Oregon State University Beer Quality & Analysis Scholarship Recipient Announced
The Pink Boots Society is proud to announce that Audrey Ragle of Carton Brewing Company in New Jersey is the recipient of the Oregon State University Beer Quality & Analysis course scholarship.
Chosen by the PBS Scholarship Selection Committee (SSC), five very experienced women beer professionals who hold positions as brewers, educators and writers, they chose Audrey to receive this scholarship as they feel she “is motivated to further her career through education” and “has a lot of ambition, dedication and commitment.”
Audrey’s path to brewing began while pursuing her geology/environmental degree where she was introduced to home brewing by some of the graduate students in her department. The brewing bug quickly took hold, leading to her purchasing her own home brewing kit after graduation and shortly thereafter upgrading her equipment to do all-grain brewing. That experience helped her to land her first job in the industry, with Carton Brewing as a part-time tour guide and bartender. From the beginning they intended that she would be in charge of the brewery’s future QC/QA program because of her science background. A year later she was promoted to Tasting Room Manager, a full-time position, followed by a transition to the production floor in early 2016 and then on to the position of Brewing Scientist in the spring of 2016.
In her current role Audrey says, “I now juggle the responsibilities of being a full-time production team member and single-handedly being in charge of the quality program.” Her motivation to grow “involves a lot of reading, learning, networking, and, when the opportunity arises, attending a course or workshop.” She has been on Oregon State’s mailing list for some time and has longingly looked at courses so when this scholarship came up she was eager to apply knowing that the education would benefit both her and her brewery’s lab.
OSU’s Beer Quality and Analysis Series teaches the fundamentals of basic beer analysis and microbiological techniques and their roles in the brewing process based on the official ASBC Methods of Analysis used in QA/QC labs worldwide, providing attendees the knowledge and tools to analyze and evaluate beer to influence quality control in a production brewing setting.
In addition to attending the course, Audrey will receive a pair of pink steel-toe rubber boots when she fulfills the Pay It Forward requirement associated with the scholarship.
