Dallas College: Dallas College Relaunches Brewing Program To Meet Workforce Demand

Press release from Dallas College:

Feb. 17, 2022

(DALLAS) — Texas brewers, from craft to industrial, are having difficulty finding trained employees to make beer. Steve DeShazo, senior director of Workforce and Career Connected Learning at Dallas College, says that, for about a year, he’s been fielding requests from craft brewers eager to hire trained workers. In response, new
Dallas College Brewer program sessions are set to begin March 21.

Craft breweries, distilleries and wineries in Texas have seen annual employment growth nearly twice that of the rest of the country, and the state is in the top 10 in terms of its number of craft breweries,
according to the Texas Comptroller website. The industry employs 4,000 Texans at an average annual wage of $58,730.

Peter Boettcher developed the Dallas College brewing program and its curriculum in 2015, after seeing the need. The program is the first of its kind in Texas.

“You had a booming industry, but the education was completely lagging behind,” said Boettcher. A master brewer, he has worked in the industry more than 36 years, in both Germany and the U.S., plus he has a degree in brewing science from Doemens Brewing Academy in Munich.

Among the students in the very first Journeyman Brewer program was Nick Sorenson, who is now co-owner and head brewer of
Equal Parts Brewing in Houston. Sorenson and business partner Matt Peterson founded Equal Parts in 2016. Sorenson describes running a brewery as “a fun cross section of technical ability and creativity.”

“There was a pretty gigantic knowledge gap with neither of us having been in the industry previously,” said Sorenson. “When the first Journeyman course opened up, we jumped on it. I am happy we did. I don’t think things would have gone the way they did otherwise.”

This press release was produced by Dallas College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.