There's More to a Pint Than Meets the Eye!: The History and Science Behind our Beer
Speaker:
James B. Cotner, PhD, Professor, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota
Nowadays, we have an amazing array of choices when it comes to ordering a pint. But it wasn’t always this way. I attained legal drinking age in the 70’s where variety in beer meant driving all day and night from Ohio to Colorado to drink pretty much the exact same beer that we had in Ohio but with a different label and different advertising. Today, the myriad of choices we have is a colorful Oz relative to a black and white Kansas. How did we get here? In this happy hour, we will discuss how beer is, and has been made over the millennia and many of the surprising societal and scientific developments that making and enjoying beer has led us to. A famous modern philosopher, H. Simpson, once said: “Beer…is there anything it can’t do?!” and I hope you come to the same conclusion at the end of this presentation.
Jim Cotner is a world class limnologist and brewer. His research program has focused on the role of microbial metabolism in freshwaters with respect to everything from contaminants to harmful algal blooms and greenhouse gases. Currently his research group is studying how nutrient limitation affects microbial metabolism in lakes and the composition of organic matter produced and degraded. We also are trying to understand how climate change impacts lakes and the production of methane. His focus on microbial metabolism also informs his other ‘profession’, brewing. He has been home brewing for over 30 years and has won awards for multiple styles of beer in regional and national competitions. He teaches a course at the University of Minnesota on ‘The biology, history and practice of brewing’ where students learn about the brewing process and its rich history, emphasizing the role of brewing in developing various aspects of science today and in the past.
