FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — According to Beer Serves America, the beer industry in Arkansas supports almost 400 brewing jobs and almost 900 agriculture jobs in the state.
One new brewing system at the University of Arkansas Beverage Development Facility is now helping students gain hands-on experience in their brewing educational program.
Students at the U of A can enroll in a 15-credit program to become proficient in brewing beer, a growing industry in the state.
The head of the program, brewing scientist Dr. Scott LaFontaine says the new nanobrewery system addition to their program will allow faculty to perform teaching and research on several topics.
Previously, students enrolled in the program would have to land internships with local commercial brewing partners to get the necessary hands-on experience.
Now with the addition of the nanobrewer, students are practicing those skills throughout the program.
“What this edition allows us to do is now standardize the training. So the students can get this training before they enter their internship and really be a good help to that commercial partner that we have. Or they can fill in some of the gaps that they might not have gotten with our commercial partners during their internship because not every brewery is using the same quality assessment approaches and brewing the same way,” says Dr. Lafontaine
Students get the opportunity to develop their own recipes that flow through this draft system.
The beer industry in Arkansas is booming because of one material that is essential to the production process… grains.
Dr. Scott Lafontaine says, "Arkansas produces 40% of the rice in the US."
This is a large reason why many students in the state are looking to join the industry, including one Ph.D. student in the program who came all the way from Brazil.
"What brought me here is exactly that, because with rice, there's a plethora of opportunities for new aromas and new flavors," says Ph.D. student Bernardo Guimaraes.
Students enrolled in the program have a special opportunity to create beers that may be considered unconventional under the supervision of Dr. LaFontaine.
"What our system allows for is the students to have that flexibility. Beer is all about the process ... And that's really what our system is, it's a sandbox," adds Dr. LaFontaine.
At the end of the course, students in the program will showcase their creations to school administrators, brewers in the community, family, and friends.
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