Head brewer Pete Hughes took them through a work production day in brewing the house bitter, Brewers Arms – which was the original name of the pub.
“They got a proper experience and feel for exactly what goes into beer,” he said. It takes a whole day to prepare and mix ingredients including malt, hops and yeast and get it to the stage where fermentation can start.
“That’s where all the work is for the brewer,” he said and he had willing hands to help begin the two to three week process in the shiny coppers, which will end with eight firkins, or two barrels, of ale.
“It’s a regular offer where people can come and have the experience of working in a brewery for the day,” he said.
Former Dorset Institute (now BU) hospitality graduate Kris Gumbrell, chairman of Brewhouse and Kitchen Ltd, who has opened six pubs along with business partner Simon Bunn, aims to retain close links with the university.
“We want to attract more students to consider going into the pub sector when they graduate,” he said.
However anyone can buy a Red Letter Day brewery experience and thousands of pounds worth were sold over Christmas. The former pubs team including the chef have been kept on and it will be supplying home-cooked food, some of which contains the local beers, as well as other ales, wine and soft drinks.
BU hospitality lecturer Richard Ward said: “It is essential that students get a real life experience and not just a theoretical one. Going out into industry and seeing how it is, is so beneficial.”
