Usually when you read about university students with a kegs and kegs of beer you are not reading a story about the exercise of great responsibility:
The University of British Columbia’s student union, the Alma Mater Society, believes it can profit off that fact when it opens a brewery on campus in August 2014. The student-owned brewery will supply the university’s two bars, the Pit and the Perch, with its own homebrew and will also tap into the campus’ various keggers. The main reason for building a brewery, believed to be the only student-owned brewery in Canada (Niagara College has a university-run brewery), isn’t to help students drink on a dime. It fit, rather, with the union’s sustainability model. “And we thought it would be awesome to brew our own beer,” said Jeremy McElroy, the student union’s president.
Brilliant. By running the brewery, they not only break the hold student big brewery reps have on campus access to beer but they scoop the not insignificant profits that university sales represent in the general marketplace. Thirty years ago, our student union ran the bar and passed on the profits in the form of lower priced and more interesting beers. I liked that. I like this more.
I do find the math in the story a bit odd. "10,000 litres of beer" per year represents only 1,250 cases of 24 bottles. Surely that's a bit low given UBC's Vancouver campus alone is home to 37,000 undergrad students. Frankly, I would think that there is every chance that those students consume - at least - 10,000 litres per week. Capture that market and you may be more than responsible - you'd be well on your way to being one of the bigger craft brewers in the province.
Very smart move.
Comments
Steve Lamond - February 10, 2012 3:44 AM
Why is it taking them 2 and a half years? Have to wait for existing supply contract to expire?
Alan McLeod - February 10, 2012 12:59 PM
Good point, Steve.
I may be suffering from comments down syndrome and are just checking it out. When I do, I will share a further link.
Craig - February 10, 2012 2:24 PM
Theoretically, it sounds like a great idea, but what happens when one of them gets killed in a drunk driving accident, or in some stupid stunt after having been drinking UBC made, and distributed beer? That's a story that's going to get exploited. It's one thing to offer beer at an on campus pub, but it's quite another to make it part of the culture of the University, especially at a kegger! I'm all for craft beer, everywhere, but I'm not sure that University made and supported beer made available to, essentially, childen, is going to be smooth sailing, in the long run. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Alan - February 10, 2012 2:28 PM
But in Canada these are mainly adults.
Craig - February 10, 2012 6:41 PM
Legally being an adult and actually being an adult are far from the same. Personally, I think it's asking for trouble.
Alan - February 10, 2012 10:03 PM
That's cultural and all I can say is that it's Canada. If 19 year olds control the student union and want to make beer, I trust them. Plus, it's their freedom to do so.
Craig - February 10, 2012 11:09 PM
I don't know about cultural differences. I think 19-year-olds are pretty much the same everywhere, and 19-year-olds can make some bad decisions. Not, that a 40-year-old can't make a bad decisions, but the difference is, the 40-year-old, most likely, doesn't have a parent who spending a good bit of money to send their child to a University and expecting some safety and supervision. When Zoe turns 16, she'll legally be able to drive in NYS and I'm sure I'll trust her, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to ask where she's going when she borrows the car. Beer and college kids is a slippery slope.
Ethan - February 10, 2012 11:22 PM
Not really disagreeing with Greg, but at the same time, self-styled neo-Prohibitionists in the US would blow a gasket if any school did that here. Few Colleges even have a bar anymore. My undergrad went dry while I was there, in 1990. The US has a long way to go... but I trust Canadians more, too.
Pok - February 11, 2012 12:17 AM
The opportunity to brew a mild ale, a la Grand River Brewing, seems reason enough for any campus to get on board.