Cultivating the next generation of brewers
“To be a brewer you really need to be a Jack of all trades,” John Rehm said.
Rehm, the director of brewing operations at Two Roads Brewing in Stratford, has more than a decade of brewing experience. Between his years at Two Roads, Yards Brewing and the Philadelphia Brewing Co., Rehm has seen firsthand just how many different things a successful brewer needs to consider.
After three years imparting wisdom to aspiring brewers, he was recently assigned to the role of director of the brewing science certificate program at Sacred Heart University.
Rehm said that when he started at Two Roads in 2012, he didn’t expect to one day be the director of an educational program though he had hoped to help pass along his knowledge.
“I was employee number two, and it was a real whirlwind,” said Rehm, who earned a combined science and business degree at La Salle University before going into brewing. “It’s been amazing to watch this place grow and to be a part of that, and from the early days we’ve been a partner with Sacred Heart. When the brewing science program was coming to fruition it seemed like a perfectly natural fit that one of the premier breweries in the area should team up with the university.”
Sacred Heart University launched a brewing science certificate program in May 2020 and Rehm has been a brewing science professor since the program’s inception, but Two Roads’s connection to the school goes back to the 2014 launch of Via Cordis to celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary. The name, Latin for “Road to the Heart,” is given to beers brewed as a collaboration between the two organizations, with the 2023 version coming in the form of a New England IPA.
“There was a need recognized by the university that there were a lot of breweries opening up in the state over the past decade,” added Rehm. “I commend them for being very forward thinking and progressive.”
The latest iteration of Via Cordis was developed by students in the program making use of the facilities at “Area 2,” a cutting-edge brewing facility where Two Roads develops new flavors and products.
In addition to working closely with brewing students and collaborating on the development of the program, Sacred Heart University professors have helped develop a number of unique yeasts used in signature Two Roads beers, including the yeast that gives Urban Funk its distinctive notes, which was originally captured during Super Storm Sandy by the professors.
“There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the program, and we’ve had really good attendance ever since,” Rehm added.
The 22-credit certificate course includes instruction on biology, chemistry, management and business topics that are critical to successful brewing operations.
“The program is designed for people trying to get their foot in the door in the brewing industry to looking to start their own brewery,” Rehm explained. After health and safety classes the course explores the raw materials of beer, bringing together hops and barely with yeast and mastering the technology of production.
Rehm noted that beyond all the science and business there are also critical courses on how to conduct a sensory analysis of beer “because we need to say if it came out the way we wanted and go back to the process and figure out how we can improve. It’s a blend of art and science, we spend a lot of time learning all about the enzymes and temperature ranges and process flow and the engineering behind what we do, but I always tell my students at the end of the day, what really matters is: does it taste good or not?”