A University of Canterbury (UC) researcher will spend her summer months exploring the science behind brewing to meet the needs of the booming craft beer market.

UC summer scholarship student Jennifer Crowther said her research was an opportunity to explore the science behind brewing in an effort to improve the taste and quality of beer.

The taste of beer characteristics are influenced by a range of factors including the variety of hops and the types of yeast used. Research will be conducted into the biochemistry and genetics of yeast towards manipulating the flavour profile of beers.

This is a really exciting time to be studying beer with the rapidly growing craft beer market shifting emphasis towards brewing flavoursome, distinctive beers.

Crowther will be working alongside the Christchurch company Three Boys Brewery which has been operating out of Christchurch for more than eight years and is one of the premium microbreweries in New Zealand. Three Boys is run by former UC academic plant biochemist Dr Ralph Bungard.

The craft beer market is booming in New Zealand and in many traditional beer drinking countries around the world. Our overall beer consumption has been in decline for many years. In contrast, the craft beer sector, although small in terms of volume, has been rapidly increasing, both in terms of the number of breweries and the volume of beer produced.

This increase in popularity can be attributed to the more interesting flavours and styles of beer that the craft sector offers and the desire of consumers for choice and variation. The UC research project pulls together two of my favourite subjects in biochemistry and beer making.

The huge range of beer styles worldwide is a result of the almost endless combinations of many varieties of malt, hops and yeast strains. NZ has traditionally had an innovative hop and malt producing industry which has allowed craft brewers in NZ to produce beer with very unique, NZ-style flavours.

The biological modification of these malt and hop flavours and aroma in beer is driven by yeast in the fermentation. However, in the past, brewers have been less innovative in terms of the yeast use, sticking with traditional strains that have been used over many decades and even centuries of brewing.

The UC project will look more closely at the role of yeast in the biological modification of the flavour profile in beer. We want to particularly focus on how yeasts alter the end-product flavours that are derived from malt and hops.

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Researcher to explore science behind beer brewing