Malt is the main ingredient in the national beverage, beer. For centuries the malting industry has provided a bridge between the agricultural industry and the brewing industry. This text is an account of malting, dealing with the processes, products and sales, owners and employees, and with the evolution of what, in 1830, were almost small, local businesses. Christine Clark traces the influence of the growing demand for beer in Victorian England, and the increasing power of the large breweries, on the malt industry. Maltsters often saw themselves as the poor cousins of brewers, with whom they had a dependent relationship, yet fortunes left by maltsters show the opportunities the industry offered to those able to benefit from technical innovations and the arrival of the railways.