A method of selecting a barley variety comprising: a heat treatment step of heat-treating a crude enzyme solution extracted from a seed of a barley (e.g., at 57.5 DEG C for 30 minutes); an activity-determining step of determining the enzyme activity of beta -amylase in the crude enzyme solution heat-treated; and a selection step of selecting the barley variety containing a beta -amylase having a residual activity of from 85 to 90% as a result of the activity determination.