Throughout the month of September, I returned to the “classroom” to teach a course on the history, traditions, culture, production, and consumption of alcoholic beverages at Lycoming College. The class covered everything from building civilizations around grains and grapes to the establishment and repeal of prohibition. We discussed the spread of grapes from old world to the new, blue laws, three tier distribution, and the actual processes of fermentation and distillation. We also had three field trip days with tours of breweries, wineries, and distilleries.

On brewery day, the class visited and tasted at three unique facilities in the Williamsport, PA area. We started with Rosko’s Brewhouse (photo at bottom) right next to campus, where Adam, the owner and founder, walked us through the nano-brewery. From there we went to New Trail Brewing (above left) where Marc, the production manager, led us around the brew floor, fermentation tanks, canning line, and warehouse before we settled in for a flight at the tasting room. Finally we went to Therapy Brewing, a farmhouse brewery in hills outside of town. Quinn, one of the owners, talked beer and the craft beer business with us as we tasted a few of his brews while overlooking the fall scenery. Overall we observed different scales of brewing operations, each with their own techniques, styles, and unique selling points.

For winery day, I recruited my buddy Jesse Casciaro, a friend from his days working for distributors in Louisiana, to guide us around the Finger Lakes Wine Region in New York. We visited three wineries that he works with for a glimpse into the wine making process, wine tourism, and wine culture. Our day started at Ravines Wine Cellars (left), a rustic but robust operation nestled amongst vines and apple orchards. As the name implies, they had substantial barrel rooms with wine aging in oak casks. We settled into the tasting room for some samples of white and red wines. Next up, we visited Apollo’s Praise (center) where Kelby put some wine in our hands before leading us on a tour of the vineyard and introduced the students to the terroir of the region, talked about micro-climates, and had us harvest some riesling grapes for measurement of sugar content. Finally, the class moved over to Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard (right) for a local cheese board and of course more wine. This winery, with a more modern and tourism-focused feel, showcased the kind of business that wine can bring. We were escorted back to a VIP tasting room where we were able to try some exclusive wines from previous vintages.

For our final field trip, we turned our attention to distilleries. Having covered fermentation in beer and wine, we could now look at taking the next step and discover the science and art of distillation. We began at a new micro distillery in Williamsport called Fair Play Distillers (left). Damon, one half of the brothers who founded the project earlier this year, made us each a cocktail before bringing us to their distillery floor and showcasing everything that they do in one room. Oak barrels aged bourbon in the rafters while the combination pot-column still fed liquor into holding vessels. We then tasted a flight of spirits highlighted by their dry gin and a Japanese plum vodka. Next, we ventured a couple towns over to Jersey Shore, PA to meet my old friend Robbie, now head of the distillation division at Four Birds Distilling (right) at the impressive Bald Birds Brewing operation. After taking my class on a maze-like adventure through the massive facility, we arrived at the distillery with canned vodka cocktails in our hands. Robbie showed us a much larger commercial distilling operation that juxtaposed perfectly with Fair Play, something I really wanted my students to see. We tasted a few spirits before calling it a day.

I want to make sure to thank my students Maddie and Tyler, first and foremost. They were very engaged and tried drinks they had never had before. Shout out to Gerardo and Helen, my roommates and Fulbright scholars, for joining the tours when they could. Thanks to everyone at Lycoming College for allowing me to create this class and teach it over the course of a month. Also, a big “preciate you” to John Ryan Brewery for hosting my class on non-field trip days. The restaurant, with a full bar and its own brewing operation, served as a perfect setting to teach history and culture. Also thanks to their brewer, Will, and to my friend Nate Steele for being guest instructors on my classroom days. Cheers to John, Caroline, and Kim for serving as designated drivers for field trip days. Finally, thanks to all of our tour stops and tour guides for hosting us!

Hopefully I’ll be able to teach a class like this again. I very much enjoyed the experience and I feel like the students got a lot out of it. I sure wish I had a class like this when I was 21!