Campus collaborates with brewing company for Augustana beer

Augustana’s Brew ‘N Gold beer, developed in partnership with Remedy Brewing Company, became available for purchase at Remedy and select stores in October during Augustana’s Viking Days football season.

The Brew ‘N Gold beer is the first of many collaborations between Augustana and various brewing companies.

According to biology professor Stephanie Bruggeman, Remedy decided this was the perfect brew to launch for their collaboration with Augustana’s new brewing and fermentation minor.

“They have not hesitated to answer questions, and they’re volunteering their facilities for when we get the students there and are actually able to brew things,” Bruggeman said. “We’re very grateful for their involvement.”

The Brew ‘N Gold is an American wheat lager with an alcohol content of 5%. It’s a light beer that has a crisp and slightly bready flavor.

“It’s just kind of an all-around, lighter lager that appeals to a lot of different people, and this one was just kind of a general crowd-pleasing type of stadium beer,” Bruggeman said.

Senior Sean Boland said the Brew ‘N Gold has a good balance of flavors, and it’s not overly sour or bitter.

“It’s easy to drink and just feels right to have while watching the Vikes,” Boland said.

Students voted on the brew’s label design, ultimately choosing sophomore Cadence Stewart’s work. Stewart’s design features the iconic Viking helmet surrounded by two heads of wheat. Bruggueman’s BIOL 216 class, which focuses on fermentation and food preservation, chose the beer’s name.

In the future, students will be fully involved in the production of beverages, from creating the recipe to designing the packaging and marketing of the product.

The brewing minor has both a science and business focus. Students with a focus in the sciences will be highly involved in the process of brewing beverages and creating their recipes. Students with a business focus will work heavily with the packaging and marketing aspects of the brewing process.

Matt Hastad, the CEO and co-owner of Remedy Brewing Company, will be an adjunct professor within the minor. Tyler Jepperson, a co-founder of Remedy, will serve as a consultant for future brewing classes and will work hands-on with students during the brewing process.

Remedy plans to host classes at their facilities to fully involve students in the process of creating and brewing their own beverages.

“Right now, the batches that are brewed in conjunction with the classes, if they’re to be tasted or sampled for any human consumption, will all be off campus,” Bruggeman said. “The stuff that we do on campus is going to be for experimental and teaching purposes.”

As of now, Augustana maintains a dry campus status, but Bruggeman said this may change in the future.