The name may be something you put in your hair instead of your mouth, but Northern Colorado beer judges felt that Shampoo – a hibiscus-infused beer crafted by Colorado State University students along with SweetWater Brewing – was the best among three teams’ offerings in the second annual Iron Brew Competition.
“We came to the conclusion that Shampoo would be an excellent name for our hibiscus blond,” said Shampoo team member Eric Rolf. “The decision was made by myself. The rest of Team SweetWater reluctantly agreed. I’m in love with the idea of the name Shampoo because people can’t stop talking about it.”
The judging of beers with the secret ingredient of flowers took place May 2 during an event in the space between CSU’s Gifford and Nancy Richardson Design Center. Judges were from area breweries Verboten, Outworld, Mythmaker, Horse & Dragon and Oskar Blues.
The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition’s fermentation science and technology students broken into three teams from FTEC 460 class’ capstone assignment worked with FST graduates working at SweetWater, Odell Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing. Each team chose a flower – perhaps inspired by CSU’s Flower Trial Garden – and followed every step to brew a commercial beer.
The SweetWater team of Connor Brents, Elijah Rivera, Eric Rolph, Noah Taranow and FST alum Keegan Harris won the golden keg trophy with Shampoo, a blonde ale that looks more like a redhead. The keg will stay at SweetWater all year.
The silver sixtel team from New Belgium Brewing created Eldervation, a sour brewed with elderflowers. The bronze growler team from Odell Brewing Company created Dandelion Daze, an English pale ale. The beers are available as long as they last at their respective breweries.
Staff from the RDC helped produce T-shirts and beer coasters for the overall Iron Brew Challenge event branding, while Art students in (ART366: Community and Sustainability in Printmaking) were responsible for printing posters on handmade recycled paper incorporating flowers from each brew, hand-printed bandanas dyed with dandelion, and various other crafted merchandise for each specific beer brand.
Below is an alphabetical look at each team, its mentor and the art students, the secret ingredient flower they chose, why they chose it, the style of beer and their description.
New Belgium Brewing: Eldervation
Brewing team: Ella Johnson, Nicolas Guillen, Rickey Coats
New Belgium Brewing CSU alumni mentor: Trevor Wilcox
Art team: Mitchie Kellog, Sydney Tomlinson, Vicktoria Ibarra
Flower: Elderflower
Style: Sour
Why that flower: “I knew a lot of people, especially my mom, who love the aroma of elderflower. We thought that we could work with it. And when we smelled the extract, it really smelled nice. So we chose it.” – Johnson
Description: “A nice springtime summertime floral, fruity kind of beer with the elderflower and with the sour. Also there’s also a little bit of phenolic flavor with some cinnamon, some nice spices in there, too.” – Johnson
Pre-event friendly trash talk: “I think there’s a clear winner here. I don’t think that it’s really any competition. New Belgium is definitely going to win.” – Johnson
Collaboration: “There’s a lot more students involved from other majors. We had art students that were designing labels, helping with names. It’s been really fun getting to see that side of it.” – Johnson
O’Dell Brewing Company: Dandelion Daze
Brewing team: Adam Dowling, Eddie Ellis, Harrison Parkhurst, Logan Yakobson
O’Dell Brewing Company CSU alumni mentor: John Coulam
Art team: Ava Regas, Ben Schultz, Ella Rupp
Flower: Dandelion
Style: English pale ale
Why that flower: “Our team chose dandelion as our secret flower because it’s a little bit more innovative than others. It’s not used very frequently in the brewing industry. It’s a lot of fun to mess around with new things.” – Dowling
Description: “We did a lot of testing mixing the dandelion and with honeysuckle extract, and we found a really nice balance. You don’t get a lot of honeysuckle flavor, but it really rounds out that dandelion and it really solidifies these flavors. I’m very excited.” – Dowling
Pre-event friendly trash talk: “A message for any of the other teams: I respect you guys. I love you guys. You’re my classmates. But you used really simple flowers. We didn’t do that.” – Parkhurst
Collaboration: “The purpose of all of this is to really connect students with industry. So this degree is not book knowledge, it’s not practical knowledge. It’s not just sitting at a computer screen. We get everything. We get the full comprehensive understanding of what we’re doing in industry and where we can take our career.” – Parkhurst
SweetWater Brewing Company: Shampoo
Brewing team: Connor Brents, Elijah Rivera, Eric Rolph, Noah Taranow
SweetWater CSU alumni mentor: Keegan Harris
Art team: Callan Zink, Emma Daye, Mia Daly, RayAnn Garcia
Flower: Hibiscus
Style: Blonde ale
Why that flower: “We chose the hibiscus flower because I am boring and I wanted to make the process as streamlined and easy as possible.” – Rolph
Description: “We started with the blond throwing the hibiscus at it and the orange is really going to shine because the blond base is a very light beer and we’re really expecting the sweetness. And the citrus of the hibiscus will come through and be complemented by the citrus zest of the orange peel.” – Rolph
Pre-event friendly talk: “I am extremely looking forward to trying your brews. I think they’re going to be just as awesome. I think we all worked really hard towards this day and it’s been a long time coming.” – Rolph
About the Iron Brew Challenge
- The Iron Brew Challenge intends to give the students real-world experience developing and brewing at three commercial breweries in Fort Collins: New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing Company and SweetWater Brewing.
- The students were divided into three brew teams, and each working with an FST alumni mentor at each brewery to design, develop, scale and brew at each location.
- The challenge is a collaboration among FST, hospitality and event management in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, the Nancy Richardson Design Center and the Department of Art and Art History. Leaders include Jeff Biegert (FST), Eric Milholland (Hospitality), Danice Chou (RDC) and Johnny Plastini and Roberto Muntoreanu (art department).
- The challenge went beyond brewing beer. Students in design and printmaking in CSU’s Department of Art and Art History joined with the brewing teams and collaborated with the FST students on beer names, beer taglines, art for beer labels and marketing. Beer names and artwork were vetted in class with beverage lawyers, so students learned about trademark and copyright law as they pitched their ideas in class.
- RDC students, staff and volunteers who helped with prep work: Chou, Fabrications Lab assistant coordinator, design and fabrication project engineer; Paul Callahan, Fabrications Lab coordinator, design thinking instructor; Leila Malekadeli, lab technician, RDC events coordinator; Clare Fesker, art and graphic design, sophomore; Gray Woodson, mechanical engineering, sophomore; community volunteer Jack Boland.
