Our day of reckoning arrived this week as I pulled up to an unfamiliar classroom on the outskirts of the UC Davis campus.  They encouraged us to arrive a half hour early prior to the official start time for the IBD exam to allow us to get settled and check in.  I decided to arrive 90 min before everyone else began filing in, so that I could get in some last minute cramming, as it has always served me well in the past.  When I felt I my brain was adequately packed with information (As if the last 18 weeks weren’t enough!) I decided to walk the “green mile” over to the testing area.  Prior to this day, I had the preconceived notion that the proctor of the exam would be a stuffy Brit that paced around the room with a yardstick in hand, waiting for some sort of misstep that would be rewarded with a rap on the knuckles from his/her wooden weapon of discipline.  No such luck, thankfully.  Instead we got our program coordinator and our engineering tutor who were obviously much less intimidating than that scary figment of my imagination.  Dr. Lewis and Bamforth were also there to wish us luck, but exited shortly after to leave us to the task at hand.

So I guess the first thing I should address is the difficulty of the exam.  I’m not going to lie, I have never had the pleasure of such a painstaking task in my entire existence on this planet.  That being said, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be..... for the most part.  On the first day (Module 1), my only problem was that I knew too much. Time management got the best of me on the last couple questions, as I poured out every little detail that was stuffed in my head on the first four and that got me a bit behind.  The funny part is that they warned us about that.  The heat of the moment got to me a bit, but I think I still did all right.  

The second day (Module 2) is typically the one that causes student the most trouble, since it usually deals with the largest breadth of information and it involves the most biochemistry/microbiology.  Not having any scientific background other than my pre-reqs for this program, this should have been true for me as well.  No way Jose.  I learned my lesson from the previous day, curbed my desire to write more than I should and was able to answer most of the questions pretty thoroughly.  On the third day (Module 3), I came face to face with my demon of the class, the engineering section.  This was the part of the test that did end up being as hard I thought. I gave it my best shot and I’ll let the chips fall where they may on that one.  One thing to keep in mind is that these are essay questions that are being graded by a human being, so who knows exactly what they are looking for.  Only time will tell. (About 3 months to be exact.) Just before the final 3 hours were over, I got up to turn in that final booklet and it was like someone just slapped me across the face and said, “Hey man, do you realize that you are DONE!!!”  I immediately headed over to the Sudwerk Brewery for our graduation celebration.

I was the first to arrive and was greeted by our professors, who wanted to know what I thought of the test.  I told Charlie that there was one question on both beer haze and foam stability, which was essentially a tribute to him since he’s written papers on both subjects.  He was elated as any other crazy academic type would be.  The beer began flowing and the food started rolling out shortly after.  Wives, significant others, parents and even siblings had shown up for some of those that lived within driving distance to show their support for what we have done.  Flash bulbs from digital camera’s began to go off with increasing frequency as the afternoon progressed and the framed certificate’s of completion were handed out.  

Dr. Lewis made a heartfelt speech to all of us and welcomed us into the world of professional brewing.  People were making plans to tear up poor little downtown Davis in celebration of this great accomplishment, but I had to duck out a little early.  I needed to go home and pack my bags for Scotland, as my flight left the very next morning.  That’s right, I’m going to see how the strongest beer in the world is made at Brewdog.  As James Watt, one of the owners of the brewery, put it “Worst case scenario, you gain some experience and have a good time in Scotland.  Best case scenario, you land a job.  Deal?”  Umm, yes please!  


Next Week:   A first hand account of brewing with the guys at Brewdog, the town of Fraserburgh and a winter like summer.

Questions or Comments?  Feel free to email me at beereaucrat@gmail.com