Kwantlen Polytechnic University brewing graduates are back on campus in Langley, after having achieved significant feats in the industry.
Their accomplishments include becoming head brewers at some of B.C.’s top breweries and racking up an impressive list of awards, provincially, nationally and internationally.
KPU invited a number of their alumni brewers back to campus this summer to create the first alumni collaboration brews.
And today, beer drinkers are invited to stop by and try out the first fruits of these efforts.
The first collaboration beer, a Salsa Piquanté Wheat Ale by Tom Morrison at Red Truck Beer, will be released today (Aug. 10) at the KPU Brew Lab in Langley, where customers can purchase growler fills and enjoy free beer tastings from 1-6 p.m.
“For our collaboration brew, we made a Salsa Piquanté beer which is a sessionable summer wheat ale with a few surprises; it’s infused with mango and habanero pepper but only has a tiny bit of heat to it. We wanted the flavour, not the shock factor,” said Morrison.
The alumni teamed up with KPU brewing instructors Martina Solano Bielen, Jon Howe and Derek Kindret over the summer to develop recipes and brew at the KPU brewery in Langley.
The brewers, who were able to get as creative as they wanted, produced recipes such as the Salsa Piquanté Wheat Ale with mango and a Dry-Hopped Kettle Sour with Lemondrop hops.
The participating alumni brewers are:
• Tom Morrison, brewer, Red Truck Beer, Vancouver (class of 2016)
• Ashley Brooks, quality control manager, Four Winds Brewing, Delta (class of 2016)
• Dan Marriette, head brewer, Ravens Brewing, Abbotsford (class of 2016)
• Jonny Kostiuk, head brewer, Deep Cove Brewers + Distillers, North Vancouver (class of 2017)
• Jacquie Loehndorf, head brewer, Faculty Brewing, Vancouver (class of 2018)
“We have so many alumni to choose from and we tried to pick from each grad class, so it wasn’t an easy task,” says Alek Egi, chair and instructor, KPU brewing diploma.
“The goal is to do a collaboration series every year during the summer break. It’s also a great opportunity for grads to come back and put their unique stamp on a KPU beer.”
“It was great being back in the KPU Brew Lab and creating one of the first alumni collaboration brews,” said Morrison. “It’s a much smaller system than what I’m used to at Red Truck and it reminds me of how far I’ve come since graduation.
“We’re unbelievably proud of our alumni and their accomplishments,” says Betty Worobec, dean of the Faculty of Science and Horticulture.
“These collaboration brews are a way to celebrate and showcase the fine work many of our grads are doing in the industry. We hope to make this an annual tradition.”
For more information on KPU’s brewing diploma program, visit: kpu.ca/brew