Remembering Birmingham’s former Brewing School

Every year the group meets up at a pub in Birmingham to raise a glass to the course that shaped their careers. We asked them what made the course memorable, and what doors a brewing qualification from Birmingham opened up for them.

Alan Pateman (MSc Brewing Science, 1982), who would go on to become head brewer at Elgoods Brewery, in Wisbech, jumped at the chance of a place on the course. ‘I was already employed by a brewery, Payne and Co., where my father was also head brewer,’ he recalls.

‘They had already sponsored me to do a degree with Hatfield Polytechnic – now the University of Hertfordshire – and then offered me the chance to do the MA course, and the Birmingham brewing school was ideal.’

Steve Wilkinson (MSc Brewing Science, 1982) in contrast started out as a biology graduate from Liverpool Polytechnic, now Liverpool John Moores. He caught the brewing bug after completing a year in industry with Bass and ended up at Birmingham after being offered a scholarship by the Brewers' Society.

Each week on the course offered something different, with plenty of opportunities to do practical experiments. ‘Lots of the equipment that we used would be obsolete in the industry now,’ says Steve. ‘We relied heavily on a lab technician named Albert to help us set things up and he taught us so many of the practical things we needed. I’m pretty sure that without Albert none of us would have got a degree.’

All members of the group agreed that whatever shape the week took, the whole cohort looked forward to Wednesdays.

‘Wednesday was brewery visit day,’ says Alan. ‘So we would take a trip off somewhere in one of the minibuses.’ These trips, often eventful, forged stories that still make the group laugh:

‘Nobody ever wanted to drive the bus, because that meant you couldn’t drink the beer,’ Steve recalls. ‘My tactic was to drive as fast as I could when I was supposed to be driving, and nobody ever wanted me to drive again. Mission accomplished!’

While entertaining, the brewery trips were also important for making industry contacts and helping many of the students to find jobs after completing the course. The links between the School and industry both in the UK and overseas often proved invaluable.

For David Antrobus (MSc Brewing Science, 1982), a citizen of Barbados, coming to Birmingham was an unexpected opportunity that led in an unexpected direction: ‘At the time I was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Surrey,’ he says.

‘I was struggling to find an industrial placement but then got a call out of the blue from a contact at a brewery in Barbados…they had an opportunity available, and links with the Birmingham course, so that’s how I ended up there.’

David eventually spent decades in brewing, soft drinks, and sales, retiring only recently after 30 years working in Barbados.

Jerry Dyson (BSc Medical Biochemistry, 1980; MSc Brewing Science, 1983), who spent his career at Molson Coors, remembers a happy accident nudging him from biochemistry to brewing: ‘The intention originally was that I would do medicine, but I soon recognized that I’d had enough of university. I got a job with Bass in the brewing industry, primarily because there was a pub at the bottom of the road – the Gun Barrels – that served draft Bass, and it was my favourite beer.’

After a couple of years, Bass offered Jerry a place on the MSc at Birmingham and sent him back to university.

During the course Jerry particularly remembered joining in the School’s cricket matches against local breweries.

‘One brewer would turn up with a barrel of beer for the students,’ he remembers. ‘While they drank beer that was about 3% alcohol, the stuff they brought for us was their strong beer and was more like 6.5%. By the end of the game, whatever else had happened, we couldn’t see the ball so it was more than likely we would lose the match….but they were good afternoons.’

Among the group’s strongest memories are the teaching staff, who were experts in the field and had exceptionally strong links with brewing industry professionals. Professor Jim Hough, Dr Tom Young, and Dr Dennis Briggs, were co-authors of the then ‘Bible’ of brewing, known affectionately as ‘Hough, Briggs and Stevens’. ‘We were being taught by some pretty heavyweight, industry-respected guys,’ Jerry reflects.

‘Jim Hough, in particular, was really one of the huge successes of the Brewing School,’ says David. ‘He was an extraordinary diplomat with contacts not just in the UK but overseas. Sadly, I don’t think the course was quite the same after he died.’

The group who studied during those years at Birmingham have remained in touch through decades of industry changes, takeovers, and the closure of the school itself.

‘It is a feature of our industry. We’re very lucky—it is a community, a massive community,’ says Steve. ‘Alan and I are both on the Southern Section Committee of the Institute [of Brewing & Distilling], and we’ve been friends as well as colleagues forever, it seems.’