A Brief History

In 1883, Heinrich Heller, a local brewer, discovered an ideal location and established a Malt House in what is today one of Germany’s most famous areas for growing brewing-barley -- the area surrounding Mellrichstadt.

Amid rich and wide-ranging barley fields, Heller’s Malt House quickly became a success, and flourished for more than thirty years.

Through two world wars and global economic depression in later years, however, Heller’s Malt House struggled to survive. At various times, it was put to new uses, including the production of dried fruit and as a center for East European refugees following the Second World War.


Only after 1949 did the steady production of malt begin again. And in 1974, after 91 years of floor malting, a new process of Saladin-box-maltery was instituted.

In 1981 Heller’s original Malt House was purchased by the Lang Family from Waltershausen, they established the Rhön-Malz GmbH.