Craft brewing renaissance hits college campuses

Devin Karambelas | USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent

Of all the places to find beer on a college campus, the classroom may not be the first one to come to mind.

But there are currently about 50 universities in the U.S. that have food science programs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With a handful offering courses in subjects such as enology, viticulture and the fermentation sciences, experts say more students than ever are graduating with a new kind of alcohol education.

"It's an academic field that is growing like crazy," says Thomas Shellhammer, a professor in Oregon State University's food science and technology department.

When OSU's food science department began in 2001, Shellhammer says there were about 40 students enrolled. Today, that number has more than tripled, and he estimates that it will only grow as time goes on.

"When I was in college, I had no idea there was a degree in food science," he said. "Now we're at a point when people in their first year are seeking it out."

While food science programs in general have been on the rise over the past decade, what has happened in the beer and wine industries may be especially interesting, especially for students seeking work in a lackluster job market. After all, as Shellhammer puts it, alcohol is "relatively recession-proof."

In the domestic beer world, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control about 80% of the market, while craft breweries only have about a 6.5% share, according to the Brewers Association based in Boulder, Colo. While sales from the large corporations have remained stagnant or even declined, craft breweries are growing.

Craft brewer retail dollar value in 2012 was $10.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2011, according to the Brewers Association. Even with a relatively small share of the overall market, the craft brewing business employs roughly half of the brewing jobs in the nation.

Eryn Bottens recently graduated from OSU's food science technology program with a concentration in fermentation science. He had homebrewed as a hobby for years, but a few different career and education paths led him back to school where he discovered OSU's program.

"Most folks I talked to were surprised that you could even major in a field like that," Bottens says. "Some weren't sure that someone could be successful with it, but they have since turned around. There is so much growth here in the Northwest it's hard to deny it."

Bottens plans to work for the Boston Beer Company next year. He says the program at OSU has prepared him for a wide range of career choices.

"Any graduate could look into jobs that relate to a fermented food," he says, "including beer, wine, cheese, bread, pickled foods and other fermented beverages. I just happened to focus on the beer side."

While the number of colleges offering courses and workshops in beer brewing and winemaking is rising, there are still only a handful of universities that offer students the option to graduate with a degree in either, though the departments usually carry more technical terms like "enology" and "viticulture" in the title.

OSU, Cornell University and the University of California-Davis are examples, with UC Davis's program dating back to 1860 when state legislators mandated there should be university research in the field, according to instructor Mike Ramsey.

Some college administrations have even installed student-run breweries on campus. UC Davis, OSU and the Seibel Institute of Chicago all have their own, and Colorado State University became the latest when it announced in April plans to unveil its own microbrewery in the university's student center.

A bit of history: The microbrewing industry is a fairly recent phenomenon, both Shellhammer and Ramsey say. It was only in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that allowed home brewing to be exempt from taxation for personal or family use.

During that year, there were only about 89 breweries in the United States, according to a graph created by the Brewers Association. In 2010, that number skyrocketed to 2,403.

But the microbrewing renaissance may be a regional trend, says Kurt Staudter, executive director of the Vermont Brewers Association. Even a cursory glance at the colleges offering education in the field is a telling sign that states in New England and the Pacific Northwest as well as California are favorable to the industry, thanks to a clause in the 1979 amendment that left some control up to states. But that is isn't the case everywhere.

"We've noticed a dramatic shift in drinking products locally," Staudter says. "But a number of states have a long way to go."

He notes that as more and more college students are exposed to craft brews, many have bypassed more generic brands in favor of those that are locally crafted.

"Kids today who are 21 are graduating with better taste in beer than their parents," he says. "Before when you came home your father may have said, 'Sit down, let me open you a Pabst Blue Ribbon.' Now, it's, 'No, Dad, let me offer you an IPA."

Devin Karambelas is a summer 2013 Collegiate Correspondent.