Cheers! Schoolcraft College launches brewing program

Rich Weinkauf is ready to share a pint of beer made by students on Schoolcraft College's Livonia campus.

The Schoolcraft College vice president and chief academic officer will be one of the instructors teaching courses as a part of the college's new Brewing and Distillation Technology certificate program, which was announced Wednesday after receiving final approval from the Higher Learning Commission.

After looking at a study last year, Weinkauf said there were prospects for up to a 200% increase in jobs in making beer, and just under that for distilling, which led to an interest in starting a program at Schoolcraft.

"Brewing had the biggest potential for jobs in the tri-county area," he said. "At the time, Michigan had about 190 breweries. The latest I talked to the Michigan Brewer's Guild, it's over 220 now."

The 24-credit certificate program will help students learn the science of beer, brewhouse and marketing operations, and packaging, among other skills. Adding other skills rather than just brewing was important to Weinkauf, who spoke to brewery owners to determine their needs before determining the program's components.

"The first job you get at a brewery is probably not going to be a brewer," Weinkauf said. "The first job you'll get is a packaging job. Or you'll work in a taproom, talking to customers."

The program is limited to 24 students in the fall, though Weinkauf hopes to double that by next year. Registration is currently open, and classes begin Aug. 31.

Weinkauf said he hopes to have taps ready to pour beer at the American Harvest restaurant in the VisTaTech Center and sell it in six-packs and growlers at the college's Livonia campus on Haggerty sometime in 2016. Construction is being secured for adding the appropriate brewing equipment in the culinary arts department, and other permissions from the local to federal governments are still being secured.

Reaction

Weinkauf said he has been in touch with several Michigan breweries, including Griffin Claw in Birmingham, Witch's Hat in South Lyon and Short's in Bellaire. The reaction to the program, Weinkauf said, has been amazing.

"A lot of people are really helping with this," he said. "And I'm still not done. The brewing community, they're an awesome group of people."

One of the first people he contacted was Joe Walters, brewmaster and general manager with Liberty Street Brewing Company, which has a pub in Plymouth and a production facility in Livonia.

He said he was excited when he heard about the program starting up in the fall and knows it's unique compared with other schools and their recent offerings for the beer industry.

"It's absolutely in very high demand. The other colleges are putting together two-year degrees," he said. "We don't need brewmasters, we need brewery workers, brewery employees."

He'll also be involved in the program, as he has been hired to instruct some coursework in the program.

The Livonia facility, which opened up earlier this year, will be where students will get their immediate firsthand practice on crafting beer while work continues on Schoolcraft College's facility.

"You're going to be working with equipment. You're going to be pitching yeast, you're going to be counting yeast cells in the science class," Weinkauf said. "You're going to be doing all this stuff. It's really not aimed at bookwork and theory."

Having a bigger candidate field to pick from will be beneficial to the Michigan craft beer industry, Walters said, and will result in better products overall.

"They're all going to benefit greatly from having a pool like this to pick from. It's exciting to know we're going to be improving the quality of Michigan craft beer," Walters said. "It's exciting that I'm part of the group that's organizing it."

David Veselenak is a reporter for Hometown Life. Contact him at dveselenak@hometownlife.com, 734-678-6728 or on Twitter: @DavidVeselenak.