​Natural Selection Brewing: How to Brew a Winner

MBAA TQ http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/TQ-54-2-0331-01 | VIEW ARTICLE
 
R. A. Huddleston (1) and R. A. Speers (1,2). 1. International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (formerly the School of Life Sciences), Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. 2. Canadian Institute of Fermentation Technology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
 
Abstract
For the past five years, the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling based at Heriot-Watt University and Stewart Brewing have supervised the Natural Selection Brewing Program (NSB). This program, which operates as an alternative to a more traditional master’s thesis, allows students to brew and sell a beer commercially throughout the United Kingdom. In 2015 the team decided to brew an extra special bitter beer named Bitter Descent. The goal of this paper is to explain some of the steps that were taken to create the final recipe and give the reader a glimpse into the difficult process of developing a commercially viable product from a production perspective. This article is a follow-up to an article introducing NSB to readers in 2013. It is hoped this article will inspire further university–brewery collaborations in North America.

Keywords: University-industry collaboration, Natural Selection Brewing (NSB)