Golden Promise was developed in the 1950s by breeding company Miln Marsters who aimed to produce a semi-dwarf variety of barley that had good malting characteristics.
[1] Seed of the traditional variety Maythorpe was irradiated with gamma radiation to produce mutants with altered genes and 14,000 lines were grown in 1958 to assess their stature and agronomic properties.
Farmers were initially sceptical about the variety due to its appearance but it was first grown commercially in Scotland in 1967 and performed well, producing high yields and grain suitable for malting.
[3] The short dormancy of the seed and uniform grain size make Golden Promise ideal for malting and it was used widely by the brewing and distilling industries in the UK and Ireland during the 1960s and 1970s.
[5][7] For producing whisky, The Macallan distillery had exclusive rights but gradually reduced the proportion it used, replacing it with higher yielding varieties.
[16] Golden Promise was used as a parent to produce other varieties including Midas, Goldfield, Goldmarker and Goldspear but these were not commercially successful.
[1] Golden Promise typically yields 4.5 tonnes per hectare (4,000 pounds per acre) which is one third lower than modern varieties of barley as of 2021[update].