10 Colleges With Microbreweries on Campus

From conception to consumption

More than a few college students may enjoy a beer or two, but some take that interest into a career. With the number of operating craft breweries in the U.S. climbing to a record high of 9,761 in 2023, there’s a growing need for technically trained people to enter the industry. Through college degrees, certificates and courses in brewing and fermentation science, students learn the chemistry of the materials used to make beer and how they influence processing, quality and flavor, says Glen Fox, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California, Davis. “One of the great things about a brewing program is students can brew a beer and literally have it in a package in two weeks,” Fox says. Since beer has a short fermentation period, “the students can actually taste the fruits of their labor.” Here are 10 schools with microbreweries on campus for hands-on training.

California State Polytechnic University–Pomona

Students at California State Polytechnic University–Pomona can gain hands-on experience brewing beer and then serve it at their on-campus brewery-restaurant. Housed in the campus’ Innovation Village, Innovation Brew Works employs students across all majors to offer experience in brewing and brewpub operations, seeing the production of the beer all the way through to the handling of the finished product. The brewpub sources its ingredients for several beers from the university farm: Dr. Ortiz Orange, a Belgian-style Witbier, uses university-grown oranges, while the seasonal Math Tutor wheat ale and nitro beer Class Clown watermelon milkshake both include university-grown watermelons. Students in the Assistant Brewer Training Program complete internships at the brewpub and, upon completion, receive an Assistant Brewer Certificate.

Colorado State University

The fermentation science and technology program at Colorado State University began in 2013, and faculty and donors soon saw a way to bring students hands-on brewing experience on an industry scale. Thanks to a donation of a brewing system once housed in a Canadian hockey arena, the teaching brewery opened in 2018 in the university’s campus pub, Ramskeller Brewhouse, in the student center. In the teaching brewery, students learn the modern operations of the brewing industry through what the schools calls “cutting-edge technology” capable of automating certain processes. The school’s Innovation Hub and Brew Kitchen, sponsored by Odell Brewing, Emerson and New Belgium Brewing, contains two small brewhouses for education and research. Students can earn a food and fermentation science degree and pursue concentrations in fermentation science and technology, and food science.

Oregon State University

The Department of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University offers a fermentation science emphasis for students interested in learning the art of brewing. Most pursue a bachelor of science degree while some seek graduate options, such as a master’s of science or a doctorate, in food science focusing on chemistry, microbiology and sensory analysis of beer quality. Graduates have gone on to work at major breweries such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Miller-Coors, as well as craft breweries. Some advance to executive roles at places like the Boston Beer Company. Recognized as a global leader in hop research and home to an innovative research brewery, Oregon State has helped launch ventures like EIGHT Elite Light Lager in Texas, says Thomas Shellhammer, a professor of fermentation science at the school.

Regis University (CO)

The applied craft brewing certificate at Regis University in Colorado is available “for anyone looking to start a career in the craft brewing industry or simply considers themselves a beer enthusiast,” according to the school’s website. The part-time, flexible program can be completed in one year. Students take two courses online and two in a hybrid format, where they work in the campus brewery and receive sensory training, food pairing education, beer judge certification training and hands-on laboratory experience. Students also complete a 160-hour internship with partnering breweries, and past program participants have won awards at the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival. Alumni work at more than 65 breweries across the U.S., Canada and France, and several have launched their own microbreweries.

University College Cork (Ireland)

Opened in the late 1990s, the pilot brewery at University College Cork in Ireland is home to two breweries where students brew beer — not for sale — and conduct research. One is a 1,000-liter brewery complete with a grain roller mill, three-vessel brewhouse and filling line for bottles and kegs; the other is a 50-liter brewery. The pilot brewery also includes malting equipment and malt and beer analysis equipment. Students have conducted research on how to make beer production more cost-effective while maintaining high quality; brewing with unmalted cereals such as barley, wheat, rye, oats, rice and quinoa; and how the global malting barley trade is directly associated with increased fungal infection and cross-contamination risks.

University of Adelaide (Australia)

Established in 2022 as a research and teaching facility, the microbrewery at the University of Adelaide in Australia encourages collaboration between process and chemical engineers and agriculture, and food and wine scientists focusing on barley breeding, malting and brewed/fermented beverages, according to the school’s website. With approximately $100,000 of equipment, the brewery includes six 200-liter fermenters, a 500-liter cooling water system, a 270-liter brewing system that includes hot liquor, mash lauter tun and boil kettle and an automated cleaning system. Up to six groups of about five students can take an elective course in brewery engineering during either a bachelor’s or master’s degree in chemical engineering track. Students learn concepts such as biochemical reactions, process engineering, yeast and enzyme kinetics, heat transfer, and fluid and particle mechanics.

University of Arizona

For fermentation science students in the University of Arizona‘s College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Science, experiments often end with a taste test. They assess their sourdough, kimchi, kombucha and beer for flavor, color and texture. Students participate in every step of the brewing process and have shared their work with the public through the release of CALES Ales, a line of beers developed and produced on the main campus and sold at the Student Union’s Cork & Craft restaurant. “Incorporating students into the process is a huge part of our research approach in the fermentation lab,” says Patrick Heacock, head brewer for the university’s School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness. “We have a pilot lab where we can really experiment, explore older or obscure styles and try out different brewing and fermentation techniques. Students will learn to make the more popular styles, but they also get a chance to play around, to fail and try again.”

University of California–Davis

The first college brewing program in the U.S. began at the University of California, Davis in 1958 when beer industry leaders saw a need for technically trained individuals to enter the industry. The school now boasts arguably “the most state-of-the-art research brewery in the U.S.” and is one of the nation’s leading programs preparing students to enter the industry, with graduates working for major crafter breweries such as Sierra Nevada and opening their own microbreweries, Fox says. Brewing theory classes are available to underclassmen, but the hands-on brewing course is for seniors and graduate students only. Because of the complex chemistry elements involved in making beer, undergraduate students must major in food science or a related science, or take the requisite amount of chemistry courses. Students learn everything from creating a beer to packaging it. “It’s the ins and outs of how a commercial brewery would operate,” Fox says.<

University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

As technology has advanced, so have methods of brewing. The University of Technology Sydney aims to prepare students to be at the forefront of brewing technology through its UTS Industry 4.0 Brewery — “the first of its kind in Australia” and “the world’s first 5G connected microbrewery,” according to the school’s website. The brewery operates on an automated system that allows for continuous monitoring of the brewing process and the beer. Students analyze data collected throughout the brewing process “to precisely control both the boiling and fermentation processes at the heart of beer production,” according to the website. This project is primarily used by doctoral students, but summer school programs are available for undergraduates and are taught by professors and engineers from TU Dortmund University in Germany, where the school has a twin brewery.

Virginia Tech

Students looking for brewing training as well as a study abroad experience may find a good fit at Virginia Tech. The school offers a food and beverage fermentation degree as well as a minor in fermentation, through which students learn to brew beer in the on-campus brewery on a custom-built, German-engineered, 66-gallon malting and brewing system. The school’s bilateral exchange program sends Virginia Tech students to the Technical University of Munich Weihenstephan in southern Germany to learn to make beer at the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world. Students earn an Intensive Brewing Certificate from TUM Weihenstephan, and in return German brewing students from TUM Weihenstephan take classes at Virginia Tech. The on-campus brewery develops Virginia Tech’s officially licensed line of Fightin’ Hokies beers, and proceeds help support the brewing program through scholarships, travel funding and the exchange program.

Colleges With Microbreweries on Campus

— California State Polyechnic University–Pomona

— Colorado State University

— Oregon State University

— Regis University (CO)

— University College Cork (Ireland)

— University of Adelaide (Australia)

— University of Arizona

— University of California–Davis

— University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

— Virginia Tech

More from U.S. News