Pilot Brewery Celebration

A "ceremonial mash" highlighted the grand opening of the recently updated pilot brewery at the University of California, Davis.

Charlie Bamforth (left) and Doug Muhleman (right) toast success at the opening of the Pilot Brewery.

On April 7, 2006, employees from Anheuser-Busch and faculty, staff and students from UC Davis celebrated the opening of the Pilot Brewery in Cruess Hall. Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Chair for Malting and Brewing Sciences at UC Davis,and Doug Muhleman, Vice President of Brewing from Anheuser-Busch christened the new brewery with a ceremonial mash.

In the brewing world, "mash" refers to the process of steeping the germinated and dried grain in hot water in order to break it down into soluble, fermentable sugars. The mash takes just 30 minutes, while the entire brewing process requires about 5 hours.

New equipment for UC Davis' pilot brewery has been acquired over the past several years and will be used for teaching during spring quarter, thanks to assistance in design and installation donated by Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewing company. Anheuser-Busch has continuously supported the campus brewing program, providing a $500,000 endowed faculty chair position for the Department of Food Science and Technology and making a $5 million pledge of matching funds to support construction of a pilot plant and brewery. Currently, the brewing program's teaching and research activities are carried out in the pilot brewery, housed in a facility that is more than 50 years old. Because the pilot brewery is strictly a research facility, all beer and ale produced there must be discarded, rather than being sold or given away.

UC Davis has a long and distinguished history in the area of the food and beverage sciences. Its Department of Food Science and Technology is one of the leading food science programs in the nation and offers the only doctoral degree in this field in California.

 Check out our online photo album for more pictures of this event!

April 10, 2006