Our quest to brew beloved lagers starts and ends with quality. The chatter around quality in craft beer swells and shrinks from time to time, but for Jack’s Abby it is a central, daily battle cry. Lagers hide no errors; they are the glass houses of beer. We know that we have to hold the mantle of quality high and constantly improve.
That is why I am particularly excited to announce our recent partnership with the QC2 Lab at The University of Southern Maine. The QC2 Lab is an enviable collection of top-of-the-line equipment and some of the finest minds in the industry.
The lab was founded in 2016 with the leadership of Dr. Luci Benedict. Her original vision was to build the lab brick by brick as a resource to the brewing industry and an incubator for real life learning for her students. A generous grant opportunity, from Maine Economic Improvement Funds, allowed Dr. Benedict to launch with a dream lab instead and provide an inspirational, science playground for her students. I am paraphrasing a bit, but Luci made special note of the spark in certain students when they get to solve a new problem or participate in a real world challenge. It can be life changing.
Luci is supported by her Lab Coordinator Samatha White. Samantha joined the team just over a year ago and has had the unenviable task of keeping the wheels turning within the ever changing rules of our pandemic life. This team has already accomplished so much and their passion for quality and education will make a clear impact on our industry.
That’s where we come in. Jack’s Abby is lucky to have such an accomplished institution just 2 hours from our brewery and we have a lot of curiosity to explore with them. Jeremy Cross – our Quality Manager – will be working with the QC2 Lab to solve some of our more beer geeky questions in our lager journey.
Keep your eyes out for more on our first experiment in a future post. In the meantime, check out Behind The Taproom on February 23rd. Luci and Samantha will be virtually exploring the Jack’s Abby Quality Lab with Jeremy and you’re welcome to join.
Cheers!
– Rob Day, Sr. Director of Marketing
