Brew Your Own Beer

Tristan Hawkins is the wine and bar lecturer at Swiss Hotel Management School and, as his profession clearly states, he’s passionate about beverages. He is British, he loves beer and for him beer is at the heart of British culture. When he arrived in Switzerland he noticed that microbrewery culture is now starting to creep in but there was still space for more. So he came up with an idea!

“I wanted to experiment, give the students more fun and provide them with activities outside of the classroom. I started off the first semester making a little kit, and it was so easy I wanted to take it further. I thought it would be interesting to educate the students on what else is out there. It is very exciting to observe how the culture is influencing the design of the beer and the choice of the flavour,” he says

Tristan is also organizing a competition for Freddie For A Day Festival, which focuses on addictions preventions. He alongside with the students is creating a school label and two different style beers will be competing for the 1st prize. There will be a judging panel, looking for a certain quality and standards. It serves as the perfect learning experience to teach students about responsible drinking with low-alcohol content beer and respecting the craft of beer making, focusing on quality over quantity.

 

“The students are very willing and motivated to participate. They have to do the research but they also taste their beer during the production process and they need to be able to recognize and understand the changes.”

 

What do you enjoy the most as a brew master?
I like the tasting part to be honest!

Jokes apart, last semester we made 3 different beers and we decide to sell them at the Christmas ball. Everyone was giving us positive feedback and they were very impressed. I really enjoyed that. I knew a lot of the theory but from the theory to actually making it are two very different things. Thanks to a process of experimentation I learnt a huge amount.

Do you need specific skills in order to make beer?
Having good background knowledge and a good grasp of the theory is good. It helps guide you. It is all about control. There are lots of things that can go wrong when you are making a beer. But to be honest I produced my best beer by accident and that beer was the one that I used to convince the school to invest for equipment.

Do you want to share with us your future plans?
I would like to take it further and start selling the beer that students are making in craft fairs and into local restaurants and bars and we can do that! We need to push ourselves. If we get a good bunch of recipes we can do it. And the students create the beer after voting debating and arguing and lots of research.

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to create their own brewery?
Work in one first! Go and take a look around! And of course at the end of the day its all about passion, you need to love what you are doing. Be aware that it’s going to take a while to create the perfect recipe but you need to be patient. Dare to experiment!

What is the strangest beer you ever tried?
The strangest beer that I ever tried was banana bread beer. It was just odd.