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Beer Is Big Business

A COUPLE OF MONTHS BACK,听Josh Mersfelder听'14 went truck shopping. He returned home with听a charcoal-colored puppy instead, and promptly named her after an Australian hops variety.

Mersfelder recounts his story seated on a stool in his brewery鈥檚 tap room, gazing fondly at Ella as she smiles back, wagging her tail.

The anecdote reflects Mersfelder鈥檚 own journey, which led from his first love of cars to his discovery of hops 鈥 and the joy of beer making. As a teenager, he took on kitchen jobs to support his auto obsession. Continuing to JWU, Mersfelder developed a new passion, which brought him back home to upstate New York, where he is director of brewing operations at craft brewery Local 315, tucked into farmland west of Syracuse in a town called Camillus.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of surreal,鈥 Mersfelder muses, holding a pint of his Retribution Double IPA and surveying the room. Bartenders pull from 16 handles to pour beers, sours and cider for visitors who have driven the back road off Interstate 90 in search of a cold custom-made brew on a hot summer鈥檚 day. 鈥淚 told the owner I鈥檇 just be here to pick weeds and feed the pigs.鈥 But after sharing his home brews 鈥 created using methods learned at JWU 鈥 Mersfelder got a call: 鈥淵ou can quit your job,鈥 owner Dan Mathews said. 鈥淎nd start full time tomorrow.鈥

That was spring 2015. The brewery has taken off since day one, when the line snaked out the door and down to the goat house, and the bartenders couldn鈥檛 pour the beers fast enough. 鈥淚t was like Woodstock,鈥 says Mathews.

Nowadays, Local 315 has a comfortably packed taproom that overflows onto a spacious porch, where enthusiasts lounge in Adirondack chairs that overlook fields and forest. To the side is a beer garden, where area musicians play on a small wooden stage. Out front, food trucks rumble into the parking lot.

The wholesale side has taken off too, growing to more than 30 accounts in the first year. 鈥淚 just locked down Cheesecake Factory,鈥 Mersfelder shares. When the call to set up that account came, Mersfelder thought it was a wrong number. 鈥淭his is Local 315,鈥 he clarified, certain that the rep was looking for the mammoth Budweiser brewery the next town over, run by beer giant Anheuser Busch InBev. There was no mistake: Restaurant management wanted to make a local push.

Small-scale beers are now very big business. According to the national Brewers鈥 Association (BA), while total sales of beer dipped last year, craft breweries 鈥 defined by the BA as small, independent beer makers using traditional techniques 鈥 made a significant gain, with sales revenue growing by 16% to $22.3 billion, to comprise more than 12% of the nation鈥檚 overall beer market.

JWU has responded to student interest by creating a craft brewing curriculum, which kicked off at the Charlotte, Denver and Providence campuses this fall. A minor in craft brewing and a certifcate in professional brewing will be available in fall 2017.

Josh Mersfelder

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JENNIFER PEREIRA was hired in 2003 as a wine specialist. But after her arrival at Providence, she was drawn to beer, which was given a lab day during freshman year. At that time, she thought, 鈥淭hey only have one day of beer. This has got to change.鈥澨

She created the JbreW Student Brewing Club. Hosting its inaugural Ocean State Homebrew Competition in spring 2011, the club saw 180 entries. JbreWers earned medals and more importantly the judges鈥 rave reviews for their success in organizing the event. 鈥淭he club was really the only way to get experience and network in the industry,鈥 says Pereira.听

This past spring鈥檚 500 entries included homebrews from as far a field as Oregon and California. Also last year, Pereira and students launched Providence鈥檚 official brewing team, the Wet Willies, which gives students increased access to off-campus competitions.听

Academically, the university鈥檚 planned four-course brewing minor builds on its Brewing Arts class, which, says Pereira, 鈥渋s really popular. Students work in teams and brew batches of beer at home.鈥澨

But student brewers, faculty emphasize, do not have an 鈥淎nimal House鈥 chug-a-lug sensibility. When Associate Professor CharLee Puckett asks his Denver students whether they鈥檇 pay the same money to get three craft beers or a mass-produced six-pack, the choice is unanimous: the smaller amount of craft.听

The catalyst for today鈥檚 market? 鈥淵ou can thank Jimmy Carter,鈥 says Pereira. In 1978, the president approved lifting restrictions on home brewing, and ushered in a re-education of beer drinkers. At that time, says Puckett, 鈥淚t was whatever was cheapest and recognized.鈥 Echoes Pereira, 鈥淏uying beer back then was like shopping for white paint.鈥 Nor did overseas鈥 suds assuage that lack, she adds: 鈥淢ost of the imports were spoiled by the time we got them.鈥澨

With the door opened for homebrewers, craft beer鈥檚 frontiersmen got to work. Now-legends such as Sam Adams founder Jim Koch shouldered the burden, carrying his brew door-to-door to bars and restaurants across Boston. 鈥淟ook at how much they had to go through,鈥 Puckett observes. 鈥淣ow, people are willing to experiment.鈥

These kids have grown up in a world where there鈥檚 always been a huge supply of craft. They care about the local economy and where their food comes from. They understand that craft beer is a really important part of the business. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JENNIFER PEREIRA
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Elevating the Art of Brewing

CHARLOTTE GRAD TARA GOULET '06 was looking to do just that after she and her husband Chris relocated to the Queen City. Settling in, there was one thing they couldn鈥檛 find: 鈥淲e were buying six-packs of craft beer that had been shipped from the West Coast.鈥

So Chris Goulet harnessed his MBA and wrote a business plan. For additional investors, they turned to friends: a core group in well-paid corporate jobs who wanted to invest in something they believed in. Then the couple and their brewmaster, Charlotte grad Conor Robinson 鈥10, started learning from breweries across the state.

In December 2011, the Goulets and their friends opened Birdsong Brewing Company, on North Davidson Street in the Queen City. In a year, they were turning a profit, and, not long after, they could barely keep up with demand. By early 2014, they were running out of space.

Chris and Tara Goulet

Today, the expanded Birdsong Brewing Company sits a mile down the road. With triple the capacity, the business has more than doubled its wholesale accounts to over 500 鈥 and forecasts reaching as many as 1,200.

鈥淭iming was a part of it,鈥 Goulet says of their rapid success. 鈥淐harlotte was so lacking in small craft breweries.鈥 Shortly before Birdsong opened, so did NoDa Brewing. 鈥淩ight next door to us. We fed off of one another. If you鈥檙e making good beer and we鈥檙e making good beer, then that鈥檚 good for everybody. People are looking for small, local and craft 鈥 and they want to try something new all the time.鈥

鈥淎 rising tide raises all ships,鈥 notes Charlotte Associate Professor Alistair Williams, who taught Robinson.

Birdsong, says Williams, was buoyed by a wave generated in the state鈥檚 capital in 2005, when, after a two-year battle, the 鈥淧op the Cap鈥 legislation passed, more than doubling beer鈥檚 allowed alcohol content to 15 percent. Currently, a fight is underway to increase craft brewers鈥 ability to self-distribute. 鈥淭he economy of North Carolina is being shaped by these legislative changes,鈥 observes Williams, who is studying the economic impact of craft breweries. 鈥淎 lot of our graduates are getting positions in craft brewing 鈥 and not just in production. I can only see that continuing.鈥

Favorable laws have converged with demand. 鈥淏eer is part of a trend where people are looking for local products,鈥 says Pereira. 鈥淏ack in the 鈥90s brewers had to explain what a craft brewery was to the banks. Now I think the business world has more understanding.鈥 Puckett agrees: 鈥淚 can approach a bank with a business plan and point to all these other successes. The possibilities are limitless as long as you do the work.鈥

鈥淟imitless鈥 craft-brew possibilities and increasing market share have corporate beer makers pivoting. 鈥淲e鈥檙e scared because y鈥檃ll don鈥檛 like our product,鈥 Puckett recalls one bigwig saying. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 beat 鈥檈m,鈥 he observes. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 join 鈥檈m.鈥

They can, however, buy them 鈥 and leverage popular brands. 鈥淲hen your owner is a multinational corporation,鈥 explains Williams, 鈥測ou no longer fit into the craft brewing category. For the craft brewing side, it鈥檚 a bad thing because it confuses the market. Consumers think they are buying a genuine craft beer.鈥

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No Limit to Craft Brew Creativity

DENVER GRAD WHITNEY BURNSIDE '10 is head brewer at 10 Barrel Brewing Company鈥檚 outpost in Portland, Oregon. She came on board in 2014, leaving Oregon鈥檚 Pelican Brewery for the chance to build out a new location for the popular craft beer maker, headquartered in Bend. A week after accepting the job, she heard the news: AB (Anheuser-Busch) InBev had bought 10 Barrel. 鈥淲hat the hell does this mean?鈥 she thought. 鈥淪hould I be mad? Will I be red? I decided, 鈥榃hat do I have to lose? And what could I gain from this: all the education and the ability to use really hard-to-get and expensive ingredients.鈥 鈥

Recently back from a glamping trip at the company鈥檚 Elk Mountain Farm in Idaho, Burnside describes sleeping amidst the hops and dining at a long table set between the rows, tasting beers with brewers from other formerly independent InBev labels.

And in the Portland brewery: 鈥淪o far, I have complete control. That鈥檚 been very surprising.鈥 The result? 鈥淚 can鈥檛 keep up with demand. We are the busiest 10 Barrel location.鈥

Burnside credits her culinary degree for providing a strong foundation: 鈥淏eer is cooking. I use the kitchen all the time.鈥 Her recent coconut pale ale incorporated 鈥渁 quick infusion鈥 with hot wort (unfermented pre-beer) passed through a strainer with toasted and untoasted coconut. 鈥淓veryone is raving about it.鈥

As the industry has grown 鈥 since 2013, at a rate of almost two new craft breweries a day, according to the Brewers鈥 Association 鈥 so has the competition and the pressure. 鈥淣o one knows where the ceiling is,鈥 says Birdsong鈥檚 Robinson, 鈥渂ut the need to stand out is bigger. What makes one brewery鈥檚 beer different than the one across the street or across town? It鈥檚 very hard to constantly innovate and stay true to where you were originally.鈥 He credits his creative brew crew with helping him keep up: 鈥淛ust like any artist, I can鈥檛 always come up with some new beer every week.鈥

Birdsong鈥檚 expansion gives Robinson and his team room to create seasonal and limited-edition brews, while at the same time allowing for ramp-up of its regular line and lab space for rigorous testing, which underscores a reality perhaps obscured by the title 鈥渂rewmaster.鈥 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like being a celebrity chef,鈥 warns Pereira. 鈥淚t鈥檚 90% cleaning, 5%听accounting and 5%听brewing.鈥

But for the passionate ones, that 5%听is enough. Water, malted grains, hops and yeast come in many more hues than that plain old 鈥渨hite paint,鈥 Pereira says, pointing to variations such as oyster stout and bacon beer. 鈥淭here鈥檚 really no limit to what you can put in 鈥 with beer, all bets are off.鈥

Back at Local 315, Mersfelder, who took Pereira鈥檚 brewing class, describes the lengths he went to for his maple imperial stout, including substituting water with sap from a nearby farm鈥檚 trees. His quest is to use local ingredients, like the rhubarb for his Strawberry Rhubarb Blonde Ale, sourced from neighboring fields: 鈥淚t tastes like a strawberry rhubarb pie."

鈥淢y heart is in this company,鈥 says Mersfelder. 鈥淚 love every second because of what we鈥檙e trying to do for the local farmers and ourselves.鈥

This is the passion sparked as a result of his early love for cars, when Mersfelder started down a culinary path as he washed dishes in local kitchens to pay for the restoration of his 1973 Chevrolet Nova Super Sport.

During his senior year, working with his landlord on a 1967 GTO, he pondered, 鈥淲hat the hell am I doing with my life?鈥 He was given the age-old advice to do what made him happy. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I switched everything with Jennifer Pereira and [Associate Professor] Michael Sabitoni. In the last 10 weeks of my 4 years is when I decided what I wanted to do.鈥

In the tap room, leading explorers through a beer flight that incorporates Local 315-farmed hops 鈥 鈥渙ur terroir, our taste鈥 鈥 he reflects: 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of unbelievable how it all worked out. It鈥檚 been a very rewarding, unforeseen journey.鈥

Whitney Burnside

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