新澳门六合彩内幕信息

Iron Brew Winner: Caledonian Nights

Cheers to the student team whose Scottish export style ale, Caledonian Nights, winner of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 2020 Iron Brew competition, hit the market last week.

But that was only part of the prize in this annual event. Undergraduates Baoluo Gao, Eitan Newfield, Andres Rugama and Charlie Thudium also seized the opportunity to be involved every step along the way, from the brewing to the canning, to sales and distribution 鈥 all of which they did with the assistance of the university鈥檚 Iron Brew partner, of Davis.

Caledonian Nights label, orange-yellow with Arabian Nights-like theme, rolling off of can.
  • UPDATED AVAILABILITY (Aug. 4): Caledonian Nights, available in cans only, sold out in one week at Sudwerk鈥檚 Dock Store. You may be able to find the ale in limited quantities at the Nugget Market on West Covell Boulevard in Davis, the Davis Food Co-op and The Davis Beer Shoppe.
  • TOP PHOTO: Baoluo Gao, left, and Charlie Thudium observe their ale-in-the-making at Sudwerk Brewing Co. (Karin Higgins/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

鈥淭he Iron Brew competition is the only one we know of where we have support from a craft brewery to brew students鈥 recipe into a commercial beer,鈥 said Glen Fox, Anheuser-Busch Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences, who ran this year鈥檚 competition in Food Science and Technology 102B, his winter quarter course on Practical Malting and Brewing.

The verdict on the Gao-Newfield-Rugama-Thudium brew: best overall flavor profile and best balanced beer, as judged by brew masters from Sudwerk, Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas. 鈥淭his is a very good, true-to-style ale,鈥 Fox said. 鈥淚t has a clean and fresh taste that is perfect as a summer beer.鈥

Woman chats with two men in brewery.
Students push bins on wheels, filled with spent brewers grain.

Students win with a special twist

Newfield, of the Caledonian Nights team, said: 鈥淲e really wanted to pick a unique beer style that wouldn鈥檛 taste like any other beer that you can get at the supermarket.

鈥淐harlie came up with the idea that an interesting style to encompass this notion would be a Scottish ale. I tasted that style while studying abroad in Scotland, and really enjoyed it, so I was fully on board with this idea.鈥

They gave their Scottish ale a twist by blending American hops and brewing creativity with Old World tradition.

Scottish export ale is not a very common brew style, Rugama explained, so the team chose a name that references Caledonia 鈥 a place name from the days of the Roman Empire, roughly corresponding to present-day Scotland 鈥 and embellished it with a riff off the Arabian Nights.

Ale in glass and in a stack of cases filled with cans.

 

鈥淭he profile of this beer is earthy, it鈥檚 malty, it鈥檚 got some light sweetness to it,鈥 Rugama said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very smooth. ... I would say it鈥檚 chocolaty, or rich, but without being the same kind of richness you would expect from a porter or from a stout.鈥

With a deep crimson color, some people may perceive Caledonian Nights to be a 鈥渉eavy鈥 or 鈥渇illing鈥 beer, but it鈥檚 quite the opposite, said Trent Yackzan, co-owner of Sudwerk. 鈥淵ou will taste a robust, flavorful amber beer with a light and fast finish 鈥 it definitely tastes lighter than it looks,鈥 he said.

Here are the stats for Caledonian Nights, as listed on the Sudwerk website:

  • ABV (alcohol by volume) 鈥 5.6 percent
  • IBU (international bitterness units) 鈥 29
  • Malts 鈥 Midnight Wheat, Admiral Gallagher's Best, roasted barley
  • Yeast 鈥 White Labs Scottish Ale WLP028
  • Hops 鈥 East Kent Golding, Mount Hood
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis

A 鈥榮teppingstone鈥 for brewers

Sudwerk has been part of the local craft beer scene for more than 30 years. Yackzan鈥檚 grandfather, Sacramento architect Dean Unger, and a contractor friend, Ron Broward, established the brewery to make traditional German-style lagers.

The ownership has long supported the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Brewing Program and has partnered with faculty for decades to give students the opportunity for hands-on experience to supplement their education.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of interns and employees who have gone on to be head brewers across the nation,鈥 Yackzan said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been a steppingstone for a lot of brewers, giving them technical experience that they can put on their resumes and then start their brewing careers with a strong foundation.鈥

Group photo with pallet of cases of beer.
Three of the winning students and their instructor, from left: Baoluo Gao and Charlie Thudium, both food science majors with brewing emphasis; Glen Fox, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Science; and Andres Rugama, another food science major with brewing emphasis. Not pictured: Eitan Newfield, viticulture and enology major. (Hector Amezcua/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis) 
Five headshots
The faces behind the masks, from left: Gao, Thudium, Fox and Rugama. And, on the right, the other team member, Eitan Newfield.

Limited production

Production of Caledonian Nights began when the Sudwerk brewer taught the team how to scale up their recipe so it tasted the same as what they made at the pilot brewery on campus, Yackzan said. Then they helped with the brewing 鈥 in an operation that yielded just over 11 barrels, or 341 gallons.

The team also worked with Sudwerk staff on the name and label (designed by Sudwerk), the canning, and sales, marketing and distribution 鈥 including how to price beer properly for the market.

Man holds four cans of ale as they come off canning line.
Thudium transfers product from canning line to cases. (Hector Amezcua/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

鈥淎fter the packaging we took the students to a few accounts (Nugget Market, The Davis Beer Shoppe, etc.) to tell the story and sell the beer, which also went well,鈥 Yackzan said.

Caledonian Nights went on sale at Sudwerk鈥檚 Dock Store during a release party last Thursday (July 23), and should be available next week (the week of Aug. 3) in a number of area stores (see list below). Yackzan emphasized: Caledonian Nights is a limited run. A portion of all sales goes to the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Brewing Program.

The pandemic challenge

鈥淲e are extremely grateful to Sudwerk for working with us and allowing us to see how a commercial brewery works firsthand despite the challenges caused by COVID,鈥 said Thudium, who plans to explore a career in the brewing industry. 鈥淲e are very proud of our accomplishments and look forward to seeing our beer on store shelves.鈥

This is the first year the Iron Brew winner has been canned and sold in grocery stores. Typically, the beer is distributed to restaurants, but not this year because of the pandemic.

鈥淚t was a good opportunity for us to show the students you can always adapt and overcome unforeseen challenges if everyone鈥檚 onboard,鈥 Yackzan said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 part of the experience and a lesson we鈥檙e teaching the students.鈥

Added Professor Fox: 鈥淭his is just one of the special aspects of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Brewing Program. The history of the program, our brilliant on-campus brewing staff, the state-of-the art equipment and connection with industry makes it one of the best in the 飞辞谤濒诲.鈥

GET TO KNOW THIS ALE

  • WHAT: The Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science presents a Sips and Bites program with the students behind Caledonian Nights; their professor, Glen Fox; and Sudwerk co-owner Trent Yackzan, discussing what it takes to make a winning brew.
  • WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12
  • WHERE: Online
  • ADMISSION: Free

John Stumbos and Hector Amezcua work in communications for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Stumbos as a senior writer and Amezcua as a digital communications specialist. Dave Jones and Karin Higgins work in the Office of Strategic Communications, Jones as the editor of Dateline 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis and Higgins as a principal photographer.

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