Beer and Football on Tap for UNC’s Seventh Annual Bears, Brews and Bites
On Saturday, Sept. 3, the University of Northern Colorado is hosting 13 local breweries during their seventh annual beer festival, Bears, Brews and Bites.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at UNC’s Fan Fest Tailgate Area at Nottingham Field. Tickets are $45 and include unlimited beer tastings, a souvenir glass and a ticket to the university’s home opener football game against Houston Baptist immediately following the festival. Food trucks will also be onsite for food purchases.
Proceeds from the event help support programmatic needs of UNC’s Brewing Laboratory Science program, which consists of an undergraduate certificate and an undergraduate minor. In the past that money has funded training, new lab equipment and scholarships for students in the university’s Brewing Laboratory Science minor.
Event organizer and UNC Assistant Brewer Sean Johnson said he’s hoping to see around 300 people attend this year. That would raise enough money to provide a student scholarship that would fund half of the 18 credits needed to complete UNC’s brewing minor. Eventually, he’d like to see that amount increase.
“My goal down the road is to see a crowd of 400-plus at our festival,” Johnson said. “That would raise enough money so we could provide one full-ride scholarship to a student in our minor program.”
While many brewing programs have an emphasis on preparing master brewers, UNC’s program trains students for jobs that focus on quality control and assurance in the beer industry. Johnson said there are many factors that influence whether a beer is successful every single time it’s produced, from style to taste, even labeling. That’s one reason why their minor program is so unique. It’s flexible for a number of career options and draws students from an array of majors like chemistry, nursing and graphic design.
According to Johnson, UNC’s beer festival is just as unique as its brewing program. To his knowledge, no other brewing program hosts its own beer festival, certainly not in Colorado.
“No other college does this, at least that I’ve been able to find,” Johnson said. “This event is a great collaboration between UNC’s Athletics and academic departments and a good way to support the university through both of those. Plus, it’s a fun and unique experience for UNC and Greeley. There aren’t a lot of other beer festivals out there where you have something to do once it’s over. It’s also a great way to kick off UNC’s football season.”
On tap for this year’s festival is local Rule 105 Brewing, owned and operated by UNC Professor of Chemistry and Manager of the Brewing Laboratory Science Program, Michael Mosher. Greeley’s TightKnit Brewing Co., Crabtree Brewing Company, WeldWerks Brewing and Wiley Roots Brewing Co. are also participating as well as breweries from Loveland, Longmont, Fort Collins and Windsor.
Tickets for the festival are available online, as well as the complete list of participating breweries.
