Variations in environmental conditions across different barley-producing regions and the breeding selection choices for barley varieties have led to disparities in brewing quality. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of brewing quality including grain and malt quality traits for 44 accessions of barley sourced from North America, Europe, and Australia, along with commonly cultivated barley varieties in China. The main findings of this research are as follows: The major planted varieties in various domestic regions have malt quality characteristics that match foreign major malting barley varieties. For instance, Longpimai 14 and Longpimai 18 from Northeast China are comparable to imported European malting varieties. The Supi series from South region and the Ganpi series from Northwest China match imported Australian malting varieties. The trial cultivation of Zhongpimai 1 and Mengpi 3 in North China corresponds to North American imported malting varieties. Compared with Chinese malting barley, the foreign malting barley varieties are mainly showing lower in β-glucan content and higher extract. Moreover, the quality properties of imported malting barley grown in China are different from those grown in the original area, as the malt diastatic power, kolbach index and β-glucan content can be affected by the environment. However, most varieties from the North American region show better adaptability to Chinese planting conditions with malt quality characteristics exhibiting no significant changes compared to their original growing regions. The malt qualities including diastatic power and extract yield are significantly correlated with contents of protein, starch, and amylopectin in the grain. Given the efficient measurement of grain quality and its correlation with malt quality, grain protein, starch, and amylopectin contents can serve as initial screening traits for malting barley breeding. This study provides reference varieties and guidance for the future breeding direction as well as the way for development and improvement of malting barley from different domestic regions. It has significant meaning in improving the production efficiency of domestic malting barley.