasets —
- GSOR — Genetic Stocks Oryza collection. More than 20,000 rice genetic seed stocks maintained at the federal rice center and distributed to researchers worldwide. The collection · Verified 2026-08-24
- The National Small Grains Collection — rice holdings. The national rice germplasm collection, maintained at Aberdeen, Idaho and distributed worldwide. NSGC · Verified 2026-08-24
- The 3,000 Rice Genomes Project and SNP-Seek. The landmark public genomics resource: 3,024 rice accessions from 89 countries sequenced and released as a global public good, with tens of millions of SNPs queryable through IRRI's SNP-Seek and freely hosted on open cloud infrastructure, the largest open dataset behind any gluten-free grain. The project · open data registry · Verified 2026-08-24
- Arkansas Rice Performance Trials. The annual published variety trials for the top US rice state: cultivar descriptions, yields, and disease ratings, updated every December. 2025 trials · the variety testing program · Verified 2026-08-24
- LSU rice station annual reports. The century-old station's yearly published research record. Annual reports · Verified 2026-08-24
- USDA NASS rice statistics. Federal production, acreage, and yield statistics for US rice. NASS · Verified 2026-08-24
- IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank. The global center's open production and post-harvest knowledge base, already cited on our rice pages. Knowledge Bank · Verified 2026-08-24
- USDA ERS rice sector data. The federal economic statistics for US rice: production, trade, and use. ERS rice · Verified 2026-08-24
- FAO global production statistics. The world picture for rice production, already cited on our rice pages. FAO statistics · Verified 2026-08-24
This site's own published datasets (the research library) are currently sorghum; a public rice malting dataset is an open gap — see Research gaps below.
How the field connects — documented links between the entries above
Every connection below is documented: no inferred relationships, no speculation.
- Arkansas ↔ Dale Bumpers ↔ VLB Berlin — one study, three institutions: the cultivar malting evaluation was co-authored across the university, the federal rice center, and the German brewing institute. The study
- Breeding ↔ brewing, inside one program — the same Arkansas breeder who co-develops the state's variety releases co-authors the malting science: the crossover the other gluten-free grains still lack already exists for rice, in one person at one center. The releases · the malting study
- Texas Tech ↔ IRRI — the sorghum directory's crop physiologist spent seven years at the global rice center before Texas Tech, one career spanning two of these directories. His profile
- One malting school, three grains — TU Munich–Weihenstephan's gluten-free malting corpus spans proso millet, rice, and the wider alternative grains. The same lab anchoring the millet directory appears here.
- One review, five directories — Fox & Bettenhausen's alternative-grains quality review sits in the literature of this directory and of the sorghum, millet, corn and buckwheat directories. The review
- The dedicated malthouses span the grains — Grouse (millet-first) also malts rice; Eckert (rice-first) anchors this page; Miller Malting, the Iowa farm malthouse, lists rice malt beside millet and buckwheat. Grouse and Eckert are worked examples on our malthouses page. Miller Malting
- Eckert → Australia and New Zealand — the Australian dedicated gluten-free brewery TWØBAYS names Eckert Malting & Brewing and Grouse Malt House as its malt partners and resells their malts across Australia and New Zealand, carrying this page's rice malthouse into a second market. TWØBAYS malts
- Eckert ↔ California rice brewing — the rice-first maltster profiled in the trade press as the pioneer of US rice malt, supplying the gluten-free breweries brewing on California rice. The trade profile
- Eckert ↔ Ghostfish — Ghostfish's head brewer, interviewed in 2022, names Eckert's James' Brown Rice malt among the rice-malt choices he recommends, and lists Eckert with Skagit Valley and Grouse as malthouses whose offerings shape new flavors. Craft Beer & Brewing, 2022-07-05
- Arkansas ↔ this site's rice pages — the cost model and the cultivar study are already cited across our rice guidance, citation relationships that existed before this directory did.
- Anheuser-Busch → Arkansas rice-in-brewing research — the brewer donated $130,000 through the Anheuser-Busch Foundation to Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers in 2026, including two Lafontaine projects: the shelf stability of rice formats in lager, and how agricultural practices shape rice quality for value-added uses, brewing included. The foundation was also the industry partner on his 2025 Arkansas Research Alliance bonus grant, "Optimizing Rice Extract for Brewing Efficiency and Economic Growth in Arkansas." Neither announcement mentions malting. The 2026 grant · the 2025 grant
- Stuttgart ↔ Aberdeen — the two federal facilities run one documented germplasm loop: the rice center grows, regenerates, and characterizes; the small grains collection stores and distributes to the world. The shared handbook
- California's checkoff ↔ UC Davis — the state rice research board operates in documented connection with the university's rice agronomy program. The connection
- Louisiana's checkoff ↔ the LSU station — the state's research assessment core-funds the century-old breeding station's work, reported annually. The boards' own account
- Stuttgart, Arkansas: one town, three anchors — the university's Rice Research and Extension Center, the federal Dale Bumpers center, and the world's largest rice miller all share the same small city, with researchers holding documented appointments across the first two. The dual-affiliated study · Riceland
- Growers own the breeding — California's checkoff board funds the Rice Experiment Station, and the growers own the station and its varieties outright through their own foundation, the deepest producer-to-research integration of any grain in these directories. The station's story
- Arkansas's checkoff ↔ the state's rice programs — the Rice Research and Promotion Board's annual rounds fund promotion and outreach; the linked round routed most of its $2.86M to USA Rice promotion. The board's money also reached malting: it is the listed funder of the 2024 malting-suitability study, per that paper's Crossref funder record. A recent round · the study
- LSU ↔ Horizon Ag — the public breeding station and the commercial seed company run a documented partnership carrying varieties to the industry. The partnership
- Breeding ↔ trials ↔ growers — the Arkansas varieties released at Stuttgart flow directly into the annual published performance trials the state's growers plant by. The trials
- IYR 2004 ↔ IYM 2023 — the UN's first single-crop International Year was rice; the millet year in the millet directory followed its precedent two decades later. IYR 2004
Research gaps — where the field's coverage runs out
These are the gaps we have found and documented. If we have missed something, tell us:
- Rice's base-malt science is one US program deep, now at pilot scale. As of October 2026, as far as we have found, the Arkansas program plus the European malting school are the entire academic apparatus treating rice as a gluten-free base malt, atop the deepest general research base of any grain on earth. The one program is no longer bench-only: it has scaled rice malting from about 0.5 kg to about 150 kg batches across two malthouses and six breweries (BrewingScience 2026), and a 2025 Arkansas law gives an excise-tax credit for beer and sake with at least 20% Arkansas rice in the grain bill. The distance between what's known about rice and what's known about rice malting is the widest such gap in gluten-free brewing.
- Nobody breeds rice for brewing, that we know of. Rice breeding targets food quality and agronomy; as of October 2026 we have found no program selecting rice varieties for malting traits, despite the cultivar study showing the variation is there to select on. The Arkansas group is now evaluating about 300 more rice lines and describes dedicated brewing varieties as a possibility, not yet a program. If you know of one, tell us.
- The same information layer is missing. As with sorghum and millet, we have found no widely used per-lot reporting practice for rice malt buyers, the problem this site's Lot Reporting Standard exists to solve, across gluten-free grains.
- No released rice malting-quality dataset, though the cultivar study exists. The germplasm and economic data are rich; a public dataset of rice malting performance, the Madison-screening equivalent, does not exist to our knowledge.
What to do while the gaps stand. Rice is the grain with the widest distance between what is known about the crop and what is known about malting it, and a brewer using it today still has to decide something. Rice as adjunct versus base malt sets out where each role holds, and rice processing in gluten-free brewing covers the handling the gelatinisation temperature forces. Conditional guidance, not settled science: it is what our record and the published work jointly support, and it is labelled that way rather than dressed up.
What would close these gaps, in detail: Open research problems · Research asks.
Run a rice program, lab, project, or company we should list? Entries are added on merit once verified — tell us about it.
Entries are added as they are verified, never to pad the count. A listing here is a map reference, not a citation: this directory deliberately maps the whole rice research world — a wider circle than the specific evidence our brewing guidance is built on, which every guidance page cites directly. Corrections welcome — see Contact.
Directory established 2026-08-24 · first verification pass 2026-08-24.