OHIO craft brewing courses on tap for this summer

For the second year in a row, Jackie O's Brewpub is on tap to brew a beer designed by OHIO University students in Michael Held's brewing science class.

The release date of the new brew is projected to be in time for Ohio Brew Week, July 7– 15. Held is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the Graduate Chair in the molecular and cellular biology graduate program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Held also is offering several brewing courses in the first summer session. Undergraduates with senior status can take CHEM4500, designed for students aiming to earn OHIO’s newly offered Craft Brewing Certificate. Graduate students seeking a Craft Brewing Certificate can now enroll in CHEM5500. Chemistry and plant biology majors can also take CHEM4501/PBIO4501 as their Tier 3 or capstone course. All undergraduate craft brewing courses also fulfill OHIO's “Bridges: Learning and Doing” experiential learning requirement.

Students must be 21 to enroll. Please contact Held at held@ohio.edu for more information.

Students in Held's CHEM 4501 brewing science class have been designing craft beer recipes as part of their final capstone project for 11 years. Last year was the first time, Jackie O's and its Brewpub head brewer Liam McDonald put one of those recipes into production.

McDonald, who has been judging the chemistry students' recipes for the past decade, said he was inspired in 2022 to brew Francesca Carney's "Sun Tea" English IPA recipe for a number of reasons. (Read more at New beer at Jackie O's started in a chemistry class.)

See more about Craft Brewing at OHIO.