The course was done as of June 12^th. We all studied until our hands were cramped up. We gathered in a small room for three consecutive days and dumped as much knowledge as we could in to three lined notebooks. I was impressed at how good the mood was in the room before each exam, people understood that they were going to be the most difficult exams they have ever written but everyone seemed to also acknowledge that they had prepared as best they could and the rest was just putting it down. We also received an inspirational talk from Dr. Lewis. He noted that he enjoyed our class because of how much we bonded, the fact that we had a record number of women (30% of the class) and that “there are no assholes in this class”.

I felt good after each exam, I felt like I answered the questions that were asked. I know from talking to people afterwards that I forgot to put a few things down. I also ran short of time on the last exam and had to skip a few small parts of a couple of questions because of that. But overall I feel confident I did well. It’s all over now and we find out our results in September.

Life has been super busy since that time. Judith and I packed up our tiny Davis apartment in 40 C heat and hit the road to the coast of California. We stopped in Fort Bragg to camp next to the beach, there is a brewery there called North Coast and unfortunately we weren’t in town when they were open. I’ve tried a couple of their beers (Saison is great!) and I’m stoked that a friend of mine from the course just got hired as a brewer there. We continued driving up the coast of Oregon for the next few days stopping to camp at Cape Blanco State Park and Fort Stevens State Park. Along the way we stopped at Eel River, Lost Coast, Yachats Brewing and Fort George Brewing. All were decent breweries. Yachats was more of a small beer bar with a small brewery on site that served a lot of homemade fermented foods. I sampled 13 of Fort George’s beers while trying to shield them from the blazing sunshine on their patio.

From Astoria we high tailed it back to Canada up the I5. We cruised through the border with no problems and made it to our friends place in East Van where we are now crashing until we can move in to our new apartment in August. Apartment hunting was a horrible experience. We’ve moved several times in Van but this time was by far the worst in terms of what is available and the crazy cost of rent. But in the end I think we found a place we’re going to like.

I’ve been working at Steamworks now for a week and a half. We’re experiencing a heat wave and the brewery is like a sauna. I’ve been sweating constantly for 8 to 10 hours a day. Other than the heat the job is amazing so far. I’m training in the cellar now and am getting the hang of it. Hoping to be independent very shortly in the cellar and begin training in the brewhouse this summer as well. My goal at Steamworks is to get very good at my job. By this I mean I want to be able to do anything in the brewery properly, safely and efficiently. This goes for all cellar and brewhouse tasks, and many other tasks related to packaging, boiler/steam, maintenance, you name it. On top of this I want to get to know our beers as well as I can and hope to have some input to our processes, quality programs and developing new beers.

I’m turning in to more of a morning person than I’ve ever been. I’m waking up at 5:30 am before my alarm even sounds, to get in for the morning shift. This is the first time I’ve had a job where I’m excited enough for that to happen.  I think I’m going to like this job a lot. Great people, great beer, a brewery that is well established yet has lots of room to grow and develop.

It’s hard to believe the transformation is complete; the Master Brewers program is finished, I’ve written the exams and have begun my professional brewing career. So much has happened over the past 6 months to get here and I’m very happy I did it. I plan to keep in touch with the great brewers I met down in California, who now work at great breweries all over the U.S. (and Japan, Columbia and Brazil). I also plan to keep in touch with Dr. Lewis, who is a fountain of knowledge and inspires me as a professional brewer. I need also to stay familiar with all of the course material and literature I now have, and to continue to build on where I am now. I see this career as a rewarding one with a high ceiling. I am excited to see where it brings me.