Why Intern at a Brewery?

I think everybody who enjoys beer has at one point or another entertained the fantasy of working at a brewery.  There's just something magical about beer.  The transformation of water, hops, barley, and yeast into beer is somewhat mysterious.  Getting to spend the whole day are beer, what could be better?

My love affair with beer first started during a year abroad during high school.  I spent most of 2001-2002 in Germany as a high school exchange student.  I was 16 years old when I went over there (and celebrated my 17th birthday in Prague, drinking really amazing beer).  It was there that I was first exposed to amazing beer and the culture that surrounds it.  As everyone knows, the Germans take there beer seriously.

My favorite German beer

Germans take their beer so seriously, they have a law called the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Beer Purity Law.  This law states that in order to be considered beer, the beverage must only contain water, malted barley, hops, and yeast.  That's it.  Most brewers will tell you this is extremely  restrictive, and it is.  However, it also means a certain standard when you pick up a German beer.

Fast forward to 2011.  I'm back in school, attending Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT.  I'm majoring in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production.  Several of my friends and I decided that we wanted to start homebrewing beer.  Initially, we decided to make some hard cider.  The first batch turned out ok.  The second batch exploded due to the extremely high levels of sugar that we used.  However, what we ended up salvaging and aging for several months was delicious and potent.

Over the last 2 years we have brewed about 6 batches of beer.  Initially we were brewing 5 gallon batches.  However, the last few batches we've brewed have been 10 gallons.  Ideally a 5 gallon batch should yield about 2 cases of beer or 48-12 oz. beers.

The latest batch of beer we brewed: Dry-hopped Peppercorn Rye Pale Ale. For my birthday.

Homebrewing is a great way to spend an afternoon.  Typically a brew will take a total of 4-5 hours from start to finish.  That means getting everything setup, cleaned and sanitized, brewing the beer, and cleaning up afterwards.  Much of that time is just spent sitting around waiting for things to boil or to add ingredients.  It's great to have a few friends around, have a few beers and just shoot the breeze.

So, why intern at a brewery?

As the time got closer to choose an internship, which required in order to graduate, I started thinking about the things I really love.  Being an older student than the majority of students at my school (I'm 27 and will be 28 next month) I've had plenty of work experience.  I've worked retail, grocery, for non-profits,a t bike shops, and spent a summer on a farm.  So, I was looking for something different.

After weighing my options, I decided I wanted to intern at a brewery.  Why not get a first hand look at the inner workings of a brewery?  Get a chance to see what the job is really like and be able to make a better educated choice as to whether I would like to pursue a career in the brewing industry or whether I just want to continue with it as a hobby.

I contacted about 6 or 8 different breweries within Vermont and over the border in New York.  Out of these I only heard back from two: Long Trail Brewery (www.longtrail.com) in Bridgewater Corners, VT and Adirondack Brewery in Lake George, NY.  Both breweries seemed open to the idea of having an intern, so I met with both of them.

John Carr, the owner of Adirondack Pub and Brewery (www.adkpub.com) in Lake George, NY was open to having me work in the brewery.  Additionally, he wanted me to help with sourcing and processing some local ingredients that we could use in the beer.  Honey, berries, and corn are ingredients that I am working on sourcing locally for the brewery.  I was excited about helping them source locally ingredients.  What a great idea to use New York grown ingredients in New York made beer!

Dave Hartmann is the Head Brewer over at Long Trail Brewery.  I am very grateful that he took the time out of his busy day to give me a tour and spend some time talking with me about my goals and what I wanted to accomplish.  Unfortunately, Dave wasn't really interested in having me help in the brewery.  Rather, he was interested in me helping them on various sustainability initiatives such as composting.  While I'm totally supportive of these efforts, and Long Trail Brewery is one of several craft breweries who are leading examples of implementing sustainability into the brewing process, I ultimately didn't feel that it would be the right fit.  I was looking to get some hands on brewing experience, therefore I chose to intern at Adirondack Brewery.