Yankee Brew News Archive

Aspiring Brewers Fill URI Microbrewing Seminar

Originally Published: Sum/93

By: Ken "Lucky" Spolsino

On April 23, the University of Rhode Island, College of Continuing Education Special Programs Office (a very long name for a very small entity within URI) sponsored a workshop entitled Business Planning in the Micro-Brewing Industry.

Although this was billed as a one-time offering and URI offers no special education in the brewing industry at this time, sources at URI indicated that further workshops may be offered in the future, depending upon the success of this first workshop and the usual financial and internal bureaucratic considerations inherent in most (if not all) institutions of higher learning. In other words they're running it up the flagpole to see who will salute.

There was also talk of a possible pilot program geared toward the biotechnical aspects of the fermentation sciences with an emphasis on brewing, in order to develop educational studies for students interested in entering the beer and wine industries. This possibility is still in the speculative (or wish) stage, so don't expect to sign up in the immediate future.

Presentations for this initial intensive workshop were delivered by Richard A. Doyle, President and Founder of Mass Bay Brewing Company in Boston, producers of Harpoon beers, and Tim Morse, Director of Brewing Operations of 1776 Breweries, Inc., which produces the beers of John Harvard's Brew House in Cambridge. Also in attendance were Dr. Richard Traxler of the URI's Food Science and Nutrition Department, co-sponsor of the workshop, and Tony Fischl, a biochemist who has been with URI for 3 years and teaches a brewing seminar as part of his Food Science class. The audience was made up of 36 men and one woman; all microbrewing industry wanna-be's or soon-to-be's.

This was a grand turn out considering a sextant, compass and a four-wheel drive vehicle were needed to get to the university, due to all the major road construction surrounding the campus. The audience members at the workshop may be the future luminaries of the industry, and conducted serious investigation into their aspirations for the start-up of their own brewpub or microbrewery. A full third of the group were interested in opening one of these ventures in the Rhode Island area, another third in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the rest considered their dream in a variety of other locales, from New Hampshire and Maine to as far as California.

It often amazes this writer that more women are not involved or interested in entering this male- dominated industry. The one woman in attendance, Linda Sears, told YBN that she and her husband, Eric Uhl, are both lawyers interested in opening a microbrewery in Portland, Maine. Ed was not in attendance, however, because he has taken a furlough from his practice in order to study the business at Anderson Valley Brewing Company. of California. Linda stated they had been homebrewing for about a year and were now hooked on the idea of pursuing this new career challenge. She, like many of the audience members interviewed, found out about the URI workshop in the YBN spring edition.

Members of the workshop were treated to a variety of topics. These ranged from the decision-making process of the various financial aspects involved in opening and running a brewpub or microbrewery, to the application of the raw materials used in the modern brewing process, utilizing the commercial brewing equipment available in today's marketplace.

Mr.Doyle's talk on the monetary aspects of operating a microbrewery was bested only by his ability to field questions by the participants, who eagerly picked his brain at every opportunity. Mr. Morse's discussion of the intricacies of the modern brewpub held the attention of the audience equally captive.

Other topics covered by these gentlemen were the discussion of various beer styles, based on equipment and consumer preference. This led into a taste-testing of various beer styles, which provided a pleasant end to a long day of practical scholarly endeavor.

This writer lauds the effort of URI in sponsoring this workshop. I would encourage them to continue in this effort to educate people interested in the microbrewing industry and forge ahead in fostering a formal program devoted to this growth sector of the brewing business.