# Mainstem Malt

High integrity malt for brewers, distillers, bakers, and fans.

## Elevator pitch
We contract for special lots of grain from conservation-minded family farmers, malt it at partnering craft malt houses, sell the finished malt to brewers and distillers, and help share a compelling supply chain story with beer and spirits fans globally. We're also developing a tech platform: Headwaters. Its primary goals are to engage consumers with compelling supply chain story, manage market opportunities for artisan products made with our malt, and accelerate progress in our industry.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/mainstem.malt
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:28775
- Last updated: 2026-06-04T05:02:09Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-04T15:16:59Z

## Quick facts
- 🌾We sell the #1 non-water ingredient in craft beer ($29B+ US market) and single malt whiskey.
- 📈$1.25MM lifetime malt sales w/ 71+ accounts nationally. ~$500k contracted 2021 sales and growing.
- 🤝A new processing partnership cuts historical COGS by 50%+ and unlocks big growth opportunities.
- 🛒We think big, beyond malt sales, to a marketplace that connects fans to premium artisan products.
- 🌎The world's first B Corp maltster, committed long-term to deep sustainability in ag/food/bev.
- ✨Engaged in the craft malt community since 2014; Phil's an active Craft Maltsters Guild board member.
- 🏞 The "mainstem" is the longest channel in a river network. It's also our metaphor for collaboration.
- 🦄With your support, Mainstem will change the way the world dreams about malt.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:19919: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:41571: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## FAQ
1. **Where do I "vouch" for Phil? I'm not seeing this as an option.**
   - Problem solved! Thanks so much for the kind words and investment, Nathan.
2. **Hi- We already enjoy your products at local breweries and are considering investing, but have a few questions 1. Can you disclose your lead investors? 2. Is there a difference to the investment type if done before or after 4/15? 3. How is this new round of investing going? 4. ...**
   - Hello, Jaime! That's great to hear. Thanks for posting these thoughtful questions and thanks for your patience (need to get my notifications sorted). Happy to shed some light on them: 1. LEAD INVESTOR: We'll be announcing our lead investor for this round this week, so please stay tuned. Our current largest investor and lead on our most recent financing prior to Wefunder is an oncologist and majority owner of Alaska's largest distillery, and they own roughly 14% of the company at present. 2. B...
3. **Hello Phil! I’m curious who the current owners/investors are and at what percentages? Also it would be great to see a statement with some of the company’s financial information (revenue and losses etc.). Will a statement like this be coming out soon? I’m excited about what you...**
   - Hi again, Casey! Just wanted to follow up with a personal note that our financials are now posted to the "Details" tab. Let me know if you have any questions whatsoever. -Phil
4. **I am curious to learn the plans to get on the east coast, or at least why that jump hasn't been made quite yet.**
   - Hi Brian! Great question. I'll start by sharing a map with the distribution of existing North American craft maltsters who are active members of the Craft Maltsters Guild (the majority of North American craft maltsters in general): https://craftmalting.com/craft-malt-finder/ You'll notice on that map that there is a disproportionate number of craft maltsters east of the Mississippi. So for starters, we have limited resources, and we're interested in growing our business into large target mark...
5. **As a huge craft beer nerd, this sounds like a great business model and a great idea! I'm less knowledgeable about the malt that goes into craft beer than the final product, though, so i just had a couple questions about the specifics of your ideas for growth: 1. It sounds like...**
   - Hey Adam! Oh yeah, these are good ones. Thanks for chiming in here. 1: You're correct, we have a relatively small number of active accounts right now. And if you're suggesting that most customers do in fact need to be convinced to upgrade, I think you'd be correct there as well. For now. One important thing to note is that our current customers are some very significant, "early adopter" type accounts. We were united with them because they noticed us out in the front of our own pack in the wor...

## Team
- Phil Neumann (CEO & Co-Founder)
- Kether Scharff-Gray (COO & Supply Chain Wiz)
- Alyssa Martinez Neumann (Comms & Co-Founder)
- Paul Thurston (Customer Innovations)
- Aaron Blonden (Customer Innovations)
- Erik Chapman (Customer Innovations)

## Recent posts
- Mainstem's round re-opened for 1 week! (2021-11-26T20:31:55Z)
- Less than 1 WEEK left to become a Mainstem investor! Here's how we'll spend your money. (2021-11-12T21:24:08Z)
- Mainstem hires first Malt Concierge: Courtney Kristjana, Portland, OR (2021-11-05T16:00:02Z)
- Mainstem digs deep & refocuses ahead of Nov 18 closing. (2021-10-24T00:15:21Z)
- Invested in Mainstem's future? Share your support 🙌 (2021-09-21T19:56:17Z)
- Updated deck // Please ask me questions! (2021-08-20T00:43:42Z)
- We're hiring! Pass it on. (2021-08-06T20:45:32Z)
- Mainstem's Food Funded pitch video is now available :) (2021-07-28T20:43:24Z)
- Week #13 // 4 months left to go (let's do this thing!) (2021-07-17T23:25:00Z)
- Mainstem's a pitch competition finalist @ Food Funded 2021! (2021-06-29T17:41:28Z)
- 6/14 crop update on social! (2021-06-15T19:56:35Z)
- Week #8 // $100k and beyond! (2021-06-11T23:49:28Z)
- Mainstem For All // Week #7 Updates (2021-06-05T22:24:30Z)
- Mainstem For All // Week #5 Updates (2021-05-22T23:14:47Z)
- One month in, week #4 (2021-05-15T06:28:16Z)

## Q&A
- Q: As a huge craft beer nerd, this sounds like a great business model and a great idea! I'm less knowledgeable about the malt that goes into craft beer than the final product, though, so i just had a couple questions about the specifics of your ideas for growth: 1. It sounds like right now you're only doing business with a few breweries/distilleries, but with goals of growing significantly - what are your plans for expansion? How will you and breweries/distilleries that could benefit from partnering with a higher quality of malt manufacturer find each other? Is there significant existing demand from breweries/distilleries for a higher quality of malt than is currently available for the price, or will you have to convince most customers to "upgrade"? 2. Absolute best case scenario, a significant percentage of the total market for malt finds you immediately and wants to buy your malt at once - how easy would it be to expand quickly to satisfy demand? How far in advance do you have to predict demand? Thanks! p.s. Funny enough, I already had Amalga on my todo list - I was supposed to be in Juneau via cruise ship literally next week, originally! Obviously that got pushed back a year due to covid, but I'll definitely be there this time in 2022!
  - A: Hey Adam! Oh yeah, these are good ones. Thanks for chiming in here. 1: You're correct, we have a relatively small number of active accounts right now. And if you're suggesting that most customers do in fact need to be convinced to upgrade, I think you'd be correct there as well. For now. One important thing to note is that our current customers are some very significant, "early adopter" type accounts. We were united with them because they noticed us out in the front of our own pack in the work we're doing as malt suppliers. And we all see the collective work we're pioneering as a key part of our industry's future. I do believe it's only a matter of time before a significant chunk of the craft beer and spirits industry starts looking to craft maltsters like Mainstem for some significant portion of their malt bills. And we'll certainly be doing our best to find those brewers and distillers. Another important dynamic is that we face relatively little direct competition in our market, especially when you consider the potential for widespread adoption of craft malt. Mainstem is also taking a very unique approach to growing our company. 2: We believe we have at least 2 years of solid growth by way of our Montana Craft Malt partnership, and hopefully much more. We're also looking to leverage a portion of this fundraise to secure some debt financing and a development partner, and get to work ASAP on an industry-leading specialty malting facility in Walla Walla, Washington. The combination of those two dynamics has us feeling comfortable enough that we'll be able to meet our immediate growth targets in the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan markets. From the there the plan is to develop a facility in Anchorage, Alaska, as a way to better serve that market, make the supply chain more efficient, and free up additional capacity to serve the Pacific Northwest. And from there... we believe our model will be strong enough to ensure adequate capacity exists in any number of ways. Feel free to fire away with more questions. Happy to keep riffing on them. All the best, Phil
- Q: Hello Phil! I’m curious who the current owners/investors are and at what percentages? Also it would be great to see a statement with some of the company’s financial information (revenue and losses etc.). Will a statement like this be coming out soon? I’m excited about what you all are doing!!
  - A: Hi again, Casey! Just wanted to follow up with a personal note that our financials are now posted to the "Details" tab. Let me know if you have any questions whatsoever. -Phil
  - A: Hi, Casey! Thanks so much. And fantastic questions. I'm sure you'll find helpful info in my answer below, to Jaime's questions. And to yours specifically: OWNERSHIP: Founders (Alyssa, my mom, my dad, and me) are Common A, Option Pool (employees and close contractors) is Common B, and all outside investors are Preferred A. Going into this round and assuming full dilution, Common A is at ~63%, total reserved Common B is ~12.6% (already granted options ~5%), and Preferred A is ~24%. I hold the most Common A stock at ~50%. An oncologist & majority owner of Alaska's largest distillery holds the most Preferred A stock at ~14%. Alyssa and I also purchased some Preferred A stock (~1% of overall ownership) in the previous round. FINANCIALS: We are pushing to have independently reviewed 2019 & 2020 financials uploaded to this campaign page prior to the public launch on 4/15. If not by then, it should be very soon after. We received the draft report from the accountant on Friday and they are pushing to wrap them up for us (and you!).
- Q: Hi- We already enjoy your products at local breweries and are considering investing, but have a few questions 1. Can you disclose your lead investors? 2. Is there a difference to the investment type if done before or after 4/15? 3. How is this new round of investing going? 4. How are you differentiating from other craft malters? 5. With moving processing to Montana, do you plan to continue to exclusively source wheat/barley from the Walla Walla Valley? 6. I like seeing your plans to expand in the beer/spirits DTC space. Will this be an on-line marketplace selling beer/spirits from a variety of your customers or a different vision? Thank you! Jaime
  - A: Hello, Jaime! That's great to hear. Thanks for posting these thoughtful questions and thanks for your patience (need to get my notifications sorted). Happy to shed some light on them: 1. LEAD INVESTOR: We'll be announcing our lead investor for this round this week, so please stay tuned. Our current largest investor and lead on our most recent financing prior to Wefunder is an oncologist and majority owner of Alaska's largest distillery, and they own roughly 14% of the company at present. 2. BEFORE/AFTER LAUNCH TERMS: The investment type is the same before and after 4/15. We are selling our Preferred A stock, which is what all non-founder investors currently hold in the company. Founders have Common A, our option pool is Common B, all are voting, and the primary benefit of preferred stock is a 1x liquidation preference. The intent of the "friends and family" part of this campaign is just to help build some momentum ahead of our public launch and Wefunder intentionally limits functionality/information. You can expect much more information to roll out following the public launch of the round on 4/15. 3. HOW'S IT GOING: We're feeling really good about the potential for this round to raise a substantial amount of growth capital for the company. The reception over the past 2 weeks from friends & family has been very positive, and we're excited for the public launch. We will be very pleased with a fundraise that nets between $250k and $1MM, and helps bring diverse new perspectives onto our team, and I think that's plenty doable. 4. DIFFERENTIATION: We're more nimble and innovative than the globalized malt supply. We're more ambitious and scale-oriented than other maltsters within the current craft segment. We will outperform all competition through excellence in our craft, being clear leaders in sustainability, and though clever ways of leveraging tech to access the full potential of our brand. 5. PROCUREMENT: While we did start just sourcing grain from in and around the Walla Walla Valley, our sourcing region quickly grew to places as far as the Willamette Valley and the Palouse. We now draw in grain from Idaho as well and have our sights set on Alaska. The broader strategy here remains to bring on grain growers (and ideally, malting capacity) in close proximity to our target malt markets. We see no clear limits to the places we'd be interested in expanding to in time, but the Walla Walla Valley remains at the root of our origin story. It's also Alyssa & my home and our most likely place to continue building out our headquarters for a growing team. 6. RETAIL/DtC: There are a lot of ways we look to build on our Headwaters market network concept going forward, but the online marketplace feature will be relatively simple one to build out in the near future. We're thinking about it as a solution for not just DtC (which is in its infancy for alcohol in most states), but also for attracting consumers to taprooms and for assisting with more traditional opportunities on retail shelves.
  - A: UPDATE (4/11/2021 @ 7:21 PM Pacific): And there you have it! Our lead investors are... Brandon Howard & Maura Selenak of the particularly scrappy Alaskan spirits powerhouse Amalga Distillery, located in the gem that is Juneau, Alaska! In it for $1000 as equity investors and, as a customer, for all of their pale malt needs and more. We <3 Amalga! MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW
- Q: Where do I "vouch" for Phil? I'm not seeing this as an option.
  - A: Problem solved! Thanks so much for the kind words and investment, Nathan.
- Q: Hi- congratulations on your fundraise, your idea and for a clear vision forward for your business. Regarding your mission being a B-corp, how do you envision generating value and returns for your potential investors? Although as a potential investor, I understand the need for a long-term position in this sector and the triple-bottom line, but I've always wondered how a potential exit might happen and investors getting a return (I guess this comment would apply for all B-corps I've come across...) I'm totally on board with your mission, btw
  - A: Hi Felipe! Great question (great name, too). So sorry I missed it before our round closed. There's a pretty thorough response on this in our FAQ: https://wefunder.com/mainstem.malt/faq. I'll elaborate here as well. Basically, we aim to provide value in our market and offer a competitive return to our investors in a similar way to other startups, striving to fund aggressive growth through sale of preferred stock. Our focus is on some future liquidity event/exit (e.g., M&A), and if it takes us long enough to get to that point, we may choose to offer up dividends to keep investors happy. There is also the possibility of Mainstem listing on a secondary exchange that would allow our shareholders to trade their stock prior to a major liquidity event. As a WA-state Social Purpose Corporation and Certified B Corp, what separates us from more traditional for-profit enterprises is that we place a heavy weight on social and environmental impact in all of our decision-making. So if one is of the mindset that the proverbial pie is of a limited size, then one concern is that our shareholders foot the bill for social and environmental impact by accepting a lower return their investment. I think this is a healthy way to look at impact investing by default, supporting entrepreneurs who are doing tough work in a challenging mid-ground between traditional for-profits and nonprofits. But I'm also of the mindset that being industry leaders in social and environmental impact is an inherently valuable dynamic. Our superpower, even. If we continue to play our cards right, I see our approach to social and environmental impact adding sufficient value to pay for itself. I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to follow up with additional questions. Phil
- Q: Your business model and goals are very intriguing. Can you manage your short term cash flow needs and debt service? Can you say any more about the potential strategic partners for a Walla Walla facility? Thanks!
  - A: Thanks, Richard! We really appreciate the sentiment and these great questions. I'll address the cash flow question and lead into some thoughts on the Walla Walla facility we're working toward with this fundraise. I'll answer in detail, so hang with me. 1) CASH FLOW: I do feel comfortable about meeting short term cash flow needs and servicing our debt. Happy to shed some more light on that: In round numbers (and 10/24/2021 snapshot)... Our line of credit is currently drawn to $31k ($60k limit) and we have $9k in our checking to cover immediate AP. We are carrying $36k on a credit card ($87k limit) because a $60k line of credit is not a lot of wiggle room (we also have put most of this campaign's expenses on the credit card). Also just keep in mind we now have $82k long term debt via 2 rounds of EIDL for Covid relief. PPP loans are in the process of full forgiveness. Sales continue to grow but we are not yet profitable. The AP/AR balancing act is an ongoing challenge. We undoubtedly need the additional equity financing from this campaign to keep this business growing to critical mass (and not run out of cash, per your concern). The decision point here shortly is to forge ahead with the investments from this campaign on Wefunder, or respectfully return funds, sell through our inventory, and close up shop fairly gracefully. At this moment and despite turbulence, so many dynamics are trending in the right direction and our biggest supporters DO NOT want us to give up. I don't want us to give up either. I am feeling optimistic these days about forging ahead and making very constructive, targeted use of the proceeds from this round. 2) WALLA WALLA FACILITY: We are in search of a development partner to buy and help remodel a really fun building in Walla Walla, in a great location, on a generous lot, and lease it back to Mainstem for a conservation-focused specialty maltings and innovation center. This would firmly establish the Mainstem brand (and craft malt) in a top Washington/PNW tourist destination, while providing a multitude of new capacities like small batch malting, roasting, smoking, and pilot brewing/distilling. A tasting room would allow us to buy back products made with our malt and provide marquee brand exposure for our most supportive customers. Here is the property: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/2933-E-Isaacs-Ave-Walla-Walla-WA/22776662/ The property is currently owned by the Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) Foundation and they want to sell it to support WWCC student programming. They have expressed that they do not wish to be landlords at this time, but we are hopeful they might change their minds and bypass our current need to find a third-party development partner. The property is caddy corner to WWCC's internationally acclaimed wine center: https://dept.wwcc.edu/enology/. WWCC is also interested in partnering with Mainstem on grain/malt/beer/spirits student programming that could be based within the kind of facility we have in mind. That programming could in many ways mimic and benefit from their wine center. It's worth noting that WWCC received a $15MM grant in December 2020 from McKenzie Scott, so the school is now well supported and feeling reasonably ambitious.
- Q: Interesting opportunity. Any plans to sell into the homebrewer channel? Also, any chance for investor homebrewers like myself to get access to malts for use in homebrews?!
  - A: Hey Patrick! Thanks for the question. As you know, homebrewers are a hugely important part of the industry for any beer ingredient supplier. You all are fantastic evangelists for quality and oftentimes end up becoming the next generation of professional craft brewers and distillers. While we may choose to move into DtC malt sales once we have our own facility, our current service to homebrewers is exclusively through local homebrew supply shops (see https://www.mainstemmalt.com/homebrew for up to date info). At present, you can buy our malt in-person or ecommerce through the legendary F.H. Steinbart in sunny Portland, Oregon: https://fhsteinbart.com/product-category/ingredients/mainstem-malt/. We also serve Walla Walla Valley homebrewers via Grapeland Supply: https://www.grapelandsupply.com/. If you live far away from either of these locations, please let your local homebrew supply shop know about us and pass along our malt sales info: https://www.mainstemmalt.com/malt-sales. We'd be happy to arrange for partial or full pallet shipment to shops anywhere in the US. Please don't hesitate to follow up with any questions and many, many thanks for your interest in Mainstem. Cheers! Phil
- Q: How many farmers and how many acres are currently producing crops for the company?
  - A: Hi, Robert! Thanks for the question. We've been working with 4-6 Pacific Northwest (WA/OR/ID) farmers per year over the past several years. This year we contracted for 648 tons of grain (barley and wheat) with a right of first refusal on 381 tons, which at an average yield of 2 tons/acre equates to 515 acres under contract. Beyond contracted acreage, the total certified acreage of our farmers is closer to 30,000. So from a sustainability perspective, we talk about this larger number as the acreage we get to influence with our purchasing. Next year we look to bring on some additional Pacific Northwest farmers and acreage, take a dive into some organic crop contracts to start diversifying beyond our Salmon-Safe certification, and hopefully start buying our first Alaska-grown grain from several Alaskan farmers we've been speaking with since 2018. I hope that helps. Please feel free to ask any followup questions. Cheers! Phil
- Q: Hey Phil i recently got your update about added more and investing more. Well i wanted to reply to that. For one i have added more to the investment but its a problem i and other investors are having a problem with Wefunder Platform. if u have a number are someone i can talk to would be great and i could explain to more detail on this situation.
  - A: Hey there, Natural! Thanks for chiming in on this and for your willingness to up your investment. It really means a lot. Would you please email me a quick summary of the problem you and others are having (phil@mainstemmalt.com)? I'll see if there's anything I can do to help solve it. And if that's not enough, I'll make sure you get to the right person at Wefunder. All the best.
- Q: I am curious to learn the plans to get on the east coast, or at least why that jump hasn't been made quite yet.
  - A: Hi Brian! Great question. I'll start by sharing a map with the distribution of existing North American craft maltsters who are active members of the Craft Maltsters Guild (the majority of North American craft maltsters in general): https://craftmalting.com/craft-malt-finder/ You'll notice on that map that there is a disproportionate number of craft maltsters east of the Mississippi. So for starters, we have limited resources, and we're interested in growing our business into large target markets that are relatively underserved by the craft malt community. The American West is one such place. The markets we have the longest running experience with are the Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon. From there we built substantial inroads into Alaska and now Idaho. These are the 4 states that feel most like home to Mainstem. And looking forward to the not too distant future, we see significant potential to leverage our partnership with Montana Craft Malt to push further into the Rocky Mountain region. When we think of Mainstem in its full form, including the Headwaters market network concept, I do think there is substantial capacity for us to expand our partnerships to the East Coast, Midwest, California, and the new craft beer frontiers in East Asia. With the right resources and a bit of luck, I don't think it's crazy to think about these kinds of expansions starting to materialize within the next 5 years. Is that helpful context? I'm more than happy to answer any followup questions on this topic. Cheers! Phil