LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, Belgium -- Sonia Collin, one of the world's leading beer chemists, has spent a life tinkering with recipes, consulting for everybody from mom-and-pop brewers to titan Anheuser-Busch InBev NV.

Now, in a lab in Belgium, a hub of craft brewing where Trappist monks have been fermenting complex beers for centuries, Ms. Collin seeks the specialty brewer's Holy Grail: great beers that keep their taste long enough that they can be shipped, stored and sold around the world without going bad.

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