ok, so I lied
its been even longer since my last post. A few people have hit me up with PM's so here is the rest of the program
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The rest of Finishing Practices: Nick Cain Ballast Point:
This class really opened a lot of people's eyes, including mine, to all the work that happens post brew-house. We had a class on beer clarification and colloidal stabilization taught by a guy from BSG craft brewing. It covered the use of finings, what they were, the science behind their use, and the equations showing their effect. He also spoke in detail about different filtration media, centrifuges, and showed that A LOT of science and experimentation has been put into figuring all of this out. We also had a class covering all the different types of filters and their theory of operation, which lead to some long math problems on the test. There was a class on packaging that covered the evolution of beer containers, pro/cons on kegs/bottles/cans, and all the problems they run into picking up O2 when packaging. Another class on sanitation going into a lot of detail of the science behind everything that is used, why it is used when it is, and how to deal with certain problems. We also learned a lot about draft beer dispensing systems, the gasses used, chilling and balancing a system, and pretty much everything involving getting the beer out of the keg and into the customers hand, which actually turns out to be one of the most important moments of the whole process. We also had a group project that brought us out to different breweries around the county, luckily my group got the new Mira Mar Ballast Point Location which at the time was mostly just a warehouse with an 18,000 sqft cold box and a whole bunch of equipment just starting to be laid out.
Marketing and Distribution: Arlan Arnsten former VP of Sales Stone Brewing Co
This was my first course on the business side of things and it kind of makes me want to sell beer for some reason. Arlan was THE sales guy at Stone from the beginning and gives great insight as to what it's like out there. Beer sales and distribution involves a lot of complicated laws that sometimes don't seem to make sense on the surface, sometimes the laws do make sense and other times they were written 70 years ago. A small brewery can easily find themselves unknowingly breaking these laws or find themselves being taken advantage of with them in certain cases, while this wasn't a law class, we were made aware of some of the most common pitfalls, one of which is usually not consulting a lawyer. We went into detail on the benefits of self distribution vs signing on with a distributor (Note: In California breweries can self distribute) and what to look for in a distributor. We went over the basics of marketing and how they specifically relate to craft beer. The knowledge picked up in this class is pretty much invaluable. My only complaint would be that it's not a longer course, I want to know more!
Financial Management for Breweries: Matt Dolman
Matt runs a local accounting firm specializing in breweries and all the financial and regulatory paperwork that has to be filed. I can't lie, it's not an exciting class, but if you pay attention you'll learn how to manage your brewery. We covered accounting basics and quickly moved into realizing the REAL COST of running a brewery, stuff that I never thought about started to add up real fast. The assignments were simple, but informative. The group project had us plan out a brewery for a year using this master 20 page spreadsheet (which is great, I've run it out for many years for my business plan) he made that covers EVERYTHING. Again, not an exciting class, but if you want to open a brewery and not be constantly in trouble with the IRS, ATF, or California ABC it's probably the most important.
Overview of the Craft Brewing Industry:
This was three separate classes that served as the intro course to the business side. One class was taught by Peter Zien from Alesmith, who covered the area of running a craft brewery in San Diego. Another class was taught by a local attorney who specializes in craft brewery related issues, and the third class was taught by Jacob McKean, founder of Modern Times, who covered the area of going through the process of actually starting a brewery from quitting his previous job with nothing but a business plan in his hand to opening the doors. The course overall was very good, each class you got to see the perspective of a professional in the business and pick their brain pretty much all you want, you can't ask for much more than that.
Operations Management: Paul Segura Operations Management Karl Strauss
Paul runs the show at Karl Strauss when it comes to beer. This is the type of class that I think a lot of people overlook, we covered putting SOPs in place, safety practices, how to go through the hiring process correctly so you only have to do it once, how to discipline employees (paperwork, you're not allowed to beat them), we covered how different sized breweries are organizationally structured, how different departments are setup and how they each have their own concerns and how important communication is between all those departments in order to make sure everything goes as planned. Releasing a new or special beer takes a lot more than just brewing a new recipe, there's months of pre-planning that needs to be done if you're going to sell that beer outside the tasting room. This course is a good reality check for some people, in the first class it was made clear that being a brewer/owning you own brewery isn't just brewing your 'awesome' home brew recipes, drinking beer, and becoming a beer celebrity, there's a ton of non-glamourous work involved in all of that. This course shows that you need to be professionally organized if you're going to grow as a brewery. Again, it might not be the most exciting course, Paul even joked that he'd much rather be teaching us about brewing beer rather than how to write a dude up, but it's important stuff to know. A lot of breweries are just kind of winging it with tribal knowledge and don't have concrete procedures, it doesn't need to be that way.
Food Pairings and Beer Dinners(elective):Gwen Conley Lost Abbey/Port Brewing
Gwen also taught the sensory analysis course and I strongly suggest taking this elective course. You learn all about pairing beers with food, which involves... drinking beer and eating food! It's only 3 classes, but you learn why certain items pair well, and how each of the flavors (Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami) interact with each other to create all the different pairings. The last class focused on chocolates and cheeses with beer, and she'll roll out (literally, she has rolling coolers full of growlers) some great beers for that one. Gwen is probably one of the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to sensory and pairing, so that makes this a must take for me.
Internship: 120 Hours working in a brewery over 10 weeks
For my internship I was able to jump in with a classmate who was opening his brewery. I am looking at opening my own place up here where I live, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to watch the process once before doing it myself. Aside from a ton of cleaning, I got to help brew a couple of batches of beer (including the first one), transferred batches tank to tank, carbonated some batches, and kegged a few batches. I also worked in the tasting room on the weekends so I got to stay with a few batches all the way from grain to the customers glass. Working the tasting room was cool because I basically got to use my degree in beer to teach people about beer and tour them around the brewery while they drank a few beers I poured for them. It was a good experience to see how everything worked and then to be there to see how people enjoyed the beers and what the overall impression of the market would be like. I hope to use the knowledge for my own place.
Overall Impressions of the Program:
I got to be part of the fist graduating class from the program with only 8 other people. We did a cool little ceremony at the new Ballast Point facility (which had changed significantly since I was last there) and listened to a few speeches while we drank beer. I didn't go to my college graduation, but I imagine this one was much cooler...
Worth it? Yes. It cost me about $5k or so in tuition and a couple of nights every week for a year and a half, so there isn't much to lose. There were people who had moved out from Colorado to take the course already as I was finishing up, and I think one dude from Tennessee. My beer has improved a lot, as has my overall knowledge. I used to think about opening a brewery before going through this program and looking back I can't believe how stupid that would have been.
I recommend the program to anybody that lives in or around San Diego and wants to work in a brewery or open a brewery of their own. The wait list is stacking up and it'll probably take 2.5 or more years to get though the program the way it is structured once you finally start, so if you're going to come from across the country I don't know how you'll be able to swing that in San Diego. If you're going to wait that long then you might as well just wait for the UC Davis Master Brewers Program (which is full time, but for only 18 weeks) or their certificate program (full time 10 weeks). It depends if you want to make a short term move and go full blast brewing school or make a long term move and go through a certificate program for 2 years while you work (possibly in a brewery) on the side. If I had the time and money right now I'd still attend the UC Davis Master Brewers Program.
There are people in the program who have landed jobs as lead brewers at local breweries, but also people who have landed jobs in sales/distribution, marketing, as tasting room managers, lab analysts, and even some guys that are financial types/lawyers have transitioned into breweries. There's a ton to do in the industry besides brew that people can get into once you understand what's going on.
As far as the administration of the program goes there is plenty to be desired. They could at the minimum give priority enrollment to the senior class members so that they can graduate and move on. There are still people accepted into the first class who are waiting to graduate because they're forced to compete with more and more students each quarter for the courses. Enrollment will open at 10AM on a given day, so that means EVERY student in the program is sitting in front of a computer waiting to sign up. You'll likely get your first course, but when you go to enroll in the second you find that the one course you need to graduate has been taken by someone who hasn't even been through the brewing course yet. Some sort of order to allow people to actually get through the pipeline would seem to make sense, the method now is about as effective as having everybody push toward the same exit during a fire alarm. There are people who have to wait through quarters where they have already taken all the courses offered and will have to compete against a growing number of students for the few ones they do need
I don't see them changing the policy for two reasons though 1. They have hundreds of people trying to sign up for 20 spots and only a few people that do any work. 2. The program is viewed as a big success and they're getting their money, who cares as long as people are paying
None of this is my problem anymore, but you may want to consider it if you are attending with a schedule in place.
