Beer: Vegetable, Animal or Mineral?
Byron Kaufman
Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: Features
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Business students tend to be a social, fun loving bunch who generally agree with the great Benjamin Franklin when he said "Beer is God's Proof the He Loves Us and Wants Us to Be Happy." And yet we find ourselves asking these questions: What is beer? Where does it come from? Is it vegetable, animal, or mineral? Where did all my money go last night?
Maize & Brew, has set out to answer these fundamental questions forever more. Also other question you've had like: What's the difference between a lager and an ale? And how about wine and beer? What's a good beer to order with chicken tetrazzini or tomato chatni? Is fresh beer made with flowers and smells like it? And yes, should even woman like beer because it really does taste fabulous.
Years ago, wine was seen as sophisticated and a little scary while beer was just plain cool. Now that beer has returned to America after a century quality hiatus (PBR excepted), people are rediscovering the joy and nuances of beer. We want to be able to speak intelligently about the subject. Beer is not only the social lubricant of business, but also provides a ready topic of fun conversation for those who understand what they are drinking.
To further our education, Maize & Brew will lead Ross though an exploration of the "value chain" of beer and wine over the course of this school year. We will introduce the basics of beer and wine, the production process, and differentiation techniques. Next we apply that knowledge by sampling and comparing the various styles. When we return from Winter break in January, we will conduct a hands-on workshop actually making various 5 gallon batches from scratch! Then we will transition into the commercial side of operations starting at a behind the scenes walk through of the production and business of a microbrewery. Finally, we will conclude with a behind the scenes operations of a national scale operation.
Last Saturday, Maize & Brew took 16 Ross MBAs on their first ever beer making adventure at U-Brew under the tutelage of Dave French and Evan the Beer Scientist. We successfully made 30 gallons of beer: a Belgian Chimay Red, an American Mackeson XXX stout, a German Paulaner Hefe-wiezen, and a Magic Hat IPA while having a great time with each other doing it! We look forward to a repeat event with wine as well.
If you are old enough to drink, and smart enough to know what you are drinking, then we hope you join Maize & Brew as a founding member! Be on the look out for a mass club registration invite (no dues!) soon and our education session early in October. Cheers!
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