Although barley is extensively grown in the Peruvian highlands as a food crop, agricultural and quality performance have historically been poor. A double-haploid technique was used to obtain barley varieties better suited to this environment. Three crosses were constructed: Ya/LM94, B16/LM94 and B12/LM94. From all crosses, F1 anthers were cultured in vitro to produce double-haploid lines. At DH6, promising materials were evaluated in the Peruvian highlands, along with their parents and two commercial controls (PPch, UNA80). Expert agronomic criteria for the ideal barley cultivar for this region were defined and Euclidean distance was used for simultaneous selection of the recorded agricultural traits. Ya/LM94-PC27 exhibited the shortest Euclidean distance to the expert criteria (0.41), higher yield than controls, and low plant height. Periods from first rain to flowering and maturity suited growth during the rainy season. Ya/LM94-PC27 was resistant to stripe rust, and its grain protein content suited the malting-brewing industry. Hectoliter and 1,000-grain masses met or surpassed industry requirements. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.