Beer at the University of Delaware is no longer found only in Newark’s Main Street bars, liquor stores and house parties.
It’s now officially part of a UD class. And, yes, gulping cold brews is part of the course if you want it to be.
Entering its second year, the 21-and-older-only class Foundations of Brewing Science and Brewery Operations is taught by longtime brewmaster Brad Adelson, helping prepare a new generation of brewers for a growing industry.
In Delaware alone, there are nearly 40 craft breweries with about 10 more in the works with the state ranked No. 20 in the country in terms of breweries per capita.
When Adelson looks out at his students, he doesn’t see a bunch of beer-thirsty, baby-faced undergrads, however. The class is part of UD’s department of professional and continuing studies, meaning the 10-week live online course draws a post-grad crowd, ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-60s.
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More than half have been home brewers and most are men, he says.
And, yes, there are plenty of beards: “‘Beardos’ as we call ourselves,” jokes Adelson, who has brewed for beermakers such as Delaware Park’s 1937 Brewing Co. and Pennsylvania breweries Victory Brewing Co. and McKenzie Brew House.
His most recent stint was at Lost Planet Brewing Co. in Royersford, Pennsylvania, before taking his current day job as craft sales technical manager and brewer for supply company Zilka & Company in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The Oregon State University graduate, who studied food science and fermentation, launched the class last fall after he was approached by UD out of the blue during his time at 1937. The idea of teaching brewing intrigued Adelson, who once taught for Apple and enjoyed it before getting into brewing.
Soon, he was writing the “from grain to glass” course and welcoming its first students. He wrote the class with this in mind: “If I was going to hire these people, what would I want them to know?”
One of his spring semester students was Wilmington’s John Cordey, a former high school teacher who moved into the food and beverage industry in 2019, pouring beers and giving tours part time at Dogfish Head’s Milton brewery before managing Tired Hands Brewing Co. in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
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Cordrey, who previously graduated from UD with a degree in political science in 2011, saw a sponsored advertisement for the new class online and jumped on it, looking to learn more about the process beyond the basic principles he already knew.
If the idea of this beer-making class makes you think of “Animal House” crossed with “Old School,” think again.
“Actually, it seemed like we were doing math formulas every week,” says Cordrey, 35, who recommends the class after his experience. “I was sad when it ended.”
The introductory class covers it all from beer styles, raw materials and brewing operations to brewery safety, equipment and production. One of the classes each semester is held in person at 1937 with a full morning of hands-on learning, such as moving beer from one tank to another.
“From the feedback I get, it’s inevitably everyone’s favorite part of the class,” Adelson says. And that’s not just because that’s the day they have the opportunity to finally get to slurp some of the suds.
In fact, Cordrey says he saw some fellow students jumping the gun during their online classes: “I’d see them on Zoom drinking something out of a mug, for sure. I would sometimes, too.”
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After completing the course, Codrey got a job with Wilmington Brew Works, where all hires work in the front of the house first to learn all aspects of the operation. But he told them he had just taken the UD course and within a month, he was helping with brewing operations and now also works as a production assistant.
He’s entering an industry that’s been steadily growing in the state, dating back to Dogfish Head’s debut as the state’s first craft brewery in 1995.
In Delaware, craft breweries now have an economic impact of $357 million, producing more than 260,000 barrels of beer each year, ranking 26th in the nation, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group that represents the country’s craft brewing industry.
Adelson has seen the public perception of the industry change firsthand since he was in college a decade ago.
“Back then, when I told people I was going to school for brewing, the reaction was very much like, ‘Oh, you’re a frat boy who loves alcohol,'” he says. “And now, people understand that beer and alcohol production is actually science- and quality-driven process.”
Registration is now open for the fall semester of Foundations of Brewing Science and Brewery Operations, which costs $1,150. It runs on Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. from Sept. 13 to Nov. 15 with the optional four-hour in-person session scheduled for Oct. 14 at 9 a.m.
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and Twitter (@ryancormier).
