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BYOB: It’s Brew Your Own Beer at some colleges

In this Thursday, March 19, 2015, photo, Associated Dean Michael Godfrey tours the newly build Innovation Brew Works at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Pomona, Calif. Godfrey, who brought brew studies to Cal Poly in 2000 with a single class on the culture and history of beer, envisions Innovation Brew Works eventually becoming the centerpiece of studies for chemistry students interested in learning the complicated science of making good-tasting beer, as well as for hospitality students interested in marketing beer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Thursday, March 19, 2015, photo, Associated Dean Michael Godfrey tours the newly build Innovation Brew Works at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Pomona, Calif. Godfrey, who brought brew studies to Cal Poly in 2000 with a single class on the culture and history of beer, envisions Innovation Brew Works eventually becoming the centerpiece of studies for chemistry students interested in learning the complicated science of making good-tasting beer, as well as for hospitality students interested in marketing beer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

By Associated Press 4 min read

POMONA, Calif. (AP) – A bachelor’s in beer? A master’s in malt? Not quite. But these days some colleges are teaching students to make beer as part of their studies.

When California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, fired up its gleaming new stainless steel brewery in December, it joined a small-but-growing number of colleges instructing students on how to produce high-quality craft beers. At the same time, it took the movement a step beyond – kegging the results of their labors and selling it on campus.

“To make the beer here and sell the beer here and have a cafe and have an educational component, we’re the first to have put all those pieces together,” Aaron Neilson, director of dining services for the Cal Poly Foundation, said over a lunch of pizza and – of course – beer at the school’s new Innovation Brew Works.

A few feet away, senior chemistry major Stephen Moser was in the back room of this former campus bookstore, brewing up a batch of ale. In a few weeks his work will end up in the glasses of patrons in the brew works’ cafe, where signs at the front door remind people to drink responsibly.

“Right now my goal is to work for an established craft brewer,” said Moser, who graduates in June. “I really want to do small batch projects, like creating new and interesting brews.”