How a serious science geek became Wyoming’s newest brewer

She started thinking about becoming a biologist, but along the way she fell in love with one particular biological reaction: yeast and its ability to turn grain into that golden elixir we know as beer. I became fascinated by it.

That inspired her to pick up a bit of a beer brewing hobby while in college, making fun beers with her girlfriend from commercial kits.

Brewing is now a full-fledged career for Brennan, but it’s also very fun and flexible. She is the newest brewmaster to join the ranks of brewmasters in the Cowboy State. She operates out of Cheyenne’s newest brewery, Westby Edge Brewing Company, owned by her parents, Darrin and Misha Westby.

Brennan found a particularly welcoming society among Wyoming’s brewers. In fact, they helped her through her rather stressful beginnings. Her brewing system arrived in “a million pieces” condition, but it didn’t come with any of her instructions.

Brennan called the company and was assured that instructions were stored on flash drives in the two control panels that came with the system.

Brennan eventually found the control panel, but the flash drive was gone.

This is a magnifying glass

Eventually, the company emailed the contents of the flash drive to her. It turned out to be a very small image showing what the system would look like after setup. It looked like a silver, space-age city. it was beautiful. But there were no instructions. There wasn’t even a number to tell you which part connected to which part or where.

Her father, Darin Westby, half-jokingly, half-seriously, printed out all the little images for her and gave her a magnifying glass.

“I’m not kidding, I really used a magnifying glass,” said Brennan, who can now laugh at what felt like a disaster at the time. Luckily, members of Wyoming’s master brewing community came together to help put everything together quickly and accurately.

“Brian Campbell, the former CEO of Melvin before the merger, came in for about a week to help me get up and running and make sure the systems were working,” Westby said. Ta. “I think he was a little resentful that they sent it to me, but he really helped me understand how things should flow. It was very It was very valuable.”

Her mentor from Blue Raven Brewery in Cheyenne also came over to help check everything and make sure everything was ready for her first brew within a week.

Make memories with amber

Brennan chose a Mexican-style amber and a mild IPA for the first two beers in the system.

IPA was a pragmatic choice. They’re big on the craft beer scene right now and everyone seems to want to drink them.

However, Amber was more sentimental. She chose this wine in honor of her mother, with whom she took brewing classes and who serves as her winemaking assistant. Amber was also one of the first beers she was able to brew consistently, after brewing was just a hobby.

“Our recipe is just a little crunchier,” Brennan says. “It’s not that sweet, but it’s rich.”

The first two beers helped Brennan solve some of the problems that weren’t apparent with the new system. Like the fact that it was designed to be a 10 barrel system instead of a 7 barrel system.

This resulted in a little more beer than expected and some beer had to be thrown away.

This could have been very bad. Although the ratio was not as expected, I found the quality to be at least good enough to serve some of the beer. Customers are very happy to watch Brennan’s steady progress as a budding master brewer.

smaller footprint

According to a 2021 audit by the Brewers Association, only 23% of brewery owners are still women, and just 2% are completely owned by women.

Brennan still finds the lack of women in brewmaster positions puzzling. The brewing industry has been very friendly and welcoming to her. She would recommend it to anyone.

In fact, she’s surprised that more women aren’t considering it as a serious career option. They are also very accommodating to those who need to change their schedule due to family reasons.

“I earned a degree in biology in 2018,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “Then I had a son, and he had a lot of health problems. So I was looking for a job that had some flexibility.”

She was job hunting, but didn’t find many situations that met her needs. But still, it took Blue Her Raven’s Master, her brewer friend, to get her to think of beer not just as her hobby, but as a full-fledged career that was flexible and fun for her. did.

The friend also agreed to help him gain the 1,000 hours of experience needed to earn a master brewer’s license. It was a lightbulb moment.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to try a different field of science,” Brennan said.

the microscope is approaching

In fact, Brennan has not abandoned his scientific leanings. She dreams of one day opening a beer science lab in Cheyenne to help breweries solve beer problems. When talking about this idea, she subconsciously rubbed her hands and laughed with glee.

“I’m going to look through the isomer microscope,” she said. “I like that there’s a laboratory aspect to this.”

A microscope might not be the first tool that comes to mind in a beer brewing kit, but Brennan can see what the yeast is doing, whether it’s healthy, and whether the right population is working properly. I love observing. In her beer.

She can also tell you all sorts of things about beer through lab tests like specific gravity, as well as peering at yeast colonies under a microscope.

“There’s a whole other side to brewing that a lot of people aren’t aware of,” Brennan told Cowboy State Daily. “And we have QC manager guys who can spot mistakes and things like that. Brewing involves not only moving 55-pound bags and spending hours cleaning, but also going out and telling people I have a lot to show you.”

Cleaning is the most time-consuming part of brewing beer, she added. It is very important that all parts of the system are 100% clean.

Brennan hopes to continue her scientific education in all areas related to beer production and continue to delve deeper into the fascinating chemistry and biology of beer.

She’s received plenty of encouragement along the way from Westby Edge customers eager to sample the next beer.

“I’m really grateful that people are allowing me to try it again, and they keep coming back, and some of them go outside of their comfort zones to try my IPAs,” he says. “Because that’s the only IPA I have on tap right now,” Brennan said.

Fans won’t have to wait long. Brennan is preparing an IPA, an amber ale, and a stout in addition to blonde.

René Jean It can be accessed at Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com.