VIDEO: Farm to tap
Students source local ingredients to craft a beer for Chatfield Farms’ Hop Festival.
What does an all-Colorado brewed beer taste like? Denver-area residents are about to find out.
Students in Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Brewery Operations Program visited Chatfield Farms to harvest hops for a Kolsch-style beer crafted with local ingredients. MSU Denver’s One World One Water Center partners with Denver Botanic Gardens to grow the hops while conserving as much water as possible.
“We’re going to see what hops from Colorado with grain from Colorado tastes like,” said Ben Salazar, an MSU Denver student majoring in Brewery Operations. “This is an all-Colorado, German beer.”
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The entire brewing process — from mashing to fermentation — takes place in the University’s state-of-the-art Charlie Papazian Brewing Education Lab. Students in the Brewery Operations Program learn about environmental stewardship in addition to the mechanics of brewing, business management and much more.
The beer will be available to sample at Chatfield Farms’ Hop Festival on Sept. 21.