Students tap beer expertise serving food

Add one more group of students who are using Schoolcraft College's American Harvest restaurant as a way to teach them the culinary ways.

In addition to the culinary arts students who cook and serve in the restaurant, students enrolled in the brewing and distilling program at the Livonia college are now using that setting to learn the ways around pairing the beer being brewed on campus with food prepared there as well.

One such event, hosted by students in the program, took place Friday night at the American Harvest restaurant in the VisTaTech Center on campus. Students were on hand to speak about the brews and the pairing with various food items.

"It's basically teaching you how to serve beer," said Eric Selberg, a Waterford resident and student in the brewing program at Schoolcraft College.

The program has expanded greatly since being launched almost two years ago: the tanks for brewing were delivered last year and installed over the summer, and the first batch of beer began brewing on campus last fall. Today, there are several taps at the American Harvest pouring beer brewed right on campus by students. Those interested can even take it home: the college now sells certain brews in six-packs and growlers are available for refills during the restaurant's operating hours.

Annette May, one of the instructors at Schoolcraft College, said students are on hand every Thursday and Friday night for restaurant patrons to assist them with the proper pairings of beer with their meals.

"It's actually getting bigger. Since we started pouring house-brewed beer, we're getting a slightly different clientele," the Allen Park resident said. "It's really important that the people making the beer know how to interact with the customers."

Canton resident Rob Thorne was also on hand Friday helping with the dinner event. While he does some work at Liberty Street Brewing Company in Plymouth, he's got his eyes set to open his own brewery along the shores of Lake Erie, a market he said that is untapped.

"I'm hoping to get into Monroe," he said.

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And the courses are already proving their worth for some students: Selberg said he works at Brew Detroit, a company that brews beer for various customers including Stroh's and Motor City Brewing Works.

"There's a lot of different paths you can take besides just beer," he said. "There's everything from sales to distribution, merchandising."

dveselenak@hometownlife.com | 734-678-6728 | Twitter: @DavidVeselenak