Students from Southwestern College’s Fermentation Science Program have collaborated with Novo Brazil Brewing Company to create a Winter Warmer variety of beer.
This beer marks the third time Southwestern students have brewed outside of the classroom in a professional brewery. A group of Southwestern students first visited Novo in January to create Tzunúm, an Australian Pale Ale. A different group brewed Fuerte, a Double IPA, in June.
The Imperial Beach First Anniversary Winter Warmer has a deep brown color, tan head, malty flavor and an 8.3% alcohol by volume (ABV). It was brewed with Cascade hops, and it has a medium body and a pleasant warmer aftertaste.
The Winter Warmer style of beer is typically brewed in the fall and winter months, while having a higher-than-average ABV.
“It’s a great honor for us to be part of the Southwestern College brewing program and to host the students for a brew day at Novo,” said brewmaster Guilherme Hoffman. “It has been a really fun activity; the students love it. They came to our Imperial Beach location, where we went over the brewing process and developed a special recipe.”
Students who brewed the Winter Warmer were Ricardo Gomez, Nathaniel Kunce, Ashley Perkins, Talon Treviño, Elliotth Vasquez and Alejandro Wade.
The beer was released at the brewery’s IB brewpub first-anniversary celebration, held Dec. 9. Novo Imperial Beach opened in November 2022.
Southwestern College’s fermentation science program started in Spring 2018 with a lecture class, and the first brewing lab was held in Fall 2019 with a small, five-gallon system.
“The partnership between Southwestern College and Novo Brazil over the past few years has been an amazing opportunity for us and our students to brew with and learn from NOVO’s master brewer,” said Bill Greenleaf, an instructor in the School of Mathematics, Science & Engineering at Southwestern. “Our students have gotten an experience that is both unique and has made learning about brewing in the classroom more relevant and real.”
