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It’s typically not condoned for University of Montana students to skip classes to sample beer at 9 a.m., but there they were on a recent weekday morning sipping an IPA at Missoula’s Draught Works brewery.

Lest you think of them as slackers, know this gathering wasn’t focused on frivolity but on the very serious business of beverage quality ­— characteristics like color, taste and foam ...



er, head. It was, in other words, a part of their studies. The students, all enrolled in the UM’s Brewing Science program, had already spent hours in the classroom learning about the nitty gritty of beer making and on this morning were diving into their end-of-semester project — brewing 15 barrels or so of a New Zealand-style IPA.

A similar gathering of students from the class met earlier in the week at Conflux Taphouse to fashion another version of the light-colored ale. “We worked with both breweries and thought this would be a nice style and would sell well,” said class instructor and chemistry professor Chris Palmer. “It should be up on the board later this spring.

” Palmer, who lends his chemical analysis expertise to breweries across town, launched the brewing program three years ago after first taking a sabbatical to study at Oregon State University’s research brewery. Developing a brew curriculum at UM made perfect sense, he said, particularly when you consider that Montana farmers are known for producing some of the finest malt barley in the country and that Mi.

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