Alex Speers
Brewing Scientist, Professor, FIBD at the Canadian Institute of Fermentation Technology / PEAS (Dalhousie University); Honorary Professor at the International Centre of Brewing and Distilling, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
Hope '72
Brewing Scientist, Professor, FIBD at the Canadian Institute of Fermentation Technology / PEAS (Dalhousie University); Honorary Professor at the International Centre of Brewing and Distilling, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
After Brentwood, I went to UBC intending to be a physician or dentist. Brentwood certainly prepared me for this but after a summer working at Interior Breweries (now Columbia Breweries in Creston, BC) I got 'hooked' on the science of Brewing. Brewing research involves all the sciences and even, shudder statistics! It is never boring! After a B.Sc. (Agr.) and a spell at Molson’s in Vancouver I eventually gained an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Food Science at UBC. My Ph.D. research was done in concert with Labatt’s concerning the properties of brewing yeast during fermentation.
In 1990 I moved east to Acadia University in Nova Scotia to take-up an Assistant Professor position. After four years at Acadia I was recruited by Dalhousie University where I have spent most of my career. I was promoted to Professor in 1999 and have been Head of a Department and Director of a research institute while at Dal. In 2013 I accepted the Directorship and Chair of the International Centre of Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. In 2016 after the Brexit decision I returned to my Professorship at Dalhousie.
That’s the bare bones of my employment history, but graduate teaching and research is what makes it all exciting and worthwhile! My students and I have investigated how and why yeast cells ‘clump’ or flocculate - a mysterious process which allows harvest of the yeast for use in subsequent fermentations. My team of graduate students[1] and I have also developed a standardised test to determine why some barley malt causes yeast to clump prematurely during the fermentation leaving flavour defects. As noted by KPMG, the test provides potential savings of $10 million per outbreak. Currently we are using industrial data and statistics to model the rate of sugar decline as beer and whiskey fermentations progress.
I had a first class education in the sciences at Brentwood and have not regretted my career choice. I have travelled the world presenting papers about beer [2]! What could be better (:<)!
[1] >60 M.Sc. Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Fellows trained over the years.
[2] Over 100 peer-reviewed publications and over 150 presentations.