Back in May, on the Monday night of Good Beer Week 2012, The Crafty Pint welcomed Steve Grossman from Sierra Nevada to the launch of the People’s Pint at Temple Brewery & Brasserie. He was there to make a special announcement, namely that the Californian craft beer legends had agreed to take part in the first Temple / Good Beer Week Scholarship and would be welcoming a young Australian brewer through their doors to work with them for two weeks.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the launch of the Scholarship was delayed but now it’s ready to roll. From today until the end of the year anyone eligible for the Scholarship who believes they’re deserving of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity can head here and put themselves forward.
Alternatively, anyone who knows of an eligible brewer that they would like to nominate can fill in the forms for their chosen brewer. Then, once submissions are closed, a team from Temple, Good Beer Week and Sierra Nevada will get together to decide on a worthy winner for this all expenses paid trip.
"At Temple, we’re always striving for excellence and we know how hard that can be," says brewery co-founder Ron Feruglio. "We believe an opportunity such as this will inspire the winning applicant to become a better brewer and to use their skills to raise the bar for brewing in Australia."
To be eligible, brewers don’t have to be young in terms of age but in terms of brewing experience. Anyone currently training to become a brewer in Australia or who is within their first two years of working as a brewer – whatever their age – can apply. The idea is to identify someone early in their career who is showing great potential in order that they can benefit from this truly unique opportunity.
The idea for the Scholarship was conceived after Temple agreed to be the brewing partner in The People’s Pint, a competition run by The Crafty Pint that gave anyone in Australia the chance to dream up their ideal beer, with the winning idea voted for by the Australian public. It was decided that any profits from the beer should be put back into the industry, and that the best way to do this was to set up a Scholarship for a young Australian brewer to work at a leading international craft brewer. Sierra Nevada, who share the same distributor as Temple – Phoenix Beers – was approached and instantly agreed to be involved.
By this stage, Ron and wife Renata from Temple had offered to contribute substantial funds of their own to make it a scholarship of real value, one that would cover the cost of sending the winning brewer to the States. Steve Grossman said Sierra Nevada would put the brewer up in their accommodation and devise a two-week work program that would meet the winner’s particular interests.
James Smith, founder of The Crafty Pint and a member of the Good Beer Week organising committee, says: âThe primary goal of both The Crafty Pint and Good Beer Week is to help the craft beer scene in Australia thrive. This Scholarship will give one deserving brewer a dream opportunity to learn from true masters of the brewing art then bring what they’ve learned back to Australia. That they get to spend time in one of the world’s leading beer regions in the company of craft beer pioneers is the icing on the cake.â
Anyone wishing to put themselves forward should head here now, so they can tell the judging committee why they should be chosen and how they would use the opportunity. All submissions must include input from a referee from the applicant’s brewery or brewing course. Submissions close on December 31, 2012, after which the judging panel will select a winner. At that point, details of the trip will be agreed at times that suit the winner and the host brewery.
The winning beer in the first People’s Pint competition was the Double Hoptendre, conceived by Queenslander Leo Hede and turned into a Double-Hopped Rye Red Ale by the Temple brewing team. You can read the full story here.
Good Beer Week is a celebration of the best of the beer world that takes place at dozens of venues around Melbourne and Victoria each year. In 2013, it will run from May 18 to 26.
