TRAINING

Would you like to learn about fermentation and wild yeasts from a Belgian specialist? Now you have the chance.

Another step of the Acomycota’s project is teaching an extensive, vocational course through a workshop at the Oriel brewery in Bucharest.

We will select 20 applicants from the following categories: unemployed, passionate about food industry, home brewers or professional brewers at the beginning of their career and they will have the chance to attend a workshop in which they will enrich their knowledge about fermentation and yeast.

The workshop takes place on Saturday, 17 th of September, starting 10 am at Oriel Brewery in Bucharest and will be held in English, the language
of the project.

Special guest: Koen Van Lancker – co-founder & brewer at Brouwerij t’Verzet, bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and Sam Vanderstraeten from HopSaSam brewery.

"My name is Koen Van Lancker, 36 years old and born and raised in Oudenaarde. I studied biochemistry and graduated in brewing science in 2008. I worked for a brewery near Ghent from 2008 till 2016. Because I couldn’t be very creative in my day time job, I started Brouwerij ‘t Verzet as a hobby project in my spare time, with my two friends that I met in brewing school. In 2016 I made ‘t Verzet my full time job and we bought a 2000 litres brew house. Today we are a team of 4 people and we make 250 000 litres beer a year. Our goal is to be an addition to the Belgian Beer Culture. That’s why we like to try new stuff and work with surprising ingredients. But, we also like to play with traditional beer styles like Oud Bruin. A red brown beer with a great complexity and a refreshing sourness, aged on oak barrels for at least one year. The beer gets its typical aroma and taste due to the fermentation done by wild yeast and bacteria. We made it our quest to make this wonderful but forgotten beer style popular again. We don’t want to be the biggest brewery in Belgium. We want to keep doing what we like and be respected for the beers we make and the way we run our business. That’s why we don’t make compromises regarding the taste of our beers. We don’t want to brew for a big crowd, we just brew what we think is right. Nevertheless, we don’t consider ourselves only as artists. We like to work scientifically using our knowledge and measure everything we can. We want to work as consistent as possible and we learn more about the process every day."

Koen Van Lancker

co-founder & brewer at Brouwerij t’Verzet

"My name is Sam Vanderstraeten, 43 years old and born and raised in Oudenaarde. I studied Computer Science and started working after I graduated. During my 20's I discovered that there is more than lagers and sweet cherry beers, which were served at local parties. In 2004 I noticed for the first time that there was a brewing year displayed on the label of Chimay blue. I didn't have a clue why this was there, since I thought beer was to buy and drink, not to store. Wine is meant to store, beer is to drink. So, in 2005 I bought new bottles and did a vertical tasting of Chimay blue 2004 and 2005. At that point, the magic happened. I started discovering all styles I could find during the next few years. I started filling my basement and stomach with many beers… In 2012 I started a 2-year long course in zythology and at the same time started HopSaSam as a secondary occupation. First, I focused on beer tastings and home brewing. In a reaction to the many many classical blond beers without their own character, my home brews were all creative, diverse and innovative. In 2015 I launched my first commercial beer NONNIVERSAIRE, an atypical barley wine, aged for 4-5 months on calvados barrels and refermented with champagne yeast. In the same month I launched my beer, I won a gold medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge. Now, 7 years later, I have had about 18 different commercial beers, 7 medals in different competitions worldwide and am willing to move on. I focus on creative beers, like I did already: brown ale with chocolate & orange, wild hops, stout with habanero peppers, porter with blackberries, black IPA with caramel candies, triple with chestnuts... So, 'bier me nen hoek af' ~ beers with a twist is what I stand for"

Sam Vanderstraeten

founder at HopSaSam brewery

If you will be selected, you will receive the event’s agenda on your email.

By completing the questionnaire’s below, you agree to be evaluated by us, your personal information and answers will remain confidential.

Your answers will be scored. After the workshop, you will receive a second questionnaire. Based on the answer to the first and second questionnaire, you will receive a final score that measures the evolution of your knowledge before and after the course. And, of course, a diploma for attending it.

The applicants that will have the highest score will be selected to do an internship at the Oriel brewery that will last a month. At the end of the internship, one intern, can be hired as junior brewer if he will meet all our
requirements.

For “checkboxes” type questions, choose only one answer.
For the other questions add short and precise answers.

You can submit your application before Sunday, 11th September, 23:59.

Thank you all for your interest in taking part in our project.
All the applications are being reviewed and you will be contacted shortly!