Alumni Spotlight: Audrey Reid
Fun fact: There is such a job as Brewing Scientist. No, not a scientist that has taken up brewing, a scientist that studies beer and works with brewers to craft the perfect libation.
BU Gastronomy alum and self-proclaimed Gastronomical Chemist Audrey Reid started Imbibe Solutions, a Charlottesville, VA based laboratory that works with craft breweries and small wineries, to do just that. She found a need for laboratory testing by breweries and wineries who didn’t have a fully equipped lab of their own, so she opened Imbibe Solutions to fulfill the need and save the businesses from the large investment required to build one.
Breweries and wineries measure a variety of variables throughout their processes. For breweries, quality control testing is about consistency of product from batch to batch, process efficiency, elongation of shelf-life, and elimination of off-flavors. For wineries, QC tests help winemakers understand what their starting product is, monitor fermentation and aging, make adjustments, add preservatives, and prevent microbial contamination. Common lab tests you will likely be familiar with but may not have given much thought to, include: ABV, IBU, residual sugar, gravity, acetic acid, carbonation, and sulfites.
During her time in the Gastronomy program, Audrey relied on both classes and the amazing opportunities that Boston presents to shape her education. She studied national wine policies and flavors produced by yeast in beer at 808 Comm., while learning about fermentation from Boston Ferments, brewing with friends, and picking the brain of an intern at a local distillery. She thought she might do policy work for the wine and beer industry after graduation; never once did she think she would become an entrepreneur. It wasn’t until she moved to Charlottesville and spoke with a brewer about the need for chemists in the industry, that she realized she could do one better than beer policy, she could combine her love for food and science as a beer chemist.
One of the biggest lessons the Gastronomy program taught her, is you have to design your own path. The program certainly doesn’t dictate which classes to take (beyond the core); you take the classes that sound interesting and teach you what you want to know, whether in the program, elsewhere at BU, or at any of the other amazing schools in the city. And as students well know, this is a unique program relatively new to the world, which means you often have to create your own job upon graduation. Find what you want to do and convince the right people that they need someone like you.
For Audrey, that meant starting a laboratory to help brewers and winemakers succeed in their ever-growing industries.
