On Tap

ALUMNI HOLD DIVERSE ROLES IN NATIONS CRAFT BEER CRAZE

Today, there are more than 8,000 breweries across the country that are focused on this concept of craft, taking the time, energy, and money to produce a high-quality, flavorful product made with local ingredients so you can enjoy a Friday night with friends.

But a lot goes into that pour that we might not realize—and it doesn’t just have to do with hops. Here, these UHart alumni—as brewery owners, beer chemists, artists, and marketers—are showing us exactly how beer gets into our hands.

Starting a Brewery

Brian Bugnacki ’05, Barney School of Business; Mike Larson, ’06, College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture Beer Gig: Founders of Alvarium Beer Company, New Britain, Connecticut UHart Experience: “We were attracted to the small community feel of UHart’s campus, where we wouldn’t feel like just a number and could have more personal interaction with professors. We wanted to be part of the school’s Greek life, but were looking for a fraternity that aligned more with their values and had more community involvement, so we founded the school’s chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi.”

Chris Sayer ’15, Barney School of Business Beer Gig: Founder of Brewery Legitimus, New Hartford Connecticut UHart Experience: “I would go around the first night of classes each semester, and say, ‘I’m here to start a brewery; are you going to take me seriously?’” (They did!) “The projects I worked on were directly related to my business plan.”

After homebrewing for years, brothers-in-law Brian Bugnacki and Mike Larson wanted to take a risk: they decided to open a small craft brewery and taproom, and small was the key word. They wanted to minimize that risk as much as possible, so they planned their business out on paper for close to two years, revising, researching, and visiting other breweries. As for Chris Sayer, his time spent studying in Belgium and the Belgians’ appreciation for beer inspired him to start his own brewery. But before he did, he spent years working in the industry, first at Harpoon Brewing in Boston, then at Belgian beer company Duvel.

Brian Bugnacki ’05 and Mike Larson ’06

Sayer and his wife launched their brewery in 2016, while Bugnacki and Larson launched theirs a year later. The research, the raising of capital, and the buying of all the equipment needed to get these companies up and running is hard work and takes many years. But there’s another task that’s also arduous—the naming process.

“My challenge to people is to think of a brewery name and type it into Google,” Sayer says. “Somebody probably already has it.”

Picking a name seems easy enough, but if you want to trademark your brewery (which you will), there can’t be another brewery, winery, bar, or any kind of liquor with the same one. “The umbrella is all alcohol, not just beer,” says Bugnacki. “I still have a note saved in my phone, a mile long with all these names we came up with.”

Chris Sayer ’15

Latin words or phrases are more likely to be available, and that’s exactly what these UHart alumni chose for their breweries: Brewery Legitimus and Alvarium. Both names pay homage to the cities the breweries call home. Sayer’s Legitimus was what the Collins Ax Factory in New Hartford stamped and running, you have to actually make beer. Both alumni breweries name New England IPAs as their bestsellers: Alvarium’s phresh and Brewery Legitimus’s Dr. Strangehaze. When the time comes to launch a new product, a lot of research goes into current market trends and what beer people are drinking or talking about. And Sayer says that when it comes to brewing, there is so much more science going on in the background than the customer realizes. Everything from yeast health to water quality can affect the taste of beer.

“Customers don’t see us working out equations for the alpha acids and the beta acids, or looking at data sheets of the scientific analyses of the hops we’re using,” Sayer says. “That’s the difference between making a mediocre beer and a good beer.”

The Science behind beer

Nicole Steinhilber ’13

Nicole Steinhilber ’13, College of Arts and Sciences (Chemistry) Beer gig: Founder, Craft Solutions Consulting; Lab Manager, Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co. UHart Experience: “I hold the entire chemistry department in such high regard. They are brilliant individuals with so much to offer, and as students, we received a lot of hands-on attention.”

Deciphering the science behind beer is where someone like Nicole Steinhilber comes into the picture. As a kid, Steinhilber would help cap her parents’ homebrew concoctions. And the family had a friend who was a flavor chemist for Budweiser. Even so, working with beer wasn’t on her radar. Instead, she took a job in the medical marijuana industry. But the discord between federal and state marijuana laws frustrated her, and she decided to move to Charleston, South Carolina, to find another job. It took a few years, but finally a unique opportunity came along to work as a lab manager at a brewery. “I didn’t know what I was getting into, but I quickly realized there was so much to learn and it really inspired me,” Steinhilber says. “The explosion of the craft beer industry has opened more doors for people like me to find scientific purpose within the industry.”

Steinhilber served as a lab manager at Revelry Brewing Company in Charleston for two years. During that time, she built a relationship with the College of Charleston, which allowed her to utilize university lab spaces to run experiments and research projects with instrumentation that she didn’t have access to at the brewery. After building an entire comprehensive quality control program, she saw there was a need for the type of research she was doing, so she created her own company, Craft Solutions Consulting, where she helps breweries assess quality-related issues and produce better beer.

“Usually my relationships with a company start when there’s something going wrong,” Steinhilber says. “Once I start digging into the problem, it reveals many other areas that could be improved. I do a lot of troubleshooting, analysis of data, and actual testing. I also build comprehensive quality programs for breweries. I train their brewers to uphold different quality measures without having to have someone there full time in the lab.”

THE EXPLOSION OF THE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY HAS OPENED MORE DOORS FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME TO FIND SCIENTIFIC PURPOSE WITHIN THE INDUSTRY.

In addition to running her own business, Steinhilber has taken on another lab manager position with Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company in Charleston. “I love how every day is different,” she says. “It’s hard to get stagnant in this role. There’s so much to learn, so much research that is untapped in this industry, and that’s something for me to look forward to.”

Branding the Product

Jessica Battista ’15, Hartford Art School Beer Gig: Freelance illustrator and graphic designer UHart Experience: “I remember in one class, we would have Skype calls with someone working in the industry. Those conversations prepared me for the realities of being a professional artist. It’s not just about drawing. If you want to make a living from this, you have to know how to do everything from catering to the clients to paying taxes.”

Bethany Levesque ’19, Hartford Art School Beer Gig: Freelance illustrator UHart Experience: “Unlike any of the other schools I applied to, the University of Hartford was an art school within a larger university, which opened up a lot of opportunities outside of art. While I was a student, I dug deep into art history and really loved that part of my experience, getting to know about the history of what I was doing. I also feel the education I received gave me a strong base, not only with artistic skills, but the ability to creatively problem solve. That’s huge no matter what you decide to do.”

Katharine Manning ’15, Hartford Art School Beer Gig: Social media and marketing content creator, Two Roads Brewing Company, Stratford, Conn. UHart Experience: “The school provided a great diversity of education. I was dabbling in so many different subjects and classes, and those experiences in different areas helped build a background to be able to talk about things in different ways and different contexts.”

Jessica Battista ’15

The brewery has a name. The beer is made, and, thanks to some science, it tastes good. But how does a beer company convince you it tastes good? Marketing is key, and that marketing includes everything from a label design to a well-captioned Instagram post. It requires a special talent to manifest a company’s brand and mission through such channels. But three Hartford Art School grads are up for the task.

It was a class project designing a wine label in a UHart illustration class that first piqued Bethany Levesque’s interest in doing work for beer companies. She spent the January before graduation

researching breweries in New England and cold emailing them. While there were a lot of “no” responses, some expressed interest. Levesque’s first client was Island Dog Brewing in South Portland, Maine, and since then, she has gone on to create labels for two other Maine breweries, Bissell Brothers Brewing Company and Bath Ale Works. Her work with breweries has been a nice side hustle while completing a 10-month intensive graduate program at Maine College of Art. She will graduate in May with a master’s degree in art education and hopes to work for a public school system while continuing to do freelance illustration work on the side.

Bethany Levesque ’19 artwork

As for Jessica Battista, she began creating the occasional logo for local businesses while working at a mosaic manufacturing company on the eastern shore of Virginia. Those freelance projects led to a partnership with Black Narrows Brewing Company. After designing their growlers, Battista worked with the brewery on a beer festival, creating logos and illustrations in addition to designing marketing materials. Since moving back to Connecticut in the spring of 2018, Battista has become a full-time freelance graphic designer and illustrator, mostly working with beer companies like Connecticut Valley Brewing Company, Thimble Island Brewing Company, and Norbook Farm Brewery.

“It’s important for me to try to be a style chameleon,” Battista says. “I want to make sure that each client is getting a unique look and a specialty product. For me, it’s nice to have that variety. It’s almost like I have this collection of part-time jobs. I can work on something for a couple hours then switch over to something else. Working with many different visual looks or brand guidelines is much more engaging.”

Kat Manning ’15

Katharine (Kat) Manning has also done freelance illustration work for businesses like WeHa Brewing and New England Cider Company. But her main gig is social media and content creator for Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, Conn. Manning runs anything that can be seen online for the beer company, which includes all images, videos, graphics, and copy for the company’s four social media channels, website, and email marketing.

“I like that my job is creative,” Manning says. “Every day is different, a new challenge on how to promote a product in a fun way that doesn’t feel like marketing.”

Beer and Community

Alvarium is no longer just the small craft brewery and taproom Bugnacki and Larson envisioned; it’s now the largest self-distributed brewery in Connecticut, and they’ve added other craft beverages to their lineup, such as hard ciders and seltzers.

“The opportunities kept coming along and we just kept going with them,” says Larson. “That concept of ‘craft’ is important, and it’s important because of the localness of it. There’s a stronger meaning behind something that is crafted locally. People are purchasing things made in our state, sourced with local ingredients. Our company is creating local jobs, and we are supporting our community.”

Brewery Legitimus

In fact, the opportunity to support the local community is one of the things Sayer, Larson, and Bugnacki enjoy most about owning their businesses. In 2021, Brewery Legitimus raised more than $50,000 for New Hartford organizations. And recently Alvarium worked with the New Haven Pride Center to create a pride beer, Bee Fierce, in order to bring awareness to equality and inclusiveness. (Alvarium’s community involvement also extends to the UHart alumni community; the brewery often hosts alumni events.)

Bugnacki believes craft breweries like Brewery Legitimus and Alvarium have become the new neighborhood bar: a place to gather for good conversation and a fun atmosphere, while consuming a product produced by people who truly care about how it’s made.

“But this can go further than the beer drinker,” Bugnacki says. “So many people are getting enjoyment out of our company in different ways. They come here for the beer, but also for the vibe or atmosphere or to connect with an event we’re doing. I think that’s neat.”

STUDENTS HELP LOCAL BREWERY WITH ACOUSTICS

What do you get when you take a festive atmosphere filled with conversation and music and put it in a room made of cement walls, concrete floors, and metal ceilings? A lot of noise. Confusion might also be an accurate word, for when those elements are combined, it creates a recipe for acoustic disaster. That’s a recipe with which the owners of the Back East Brewery of Bloomfield, Conn., were not pleased. When summer arrives, Back East, which recently expanded into a 20,000-square-foot combination brewery and taproom, plans to bring back live music events for the enjoyment of its Friday night and Saturday afternoon patrons. The room accommodates up to 250 people.

But that kind of enjoyment isn’t possible in a taproom with terrible audio quality.

As chance had it, a camaraderie that developed a while back between Back East’s Tony Karlowicz and UHart’s Shane Ciccarelli ’00, M’04, through a mutual friend of theirs in Windsor, led to what everyone now expects to be a sound solution. Karlowicz is co-founder of Back East Brewery with his cousin Ed Sabrycki, and Ciccarelli is an associate dean of admission at the University of Hartford.

As Karlowicz explains, “One day Ed, Shane, and I were hanging out at our place with some friends. I began to express my frustration that when we have live music, no one is able to hear it because of all the crazy echoes.”

Ciccarelli told them about UHart’s acoustical engineering program, and a plan was made for students to come by to assess the situation.

The University of Hartford has two programs that offer students a way to incorporate acoustics into an undergraduate engineering degree—the only accredited university program of its kind in the country. A small group of students from the program visited the taproom a number of times to evaluate everything from its size and construction components to its configuration and occupancy capability. They’ll combine all that with their knowledge of how sound is produced, how it travels and bounces, and how our own auditory systems respond, and then make recommendations that the owners can use to improve the acoustics of the taproom.

“These students are receiving the equivalent of a real internship,” notes Christopher Jasinski ’12, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Acoustical Engineering at UHart’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA). “Not only is the practical experience invaluable, but it will be quite a bonus for their résumés once they leave school.”

Jasinski himself took full advantage of the academic synergies that come together at the University, earning bachelor’s degrees in both acoustical engineering and classical percussion performance during his undergraduate studies. Now, he is helping today’s students get valuable experience in the field—all while helping an area business.

They’ll combine all that with their knowledge of how sound is produced, how it travels and bounces, and how our own auditory systems respond, and then make recommendations that the owners can use to improve the acoustics of the taproom.

Karlowicz remembers one of the first visits. “The students were popping balloons,” he recalls, “which had something to do with the measurement of sound. It was very interesting. This is a terrific opportunity both for them and for us.”

Some acoustics students at CETA already have some practical experience, having assessed a conference room at the town hall in Sharon, Connecticut, and a multipurpose room in Auerbach Hall on the UHart campus. But this is the program’s first taproom.

Before long, Karlowicz and Sabrycki will hear more than just balloons popping. Between patrons laughing, glasses clinking, singers crooning, and instruments wailing, Back East Brewery’s live music plans will soon be ready to rock and roll once again.