Innovation in Partnerships (2014)

Brewery and Cidery Workshop Series

Chris LaBelle, Lynn Makela, Johanna Lounsbury, Bridget Egan, Amy Leeds, Marian Ladenburg, Mike Eaton, Ryan Creason, Aaron Senecal - Professional and Continuing Education

PACE, OSU’s Professional and Continuing Education program, forged several important partnerships last year during its effort to put together a Craft Brewery Startup Workshop in Bend. PACE partnered with OSU Cascades to offer the setting for the workshop – beautiful Bend, Oregon, in the scenic central part of the state – and it partnered with Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene, which brought a team of brewers to Bend to teach the courses. PACE also partnered with the Pink Boots Society, an international network of women brewers, to create a scholarship that instantiated OSU’s commitment to diversity.

The workshop itself was a great success, with more than 40 budding brewers flying in from all over the world. Word of the event had spread far and wide thanks to some other partnerships PACE established, including relationships with Widmer Brothers and Deschutes breweries, who endorsed the event and helped with marketing materials. Other partners included brewers guilds across the U.S., OSU’s Food Science and Technology Department, Extension and Experiment Station Communications, University Relations and Marketing, and other groups across campus and the state.

These are partnerships that will last and pay off in the future. Plans are already being hatched for this year’s workshop, which will be expanded to include separate beginner and advanced courses.