Hawaiian themed craft beer by Niagara College students

The Hawaiian Bruau themed craft beer festival hosted by Niagara College’s Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program will take place at St. Catharines Market Square on Friday April 12.

The Project Brew festival, which is run by students, will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., where students will be serving beer of their creation.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring the beers they’ve so diligently crafted to the community, and gives them experience with how to plan and execute a large-scale event,” said April Tyrrell, faculty advisor in a media release.

Craft beers served will be featuring different flavour like watermelon- grapefruit- and hibiscus-flavoured beer, pale maltz, tropical stout, sour IPAs, and more. Not only are the students being creative with flavouring, they’re also giving their creations unique names like ‘Maui Wowie’ and ‘Hula Hop.’

“This event gives us creative freedom as brewers to showcase what we've learned at the College,” said Brewmaster student Bryan Girard, who is in his graduating year in the release.

The festival occurs every semester to give the students a chance to experiment with what they learned in their program as well as get involved with the community.

During the festival, craft beers will be judged by Lallemand Brewing – one of the event sponsors as well as a long-time supporter of the college’s program – winner beer will be awarded a $4,500 scholarship.

“We believe the best brews come from the best ingredients, craftsmanship and education,” said Sylvie Van Zandycke, director of sales and marketing at Lallemand Brewing in the media release.

Lallemand Brewing is a global leader in brewing and distilled spirits. The company has been supporting the program since the start by sponsoring events, donating yeast and sending researchers Annick Mercier and Tobias Fischborn from Montreal three times annually to teach Niagara College students in their first semester about different yeast strains.

The event will include games and food vendors including Niagara College’s Bench on the Go, Malus Cider House, Pig Out Catering, and Mama’s Chilean Empanadas.

Online tickets have been sold out but there will be limited tickets at door for $25, attendee must be 19 years of age or older with valid photo ID. Tickets include a sample drink and four drink tokens.

Profits from the festival will be used in support of the Matt Soos Memorial Fund, which awards a scholarship each year to the student who brews the best beer at the College’s August Brewmaster Competition. 

find more details at www.niagaracollege.ca/projectbrew