I spent last night at McMenamin’s Bagdad pub to sip on a few beers and drink in a whole lot of science.  Every month, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) puts together Science Pub, a congregation of closet science geeks who want to drink a couple of pints while filling their heads with more than drunken debauchery.  While Science Pub topics range from spider bites to volcanic eruptions, last night’s theme was Fermentation: A Tasty Blend of Art, History and Science.

The event brought together a lot of thirsty beer lovers, but the presentation was more Chem class than frat party.  Led by Tom Shellhammer, Ph.D, the Nor’Wester Professor of Fermentation Science and Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University, gave pub goers an in depth and scientific view of what goes into making beer.

“Does everybody know what enzymes are?” Shellhammer questioned before explaining the physical and biochemical changes barley undergoes during malting.  The evening was full of moments like this and covered topics ranging from Bud Light cans to the acidic properties of polyphenols.

Throughout the presentation Shellhammer paused to field questions from the six hundred-plus beer enthusiasts and periodically sipped a glass of stout.  A lanky academic wearing khakis, white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a simple tie, Shellhammer looks like your typical science teacher.  The obvious difference, however, is that this teacher likes to put his chemistry in a glass.

“Let’s look at beer foam,” Shellhammer said after answering a question about nitro-brews.  After a few clicks of his PowerPoint remote an intricate graph of beer with various levels of foam cling appeared on the screen.  Beers in the top left of the slide were created without hops and produced no foam.  Beers on the lower right were saturated with hop extracts and created foam akin to an overloaded washing machine.  Amidst the ohhs and ahhs of dumbfounded home brewers, Shellhammer moved on to the historical significance of water in brewing.

While the presentation sometimes geeked out on chemical diagrams and scientific Latin, the beer doctor would always direct the material towards beer.  Why should we care about reduced iso-alpha-acids?  Well, they just happen to be a major component of hop bitterness and beer skunkiness.  Your junior high teachers were right when they said science was fun, they just never taught you how to apply it.

Shellhammer ended his presentation with a question and answer session.  Extending a half hour past the scheduled closing time, Shellhammer was asked everything from his favorite beers EVER to the cost effectiveness of beer in bottles against beer in cans.  Throughout the entire session, his passion for the sudsy beverage never diminished; each question was answered with unabashed enthusiasm and a healthy does of chemical and biological analysis.

After recently returned from Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Germany where he was studying, well, beer, Shellhammer will be back at the OSU campus in Corvallis to put more molecules under the microscope and train the next wave of American brewers.  He will not, however, be home brewing.  Despite Shellhammer’s professional and personal passion for beer, he is a self-proclaimed amateur oenologist.

“When I got the job [at OSU] my wife made me put all the brewing equipment in office,” Shellhammer mused.  “Now when I’m fermenting at home I make wine.”