Enterprise Narrative Piece

International Flavor and Notes of College History Inspire New Student Brewing Club 

For potential publication in The Index

“I’ve come to learn that for the English, brewing beer and drinking is a social thing, for the Germans it’s a religious pastime, and then, for the Belgians it’s a gastronomic experience.”

When you ask Kalamazoo College students about their ever-analyzed study abroad experience, you can usually expect to hear a personalized regurgitation of “the W-curve” model. For those who are too young to have knowledge of the Center for International Program’s fit-all emotional philosophy, “the W-curve” refers to the figurative rollercoaster of positive and negative emotions that coincide with students’ journeys abroad. And while most returning juniors will share stories of home or actual sickness, brilliant vistas, language barriers, or quaint French cafés to highlight the highs and lows of studying abroad, there are a handful of students on this campus, like Trace Redmond, that prefer to talk about beer.  

  

“I’m really excited about American Beer. In Costa Rica I had a really good, beer-affirming experience talking to a British couple that had traveled through the United States – and America has a horrible reputation – but they were really surprised by how good the beer was in America.”

Mr. Redmond is just one of “a surprisingly high percentage of upperclassmen” that have found a passion for home-brewed beer. The number of K students involved or interested in home-brewing is so great in fact that some students are pushing for acknowledgment from the College. Chandler Smith, another junior who recently returned to campus is one of many who has been involved in a recent application for a beer brewing club on campus. He also remembers distilling his passion for brewing while abroad.

“During one of my rough periods on study abroad I got into learning how to homebrew and I became really obsessed. It was what kept me going…I literally spent hours watching videos on how to brew.”

And those hours of video instruction have paid off. Smith along with a friend, Ben Dueweke, have brewed nearly forty gallons of beer together this spring quarter. Driven by their success, they hope to share their new-found hobby with others next year.

“Since there’s so much interest and it’s really hard to get things organized, to get somebody into it, we hoped that we could just go through the school and we could have this be legit[imate] then we could do classes, and teach more people how to do it, and get everyone started.”

Despite their enthusiasm for the craft itself, Redmond, Smith, and Dueweke all are quick to mention another motivation behind bringing brewing to the fore on K’s campus – history. 

“Larry Bell was kicked out of ‘K’ for home brewing and they’ve since given him an honorary degree.” Smith mentions with a roll of his eyes.

“The couple that runs Arbor Brewing, they were ‘K’ grads and…when they were at ‘K’ they…studied abroad in Germany, fell in love with the beer culture, and when they came back they started, and just because of their study abroad experience Arbor Brewing exists.”

Indeed, it seems that many K grads have gone on to invest and be quite successful in the brewing industry. Mr. Redmond says that utilizing many of these natural connections that K has with industry professionals will potentially provide the Brew Club with a wealth of noteworthy speakers.

So with their own ingenuity, a little help from alumni, and pending approval by the Office of Student Involvement’s liability review board, it looks like Kalamazoo College students will be brewing something big next year. And even if the Brew Club doesn’t take off officially, Smith has no doubt that home-brewing will continue to be a big part of many people’s lives off campus.

“[Home-brewing] is like buying a canvas, you can do anything you want with it, you can turn it into whatever you want, and you know, if you kick a hole through it or you make it into a sculpture, it’s still something special you create…and if you like beer, it’ll make you like beer ten times more.”